PURX - A New Tokyo Queer Space Needs Funds!!
Donation protected
PURX (pronounced “pure”) is a plant-based café and community space in Tokyo. Our central purpose is to provide a safe space from all forms of oppression and colonization in Japan. We aspire to do away with social hierarchies rooted in class, race, gender, sexuality, HIV status, age, ability, education, immigration status, sex work status, size, etc. and create a space where we nurture our sense of freedom and care for each other. We also prioritize providing safe and fair job opportunities in the kitchen for POC transgender and gender non-conforming folks. Through workshops, lectures, fundraising, screenings, performances, exhibitions, and a range of events we hope that PURX will become a source of new perspectives on oppression, politics, sustainability, and queer culture and celebrate the ideas and talents of our rich community.
We believe that PURX is necessary because there are currently no anti-colonial trans-based spaces in Japan. LGBT culture here is gay male-centric and does not give true voice to transgender and queer individuals. Though some might point to Tokyo’s gay district, Nichome, as a place where we should be able to find community, Nichome is centered around nightlife where individuals are often surrounded by transphobia, misogyny, sexism, sexual harassment, racism, ableism, etc. It is a place that feels very binary, where trans women and non-binary femme folk feel excluded like their voices don’t matter. There are very few places for people to gather outside of this kind of alienating nightlife culture.
We want PURX to be created by and for the community that Nichome for decades has failed to truly support and serve. In a stable community space where all trans and queer folk can be safe and celebrated, where we believe that everyone can thrive. We believe that this feeling should not only be for trans and queer folk but for anyone who feels like they are on the margins of society because we all matter.
PURX was made possible nearly entirely through the labor and investment of Black, zainichi, burakumin, mixed-race, Japanese transgender, and queer people. Most of us are extremely underpaid or unemployed. We are crowdfunding to reimburse for debts taken on to cover construction costs and to pay for rent, programming, staff, and to cover operational costs.
Even the smallest donation matters. If you’ve read this far we truly thank you for even taking the time to learn about our community. Please share this as widely as possible. It is our dream to have a place to call home.
Below is our Venmo, Cash App, and PayPal.
Venmo: @purxtokyo
Cash App: $PURXtokyo
PayPal: [email redacted]
Website: https://purx.tokyo/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/purxtokyo/
What is “PURX”?
PURX, pronounced “pure,” attempts to reclaim the concept of purity (“純” pronounced jun), which often is the source of discrimination in Japan. Often Japanese nationals identify themselves as “pure” Japanese and cis women call themselves “pure” women. This idea that anyone who does not have a pure identity (Japanese, gender, caste, etc) is not whole is used to discriminate against mixed-race individuals as well as trans women: trans women in Japan are often called “new half,” which is a slur. The concept of “pure blood”(“純血主義”) has also played an important role in structuring patriarchy, racism, and caste-based discrimination. Cisgender women and burakumin outcastes (once known as “non-people” (hinin)) were considered polluted (kegare) because of their association with blood or death, creating cisgender male and non-outcaste privilege. We want to shatter the notion of purity, which legitimizes daily disdain, fetishization, and policing by those who think they are pure.
We believe that PURX is necessary because there are currently no anti-colonial trans-based spaces in Japan. LGBT culture here is gay male-centric and does not give true voice to transgender and queer individuals. Though some might point to Tokyo’s gay district, Nichome, as a place where we should be able to find community, Nichome is centered around nightlife where individuals are often surrounded by transphobia, misogyny, sexism, sexual harassment, racism, ableism, etc. It is a place that feels very binary, where trans women and non-binary femme folk feel excluded like their voices don’t matter. There are very few places for people to gather outside of this kind of alienating nightlife culture.
We want PURX to be created by and for the community that Nichome for decades has failed to truly support and serve. In a stable community space where all trans and queer folk can be safe and celebrated, where we believe that everyone can thrive. We believe that this feeling should not only be for trans and queer folk but for anyone who feels like they are on the margins of society because we all matter.
PURX was made possible nearly entirely through the labor and investment of Black, zainichi, burakumin, mixed-race, Japanese transgender, and queer people. Most of us are extremely underpaid or unemployed. We are crowdfunding to reimburse for debts taken on to cover construction costs and to pay for rent, programming, staff, and to cover operational costs.
Even the smallest donation matters. If you’ve read this far we truly thank you for even taking the time to learn about our community. Please share this as widely as possible. It is our dream to have a place to call home.
Below is our Venmo, Cash App, and PayPal.
Venmo: @purxtokyo
Cash App: $PURXtokyo
PayPal: [email redacted]
Website: https://purx.tokyo/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/purxtokyo/
What is “PURX”?
PURX, pronounced “pure,” attempts to reclaim the concept of purity (“純” pronounced jun), which often is the source of discrimination in Japan. Often Japanese nationals identify themselves as “pure” Japanese and cis women call themselves “pure” women. This idea that anyone who does not have a pure identity (Japanese, gender, caste, etc) is not whole is used to discriminate against mixed-race individuals as well as trans women: trans women in Japan are often called “new half,” which is a slur. The concept of “pure blood”(“純血主義”) has also played an important role in structuring patriarchy, racism, and caste-based discrimination. Cisgender women and burakumin outcastes (once known as “non-people” (hinin)) were considered polluted (kegare) because of their association with blood or death, creating cisgender male and non-outcaste privilege. We want to shatter the notion of purity, which legitimizes daily disdain, fetishization, and policing by those who think they are pure.
Organizer
PURX Tokyo
Organizer