ABSTRACT
This chapter explains heteronormativity as a 'regulatory order' which marginalises queer sexualities by ideologically constructing heterosexuality as the default, 'compulsory' sexuality for all social subjects. It explores how Japanese creators and consumers, most of who are unfamiliar with Japan's legal codes, encounter the law as it is implicitly evoked within two case studies. First, examines how the controversies arising from a local government's decision to censor a billboard in Tokyo's gay town of Ni-chome reveals the inherently heteronormative nature of public space in Japan. Second, investigates how gay and straight consumers of Tagame Gengoroh's manga Ototo no Otto become aware of the specific legal discrimination faced by members of Japan's LGBT minorities through their consumption of the text. The process of 'finding the law' via Ototo no Otto was somewhat more complex for the informants who identified as gay, particularly due to the fact that many of them had experienced first-hand moments of anti-LGBT discrimination.
