Self-sufficiency
without fashion!

But seriously, folks... Takarazuka is a Japanese all female theater group. They perform musicals and all the male parts are played by women. (The female parts are too, but no one seems to find that very interesting.) That's the short answer; if you want the long answer check out the new Takarazuka Wiki or this lovely site my friend put up and where I learned many many things about Takarazuka back when I didn't really know what it was and just had a vague interest.

So why do you like it? Because it's so incredibly wonderful!! The singing! The dancing! The cross-dressing!

I've always liked musicals. My favorite movie is Oklahoma. (Yes, really!)

I also love Japanese... And when I first got interested in Takarazuka I was in a Low Japanese Self-Esteem period. The first part of third year Japanese was pure torture, and I often came home and cried. Fall term I watched my "Elisabeth" DVD almost every day (my husband took over a year to recover.) It helped me to remember that YES there are things in Japanese that still make me happy.

And, yes, I admit it. I like the cross-dressing aspect. It's sometimes hard to articulate why I like it - I've given my reasons as:

• I like watching women get to behave in ways that I culturally would not be allowed to.

• It shows that "masculine" and "feminine" qualities aren't genetically based, but learned behavior.

• It shakes things up - how come we're okay with male-to-female crossdressers but not the other way around?

• For me, part of the fun is seeing how much of it is acting. The actress isn't convincing you that she's male, she's convincing you that she's a particular man - Romeo, Tony from West Side Story, whatever. It's about a character more than just gender.

I think those are all part of it, but not all of it.

Why there are no images on this site (except my vintage gallery): Takarazuka does not permit its photos and images to be used on private fan sites. Although I disagree with this policy, out of respect for the company I have removed all images from my site. You can see pictures of stars and performances at Takarazuka's Official Homepage.

Note: The original Japanese texts used on this site are property of the Takarazuka Revue and Hankyu Corporation. They are used without permission, with the intent of publicizing the revue to a larger audience.

The translations on this site were done by me. I reserve all applicable copyright on them and DO NOT give permission for them to be redistributed, published, used as fansub scripts, etc.

I also reserve copyright on my writings and rantings. Do not quote me or use me in your article, paper, thesis, or whatever without my permission.

</curmudgeon>