{"podcast":{"title":"Queers with Accents","slug":"queers-with-accents-7747041","podcast_index_feed_id":7747041,"rss_url":"https://anchor.fm/s/113ab0284/podcast/rss","website_url":"https://qesl.blogspot.com/p/blog-page_20.html","image_url":"https://d3t3ozftmdmh3i.cloudfront.net/staging/podcast_uploaded_nologo/46149417/46149417-1781285828871-79c7dc171d6bc.jpg","author":"Queer ESL with Masaki Seto","episode_count":15,"summary":"Japanese queer writer and ESL educator Masaki Seto is joined by his fellows ESL speakers (like his students) to discuss social justice and other topics.","last_synced_at":"2026-06-24T10:17:01.892727+00:00","page_url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/queers-with-accents-7747041"},"episode":{"title":"#15 Rainy season, rural Gunma, and not fleeing too far from home","slug":"15-rainy-season-rural-gunma-and-not-fleeing-too-far-from-home","published_at":"2026-06-23T22:00:00+00:00","page_url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/queers-with-accents-7747041/15-rainy-season-rural-gunma-and-not-fleeing-too-far-from-home","show_page_url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/queers-with-accents-7747041","url":"https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/queerswithaccents/episodes/15-Rainy-season--rural-Gunma--and-not-fleeing-too-far-from-home-e3kpvck","audio_url":"https://anchor.fm/s/113ab0284/podcast/play/121486164/https%3A%2F%2Fd3ctxlq1ktw2nl.cloudfront.net%2Fstaging%2F2026-5-15%2F426151188-44100-2-b1d6d904ab7f4.mp3","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…","meta_description":"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,…","key_points":[],"chapters":[],"topics":[],"duration_seconds":2974,"processing_state":"not_requested","actions":[{"name":"request_transcript","method":"POST","url":"https://stenobird.com/v1/public/podcasts/queers-with-accents-7747041/episodes/15-rainy-season-rural-gunma-and-not-fleeing-too-far-from-home/transcription-requests","description":"Idempotently request low-priority transcript generation for this episode."},{"name":"read_markdown","method":"GET","url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/queers-with-accents-7747041/15-rainy-season-rural-gunma-and-not-fleeing-too-far-from-home.md","description":"Read the agent-friendly Markdown representation of this episode resource."}]}}