A Japanese look at gender and sexuality in Jamaica

SACHIYO Morimoto has only visited Jamaica four times, but her short stays in the island has provided her with a wealth of information on issues of gender and sexuality in the dancehall arena – information she has used in putting together a recently released book dealing with the issue.

The 34-year-old Japanese woman says that although she is not a big fan of dancehall music, it has become so popular in her country over the years, that she was challenged to explore the genre.

Morimoto has been promoting the music in Japan since she was 18-years-old, as part of a favour to her younger sister who owns a production company that helps to make the music available to Japanese fans. So she was immersed deep into what was available to the Japanese – and that usually came in the form of the dancehall, which can be rude, crude and unforgiving.

And so her mind – like that of many of her countrymen – was set on that reflection of Jamaica, as reflected in the culture they were exposed to.

“Most of the Japanese people think that Jamaican people are promiscuous, insincere and they sleep around, because we get to know Jamaica people through dancehall music,” she says.

This perception was to change when she first visited the country in 2000.

“I was surprised how decent and intelligent and hardworking Jamaicans are. There were few women who wore ‘batty riders’ in the broad daylight. Most of the women wore shirts and knee-length skirts and were carrying a classy handbag,” she says.

“There were few men who wore lots of gold and jewellery and who were idling all the time – most of the Jamaican men were decent, hardworking…”

She was able to publish her first book in November of this year as part of a series she is working on about the Jamaica culture. This book – LT1: Gender and Sexuality in Jamaica – features a number of authoritative figures in anthropology and is written in both English and Japanese. Those included in the book are Carolyn Cooper, Barry Chevannes, Blakka Ellis and Sonjah Stanley Niaah. Morimoto also did an interview with female dancehall artiste Cecile who shared her views about sexual prowess and badmanism in the dancehall.

Through her own observation that she has done at dances she has been to, Morimoto believes the dancehall space is one where both men and women compete and get a grip on their maleness and femaleness. She believes it is the place where many new ways of thinking are created as traditional norms are replaced. She says there is also a sense of freedom in this environment.

“I think I am very serious, but even me, I am driven by something at the dances and I do wild things. And I feel very strong when I am driven by the spirit of dancehall, and I feel very attractive and independent,” she says.

While her latest book is the first in the intended series, Morimoto has already published four books. One of them is a Patois/Japanese dictionary, which she says has sold over 2000 copies in Japan since it first came out in 2006.

But while the publishing of these books are costly, as a writer, it is something she enjoys doing. Her main challenge is getting them sold in Jamaica during the short time she gets to stay here.