satsuki featuted

We’ve seen several gender stereotype-destroying otoko no ko (girl-boys) recently, from Kaoru Ishima who models as both a man and a woman, to Nong Poy the stunning transgender Thai actress.

The latest otoko no ko to take the internet by storm is Satsuki, a transgender woman who has a large online following, and has undergone sex reassignment surgery – a rarity in Japan. She blogs about her experience transitioning from a man to a woman, explaining her conflicts with Japan’s medical system, and how she eventually abandoned it altogether.

On her blog, Satsuki describes herself as always having felt “uncomfortable with being a boy” when she was little. At the age of 16, she started taking female hormones, and about two years ago she underwent sex reassignment surgery… but not in Japan. She went to Thailand for that.

According to her blog posts, the Japanese hospitals she visited to inquire about the surgery were not very accommodating. Many of them had little to no experience in sex reassignment surgery, and doctors who specialized in it were virtually nonexistent. She was also told that many people who underwent the surgery in Japanese hospitals lost their nerve endings in the process, removing sexual pleasure from their lives.

Satsuki instead chose to have her surgery done in Thailand, where there are hospitals and doctors with long histories of specializing in sex reassignment surgery. She was assured that there would be no issues with her nerve endings losing sensitivity after recovery, and was given several options for which type of surgery she wanted. Compared with the Japanese hospitals, the choice was a no-brainer.

Even now, when you do a Google search in Japanese for “sex reassignment surgery,” her blog is the number-two article that comes up, right after the Wikipedia entry on the subject. To say there is not much information out there for Japanese-speaking transgender people is an understatement. Thankfully Satsuki is very open to inquiries and happily gives advice to anyone who needs it.

Despite the difficulties she has faced, Satsuki has done very well for herself. Here are some pictures from her Twitter profile:

▼ Just a casual mirror-selfie. (In case you were wondering, no it’s not a real tattoo.)

▼ The old “this is totally how I walk” pose.

▼ Another mirror selfie.

▼ And another! Well, when you’ve worked hard for years to get the outside-you to match the inside-you, you’re entitled to as many selfies as you want.

▼ Ballin’ out with some 10,000-yen bills.

▼ And trying to cure schoolgirl zombies.

▼ Waiting for a train….

▼ Riding on the train…. Where’s she going anyway?

▼ Ah yes, to meet Ladybeard of course.

▼ “Guys what do you think of my new gun? Does it match my hat?”

▼ …who farted?

▼ Geez, she likes Shakey’s too? Is there anything not awesome about her?

If you’d like to learn more about her journey, show your support, or just see more cute photos, why not follow Satsuki on her Twitter account or check out her newly updated blog? They’re in Japanese, but supporting others is an act than transcends all language boundaries.

Source: Twitter via Alfalfalfa
Featured/top image: Twitter (1, 2) (Edited by RocketNews24)