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Note that the Japanese word okama can be written many different ways - three examples can be seen here. In most of the images in this article, it's written as オカマ. In previous articles, we’ve seen how words in one language don’t always have perfect 1-to-1 matches in other languages. For example, even the simple pronouns “I” and “me” are tricky to translate when jumping between Japanese and English.

This time, we’ll take a similar look at something that’s both tricky and controversial: the Japanese word okama.

Along the way, we’ll also briefly examine the multiple meanings behind the word okama, as well as its different uses in Japanese media. We’ll then look at how okama has been translated into English in a variety of video games since the 1990s, and then use some detective work to see how use of the word okama is now changing in Japanese entertainment itself.

Note: because of the nature of this topic, the following article contains Japanese and English slurs related to LGBTQ individuals.

You could literally write entire books about the Japanese word okama, its centuries-old origin, its evolution, its modern connotations, and more. But the quick version is that okama can refer to a bunch of different things, including homosexual men, transgender women, and crossdressers.

For reference, here’s how different Japanese-to-English dictionaries define okama. The first three are standard dictionaries, while the fourth one is more of an English-to-Japanese slang-oriented dictionary:

Dictionary Definition of okama JMDict male homosexual; effeminate man; male transvestite Shogakukan Progressive Japanese–English Dictionary a (male) homosexual, a gay (man), a fag; a queer Kenkyusha’s New Japanese-English Dictionary (Fifth Edition) a gay; a queer; a fag; a faggot; a male prostitute Eijiro on the WEB Pro agfay; fag; flaming fag; flaming fruit, fruitbar; fruit; fruitcake; queen; queervert; shirtlifter; sister boy; sweet; sweetie; swish; twinkie; twinky

As we can see, okama is a mostly negative and derogatory term. In some contexts, however, it’s used as a neutral term or as a positive self-identifier.

Dictionaries are one thing, but real-life usage is another. Here are a few representations of okama in Japanese media:

In short, okama has a variety of meanings and is usually negative, but not always. In addition, like most words, its meanings, connotations, and depictions can change over time.

There’s no single English equivalent for the Japanese word okama, yet it appears often in Japanese entertainment. I’ve seen it handled many different ways in English game localizations, so I thought I’d share some of my findings below.

The original Japanese version of this classic Konami game is filled with the word okama – often as a clear insult, but not always. This is because one of the main villains in the game is a flamboyant crossdresser with an exaggerated female speech pattern:

This villain named Baron uses highly feminine Japanese speech patterns, including the atashi pronoun

The beginning of the Japanese game includes multiple instances of the word okama. It seems that when possible, the English localizers tried to write around the word.

In this line, “okamas” was replaced with the word “members”:

And in this line, the whole sentence was changed to avoid the okama reference:

When the word was less avoidable, okama was replaced with the English word “weirdo”:

Note that these examples are only from the beginning of the game. If I find any other noteworthy examples in the future, I’ll add them here.

Sega’s popular and long-running Yakuza series often features okama characters. And because most of the Yakuza games have received multiple translations and re-releases, we can actually see how treatment of the word okama has changed over the past 15 years.

Yakuza 2 features an okama character named Ako/Okano who runs a bar. In the 2008 English translation, we can see that okama was translated as “homo”:

Yakuza 2 received a complete Japanese remake years later, and was released in English in 2018. The game’s all-new translation also took a different approach to Japanese cultural terms. As a part of this new approach, the word okama was simply left in Japanese:

"What, never seen an ex-thug turn into an okama mama?"

One side quest in Yakuza 3 involves an okama and an onabe. In the English release, these terms were translated as “drag queen” and “drag king”:

Almost a decade later, the game was re-released for the PlayStation 4. However, citing modern social sensibilities, the developers voluntarily removed okama-related side quests from the Japanese version. The same side quests were removed from the English re-release as well.

Yakuza 4 also features okama references. In one scene in the original translation, we can see that okama was translated both as “cross-dresser” and as “tranny”:

In line with the previous games’ re-translations, the English re-release of Yakuza 4 left the word okama in Japanese:

Okama: "Oh, you naughty boy! You know that's an okama bar, right? Heh, what am I saying? Of course you do."

Interestingly, this 2019 English re-release also leaves “okama” unitalicized, unlike in the 2018 Yakuza 2 re-translation.

In the Japanese version of this Atlus game, an NPC uses the word okama as a self-identifier. In the English release, we can see that okama was translated as “cross-dresser”:

Dragon Quest fever sweeps Japan whenever Square Enix releases a new game in the series. It was especially wild in the 1980s and 1990s: fans camping in front of stores, TV reporters covering the situation live, wide-scale school absences, thieves stealing games from kids… the list goes on and on. The phenomenon even spawned an urban myth about the Japanese government making it illegal to release Dragon Quest games on weekdays.

In short, the Dragon Quest series was – and still is – enormous, mainstream, and beloved by millions of players in Japan.

I bring this up because Dragon Quest II includes an okama reference at a certain point in the script. What’s more, the game has received countless ports, re-releases, translations, and re-translations over the past 30+ years. This gives us a unique, historical look at how the word okama has changed in Japanese and in translation over time.

The Dragon Quest series regularly refers to something called a “puff-puff”, which is implied to be an erotic massage that involves putting your head between a woman’s breasts. Puff-puff scenes are a running gag in the series, and they often end with surprise twists.

Many hours into Dragon Quest II , a character in a town offers to give you a puff-puff:

Japanese Version (basic translation) English Translation Hey, I’m cute, don’t you think? Then how about a puff-puff? Dost though think I am pretty enough to be a queen? If you answer “no” and your female companion is absent So what if I’m an okama?! You meanie… What’s wrong!

In the Japanese puff-puff scene, this character takes offense and reveals the surprise twist: they’re actually an okama. The English version of this scene, however, was rewritten to be more family-friendly.

Of course, the English word “queen” does have the slang definition of “a homosexual man, especially one regarded as ostentatiously effeminate”. As such, you could potentially argue that the original okama idea is technically still in the English translation, whether intended or not.

This new, upgraded version of Dragon Quest and Dragon Quest II featured improved graphics and sound, as well as text updates. Although this compilation was never released outside of Japan, fans created an unofficial English translation a decade later.

Here’s the same okama scene in this upgraded release:

Japanese Version (basic translation) Fan Translation Hey, I’m cute, don’t you think? Then how about a puff-puff? Don’t you think I’m cute? Do you want a puff puff? If you answer “no” and your female companion is absent Hmph! Gimme a break! So what if I’m an okama?! You meanie… Humph! What?! Not another homosexual…

In the Japanese version, we can see that the original okama reference was carried over into this new release. In fact, new text was even added to intensify the character’s displeasure.

In the fan translation, we can see that okama was translated as “homosexual”. The full line itself, though, was mistranslated. As a result, the character now appears to insult you, the player, by calling you a homosexual.

On a side note, this mistake in the fan translation also led to incorrect information being spread via authoritative resources: example 1 example 2 . For similar instances of this blind trust phenomenon in popular fan translations, see my detailed write-ups here and here

This portable version of Dragon Quest II was given a brand new official translation a decade after the original translation’s release. This time, the puff-puff massage reference wasn’t completely removed:

Japanese Version (basic translation) English Translation Hey, I’m cute, don’t you think? Then how about a puff-puff? Do you think I look cute? Want a powder-puff massage? If you answer “no” and your female companion is absent Hmph! Gimme a break! So what if I’m an okama?! You meanie… Humph! So? Who says I can’t wear a dress?

As we can see, despite the new translation, the okama reference was still dropped in this English release. Interestingly, the line does take on new meaning once you know the context of the original Japanese scene.

This special Dragon Quest compilation was released exclusively in Japan to celebrate the 25th anniversary of the series. The compilation included two versions of Dragon Quest II : the original release from 1987 and the upgraded release from 1993.

Surprisingly, both the official website and the instruction manual included this small note:

The (games’) contents are mostly unchanged from their original releases, but in consideration of current social and cultural circumstances, portions of text have been modified.

Unfortunately, there isn’t much information about this topic online. What text could possibly have prompted these changes? Was it the okama reference in Dragon Quest II ? Something else entirely?

To find out more, I bought my own copy of the anniversary compilation and played both versions of Dragon Quest II . After many hours, I discovered that the original okama references are still intact in the 2011 re-releases:

So if the developers altered text in this compilation for social and cultural reasons, then what text did they change? For now, it’s a mystery to me.

In 2005, a completely new remake of Dragon Quest II was released for Japanese cell phones. Unfortunately, the nature of this release makes it impossible for me to research today.

In 2014, a port of this cell phone remake was released for Japanese mobile devices. An English version was released several months later, and featured a brand new translation:

Japanese Version (basic translation) English Translation Hey, I’m cute, don’t you think? Then how about a puff-puff? Do I please thee, good sirrah? Am I fair in thine eyes? Then mayhap thou wouldst accept from me a heartfelt puff-puff? If you answer “no” and your female companion is absent Hmph! Gimme a break! So what if I’m an okama?! You meanie… Hmph! And what, pray, doth so fail to please thee in my fair self that thou would fain refuse such an offer, hm!?

As we can see, the Japanese mobile version still used the original okama line. The English translation followed the previous translations and again dropped the okama reference.

In a way, Dragon Quest XI is like one, big celebration of all the previous Dragon Quest games – everywhere you look, you’ll find cameos, references, homages, quotes, and more. You even get to travel back inside the previous games to experience them in new ways. Naturally, this specific puff-puff character makes an appearance too.

A few months before Dragon Quest XI debuted in Japan, a preview article included screenshots of this puff-puff character’s cameo. What’s more, one screenshot featured the exact same okama quote from Dragon Quest II :

"Hmph! Gimme a break! So what if I'm an okama?! You meanie..."

(from April 11, 2017 preview article)

However, a YouTube video posted a week after Dragon Quest XI ’s release shows that this okama quote was replaced with a completely different line:

"Oh, are you traveling with a girl? Take good care of her then, okay?"

(from August 4, 2017 YouTube video)

So did the okama quote get replaced before the game’s release, or did it get replaced in an update patch after the game’s release?

To find out, I bought a brand new, sealed, early purchase copy of Dragon Quest XI . After disabling updates, I loaded the game, jumped to the proper point in the game, and discovered that my copy of the game matched the YouTube video I had seen:

"Oh, are you traveling with a girl? Take good care of her then, okay?"

(from a brand new, sealed, early purchase copy)

In short, it seems that the original okama line was removed from Dragon Quest XI sometime between April 2017 and July 2017. My best guess is that someone important noticed the preview screenshot during those three months and requested the change.

It’s important to note here that the 3DS version and the PlayStation 4 version of Dragon Quest XI were released on the same day in Japan. The 3DS version was never released in English, but the PS4 version did receive an English release a year later, in 2018.

Interestingly, the line in the English PS4 release doesn’t match the updated Japanese line. Instead, the English line appears to be based on the 2014 mobile translation, although it’s not an exact quote:

Japanese Version (basic translation) English Translation Oh, are you traveling with a girl? Take good care of her then, okay? Hmph! And what, pray, doth so fail to please thee that thou would fain refuse such an offer, hm!?

Basically, it appears that the Japanese developers scrambled to remove the okama reference from Dragon Quest XI before its debut in 2017. Meanwhile, the English translators didn’t need to rush to change anything, because a replacement English line had already been devised years earlier.

Two weeks after Dragon Quest XI ’s debut, a port of Dragon Quest II was released for the 3DS. This version was based on the 2005 cell phone remake and was only released in Japan.

As we saw earlier, the mobile release retained the okama line. The 3DS version, however, uses the same replacement line found in Dragon Quest XI :

"Oh, are you traveling with a girl? Take good care of her then, okay?"

Incidentally, despite this text change in the 2017 3DS version, the 2014 mobile version still contains the okama reference even now, in 2020.

Also, it’s a minor detail, but the text formatting in this new Japanese line doesn’t match the formatting of the line in Dragon Quest XI . This suggests this wasn’t a simple copy-and-paste, set-it-and-forget-it content change.

This updated version of Dragon Quest XI was released to a much wider audience than ever before. It featured changes to the original game, along with all new content.

For reference, here’s the puff-puff line in question:

Japanese Version (basic translation) English Translation Oh, are you traveling with a girl? Take good care of her then, okay? Hmph! And what, pray, doth so fail to please thee that thou would fain refuse such an offer, hm!?

As we can see, this puff-puff line is identical to the one from the original 2017/2018 releases of Dragon Quest XI . In other words, the okama reference is absent in both Japanese and in English.

This cell phone-based port of Dragon Quest II was released on the same day that Dragon Quest XI S was released. In the Japanese version, the okama line uses the same replacement line found in Dragon Quest XI :

Japanese Version (basic translation) English Translation Oh, are you traveling with a girl? Take good care of her then, okay? Thou wilt not? But then why wouldst thou? Were a maiden comely as she to grace my side, verily mine eyes should ne’er wander!

The text formatting in this Japanese line matches the formatting in Dragon Quest XI and not the previous Dragon Quest II release. This suggests the okama replacment line had to be manually re-entered again at some point. In other words, there’s probably a big note next to this line in the Japanese source code that says “BE SURE TO UPDATE THIS LINE IN FUTURE RELEASES”.

Surprisingly, this English line was also re-translated from scratch, even though the rest of the script is identical to the 2014 mobile translation. The new line doesn’t make much sense in context, though, given that it only appears when your female companion is absent or dead.

In total, this single okama-related line in Dragon Quest II has been translated at least six different ways over the years, and has been changed in Japanese at least twice.

We’ve looked at so many versions of Yakuza and Dragon Quest and whatnot that it’s all become a big blur by this point. What was the point of all this again?

There are two points, actually – to see how the word okama has been handled in video game translation over time, and how the word okama has changed in Japanese entertainment over time.

First, from the examples above, we’ve seen how okama has been translated in different ways across a variety of video games:

We’re working from a tiny sample size, of course, but it’s at least clear that game publishers initially tried to avoid or sidestep any okama references in translation. That practice continues to this day, but it’s also now more common to see okama references left intact and translated in proper context. We’re even starting to see the word okama left as an untranslated Japanese term when it fits the situation.

From the examples above, we’ve also seen that Japanese game publishers used the word okama without concern between the 1980s and 2010s. In the late 2010s, however, industry leaders began to consider okama a culturally insensitive word. Some publishers have even started to change and/or drop the use of the word okama and okama-related content. This new stance applies to new games and classic re-releases alike.

I first started studying Japanese in the 1990s, and I have a faint memory of a teacher mentioning the word okama and how it’s not a good word to use. But later on, during my studies in Japan, I kept seeing the word okama being used everywhere on television, in movies, in manga, and so on. This left me confused – was it a taboo word or not?

Over time, I gained a more natural, nuanced understanding of the word okama, but it was never a topic I formally learned about in Japanese classes or in translation courses. So I’m glad I was able to finally look into it in more detail and share what I learned here.

Anyway, we’ve looked at the word okama in detail in this article, but it’s only one piece of a larger picture. There are many other similar Japanese words that have their own unique histories, uses, connotations, and more. Some examples include:

mister lady

new half

blue boy

sister boy

gei

homo

onabe

onē

Many of these words come from the English language, yet have their own unique nuances in Japanese. It’d be neat to see how they’ve changed over time too, and to see how they’re still changing today. For example, I feel like onē has become a more considerate replacement of okama in recent years, but I bet something new will replace it in a decade or two. I wonder what it’ll be.

When I first started doing research for this article, I didn’t know what to expect. It’s interesting – we often hear about how language changes over time, but we rarely see how translation can change over time too. This has been a learning experience for me, and hopefully it’s been fun and informative for you too.

Also, if you know of any other examples of okama in Japanese entertainment translation, let me know!

If you enjoyed this article, I've written a few other gender-related translation articles that you might like here. And if you're a fan of bad video game translations, you'll probably like this!