This was not the post I expected to write today. It’s pretty brutal that this is going out on International Women’s Day.
CW for CSA, Suicide, Online Harassment
It has come to my attention that a Yuri science fiction author in Japan has embroiled the Yuri community in a scandal. To begin with, I received an email today with an “investigative report” about an author going by the name of Namboku. The report stated that this author, though having a partner, allegedly deceived a fan in order to have an affair and, when she found out, threatened her. The fan has subsequently committed suicide and the author has been deleting posts on their socials. The Yuri community in Japan is outraged in part because of the lack of reaction by the author’s publishers. On X, people are speaking out plainly about this situation.
None of Namboku’s work is licensed in English, but that is not a good reason for us to ignore this.
In the week after the Manga One scandal at Shogakukan, (and the whole Epstein files cesspit on the political stage) fans are taking a stand against systems that protect predators.
You know that we say Yuri is by anyone and Yuri is for everyone here, but equally, it needs to be said that the global Yuri community stands up for women. Whether it is book publishing, manga, companies, or governments, any and every system that protects predators deserves to be destroyed.
What can we do as readers? Well, we can write publishers. I wrote one of several emails already to a Japanese publisher this morning. Others will be going out. I want them to understand that the global Yuri community is watching and we see how they side with predators through silence and inaction.
The inevitable criticism will be that if I feel so strongly about this, why am I not doing the same about my own government. I assure you, I am. I contact my government representatives regularly to let them know what must be done. I contact and criticize companies that enshrine bias and give my money to companies that normalize equality and opportunity for people to thrive. In so far as I am able, I spend every day mobilizing to save what we can of our future.
We might not have buying power in Japanese science fiction on our own, but our voices can and should be in union against men who abuse women. The Yuri community is for all women, everywhere, whether they are Japanese, Iranian, Palestinian, American, cis or trans.
We ask that publishers reject people (whether creators or staff) who do not show women respect. We’re done with horrible men being promoted and protected. Namboku’s actions are personal, but his publishers’ actions or lack thereof, are a public statement.
Yuri can be by anyone and can be enjoyed by everyone, but we Yurijin demand that Yuri artists and publishers respect women.
I want to support justice as much as I can, but how do you call an entire international community to action over very serious allegations based entirely on one person’s posts and a deactivated instigator, both of who cannot even suggest the content of multiple “key posts” that have been deleted, nor provide an identity as to who died?
This seems like seriously irresponsible reporting.
What is “responsible” reporting in this case? What “proof” would you accept? I’m not AP, I don’t have a legal team or hire investigators.
I know two things.
The burden of proof is always on the victim. The victim in this case is no longer around to advocate for herself. If she were, I guarantee that she would face unending harassment from people who would rather beat up on her than deal with the criminal. We see that with every single person who comes forward in this kind of case.
I also know that large companies, organizations and governments around the globe right now are siding with sexual abusers, harassers and pedophiles. And I know that letting these publishers, organizations and governments know that this is not acceptable to me is the right course of action.
You may choose to do as you wish, of course.
You’re now being referred to as a source, whether you think of your blog as news or not, and are using your platform to give credence to an “investigative report” you received regarding “outrage in the Japanese yuri community” driven entirely by ONE user with ZERO presence beyond the exact date the MangaOne news dropped, when they started near-harassing every single person talking about it with a new target to direct their ire to.
Being responsible would be looking beyond that summary tweet you linked to see this deeply suspicious behaviour. Being responsible would be using your time and language skills to contact magu_magu_nya (or Tsubaki) to verify some actual details about the damning evidence they keep mentioning but not detailing, rather than roll with your instinct about victims and companies. This isn’t deep-level professional action here; it’s understanding that you saying anything comes with inherent trust from your readers.
Because you are using your credibility as a long-time community member (to say the least) to say that you believe this story and your readers should be moved to devote time and attention to action. Time and attention they could be spending on the slew of verifiable issues we’re all being attacked by. If another story that sounded good enough were to drop around more deplorable news, how many more people could take advantage of your reach with something as unsupported as this?
Again, I ask you, what “proof” is acceptable to you? This month the manga world has been rocked by similar acts of coverup behavior which have been widely reported on multiple platforms. It is completely sensible to me to do the same for something similar in the Yuri world. Your anger is, in my opinion, oddly misplaced. It makes more sense to hold the publishing companies who shield pedophiles and sexual harassers to a higher standard of ethics, not the people who report the alleged behaviors.