Breaking stereotypes of Japanese women and empowering all survivors to be unicorns!
“Japanese Wife Non-conforming” tells the truth about a Japanese woman and society and also empowers all survivors.
The show is the first stand-up special of Japanese female comedian Kilara Sen after she moved to New York.
Kilara is gender non-conforming, a “hikikomori” (shut-in) survivor, and had a wonderful year at Historically Black Colleges in the US.
Based on her experiences, she shares her strong and humorous voice on mental health, gender, and diversity—topics that, in other words, Japan tends to “cover its mouth” about.
The entire story and jokes were written after Kilara accused a powerful Japanese old man of sexual harassment during the pandemic, and she moved to New York.
Kilara is a Japanese woman with balls…people always say to her, “You’ve got balls!”.
After working as a Japanese-style comedian for a few years, Kilara started standup comedy in English when the Japanese audience was not accustomed to hearing women’s voices, and nobody knew about stand-up comedy.
Starting from scratch, she promoted herself and made history as the first Japanese woman to appear on Asia’s Got Talent. She also landed roles in other shows such as Henry Golding’s Welcome to Railworld Japan and Paul Hollywood Eats Japan. The Guardian praised her with the review, ’If only Kilara had been the lead presenter on the whole show.” Furthermore, she secured work as a guest entertainer at cruise ships and performed at clubs including Laugh Factory. After approximately 10 years, she obtained a professional visa as a stand-up comedian and realized her dream of moving to New York in the middle of 2022.
Kilara’s jokes about mental health and being gender non-conforming in Japan and NY won competitions such as the Raw Side of Comedy Pilot Competition (Gotham Comedy Club) and Bombing Run Game Show (DBtv). Additionally, her stand-up set about her experiences at an HBCU went viral with over a million views on TikTok and Instagram. The special has been performed at colleges in the US, programmed for Comic Cons and Black History Month.
It’s been over 10 years since Kilara made my debut at New York Comedy Club as a visiting comedian. The show’s host, a white male comedian, introduced me with, ‘My mom always told me to get married to a Japanese woman because they make the best wives.’
The sexual harassment from that damn Japanese old fart escalated when he randomly referred to me as ‘my yome’ without permission (Yome: a Japanese term that signifies a wife in a ‘patriarchal way.’ The Western concept of a wife is married to her spouse, but a yome is considered married to the household).
Even ex-boyfriends have said, ‘You can’t cook; you are not qualified to be my wife.’
She realized that stereotypes of Japanese women being good ‘yome’ are concepts perpetuated by Japanese men (whom I call the first generation of white men in Asia) and then, Western men."
And also, Kilara realized that this restriction was also related to her mom.
It’s not only her story but all of Japanese women’s.
When Kilara realized she had been constantly sought after as a Japanese woman to be someone’s wife, her true self was set free, akin to a unicorn soaring with a resounding burst of wind.
Amid life in New York, one Japanese woman awakens to her true self, choosing to live as gender non-conforming, and the accumulation of discoveries and awareness of diversity is the highlight of this special.
The story of Japan, things no one has talked about before, but everyone wants to hear about – motherhood, Japanese sex, patriarchy, depression, hikikomori- the journey of one woman transforming from a “yome” to a unicorn is relatable to everyone that loves “change”. This empowering piece suggests that anyone can turn pain into gold like Kintsugi, to be a unique unicorn.
Break free from the constraints with a fart!
