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Intersections: Gender, History and Culture in the Asian Context
Issue 12 January 2006 |
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Hasegawa Hiroshi translated by Edwin Whenmouth with permission from Hasegawa Hiroshi, Kuma fujin no kokuhaku [Confessions of Bearine de Pink], Tokyo: Potto Shuppan, 2005. |
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Perhaps you don't know it yet, Mama was a true optimist, There flows in my veins the blood of that marvelously optimistic woman. Perhaps you don't know it yet, Papa was hopeless at making money; There flows in my veins the blood of that marvellously good-hearted man. Perhaps you don't know it yet, As a little child, whenever I was alone in the house, I'd take my mother's worn-down lipstick from her dressing table Perhaps you don't know it yet, but Perhaps you don't know it yet, In the dormitory at the Eisu Prep School in Kyushu, Shimabukuro of the karate club, from Amami Oshima; Ito, the athlete, from Kumamoto; Sato, who's now an architect; I had my wicked way with them all at that time. But the one I remember most fondly, Stubbornly, he resisted my lips, 'Don't kiss me! I just don't want to be kissed'! If only I'd had a little more courage, I could surely have drawn you inside my fabulous world. But I was still so immature then, you know. Perhaps you don't know it yet, Perhaps you don't know it yet, If you let it alone, One has to act quickly to suppress it, you know. For now, I can keep it at bay with medication, but . . . Perhaps you don't know it yet, Perhaps you don't know it yet, That faggot's blood that flows through my body, It's auspicious blood. It makes my life possible, you know, No! It goes far beyond such worldly concerns. Perhaps you don't know it yet, It's the blood of freedom, you know. The degenerate blood that flows through my body Some might label me dissolute, immoral and such Some call me shameful, or disgusting . . . This is the blood of a voluptuous and honest individual Character is character, The upper body is the upper body, Other people are other people, Perhaps you don't know it yet, Perhaps you don't know it yet, The beating of my heart It pumps the flow of warm blood through my body My immune system may be weak, but this blood gives me energy to live, you know. Perhaps you didn't know it yet, but . . . Perhaps you didn't know it yet, but . . . The blood that flows through my body, It fills me with the joy of living It's auspicious blood, you know. Amazing grace, how sweet the sound That saved a wretch like me. I once was lost, but now am found. Was blind, but now I see. 
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