Episode
#15 Rainy season, rural Gunma, and not fleeing too far from home
- Podcast
- Queers with Accents
- Published
- Jun 23, 2026
- Duration seconds
- 2974
- Processing state
not_requested
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Summary
Kinoko is one of my ESL students and the author of I Have Two Partners: Living the Polyamorous Life , a ground-breaking book in Japanese about polyamory, as well as the organizer of Poly Lounge , a series of events for polyamorous and questioning people and allies. We publish archived videos of our lessons as a podcast. Today, our conversation covered the following topics: Kinoko's runny nose and the rainy season being her least favorite season – and the strange gap in English: we have "favorite" but no direct antonym like "hated" (we say "least favorite" or "I hate"). Why the rainy season is discouraging: humidity, rain, feeling lazy to go out – while Masaki actually prefers it over the lethal summer heat (especially in Gunma, one of the hottest areas in Japan, reaching 43°C). Gunma's extreme climate: boiling summers, freezing winters, and famously strong winds that can blow you away (Mary Poppins style). Kinoko's one year living in rural Gunma after quitting her company job, staying in a friend's house near the mountains, using a wood stove, and living next to a dairy farm. Masaki's confession: growing up in the Kanto region, he thought the area west of Gunma was just ocean – because TV weather forecasts only show Kanto with a thick contour, graying out everything else. (He now knows Niigata and the Chugoku region exist.) The word "archipelago" (Japanese archipelago has over 6,000 islands) vs. "rettō" (islands in a line). Kinoko's dream: organizing Poly Lounge events in all 47 prefectures of Japan – she's already done over 10 locations. The dichotomy between city and countryside: big cities aren't always better for queer people; moving somewhere in the vicinity of your hometown can be a good option. Vocabula…