Miyu Nakagawa

1960s Japan—economic boom, Olympic pride, and a crackdown on “public morals.” An anti-prostitution law targets women but spares male sex workers, the so-called “blue boys.” When police arrest the doctor performing their sex reassignment surgeries, the sensational “Blue Boy Trial” begins. Three transgender women take the stand, igniting a national debate on identity, medicine, and happiness—long before the language of LGBT existed. Though the court ruled surgery legal, the verdict cast a shadow: no such operations would occur in Japan for 29 years. Half a century later, this buried history still reverberates in the lives of sexual minorities.

Yuta, a second-year middle school student, lives with his single mother. One day, a woman named Yuka suddenly appears at Yuta’s home. Yuka claims to be Yuta himself, having come from 10 years in the future—after enduring various hardships, he underwent gender confirmation surgery to become who she is now. Yuka urges Yuta to begin the process of gender transition as soon as possible, before he reaches adulthood. Although Yuta had begun to feel a slight sense of dissonance among his friends, he resists Yuka’s forceful pressure. A tug-of-war ensues between Yuka, who has chosen to live as a woman, and Yuta, who finds it difficult to accept that future.