Kaba-chan


Kaba-chan is a transgender Japanese celebrity and choreographer, born on June 19, 1969, in Yanagawa, Fukuoka. After studying dance in New York City, she returned to Japan and was a member of the musical group Dos with Taeco Nishikawa and Asami Yoshino.

Life and career

As a celebrity, Kaba-chan was open with her sexuality. While she was already known for her flamboyant character in Dos, she came out as a gay man publicly on television on a 2002 episode of the Japanese variety show Dancing Sanma Palace. In October 2014, when appearing on the talk show Uchi Kuru!? with drag queen Mitz Mangrove and transvestite LGBT activist Matsuko Deluxe, Kaba-chan revealed that she had undergone orchiectomy that past June, in addition to having had plastic surgery and begun hormone therapy, and intended to have her gender officially changed in the koseki. In July 2015, she revealed while on the television show Non-Stop! that she was preparing to travel abroad to undergo counseling in preparation for sex reassignment surgery, as the Japanese law requires she medically transition before being allowed to have her gender legally changed, saying she may have been born a man but would like to die as a woman. In August, she appeared on a special women's only talk show promoting the release of the film Piece of Cake and announced that she would be going out of Japan to wait for her surgery. She expressed a desire to have her gender change officially recognized in front of a crowd at the National Olympic Stadium and that fellow LGBT celebrities Mitz Mangrove, Matsuko Deluxe, and Ikko were all supportive of her decision and wished her good health. In September 2016, she announced that she had officially changed her legal name to Ichika Kabashima from her birth name Eiji.
Kaba-chan was also a contestant on two editions of Japan's Dancing with the Stars entitled Shall We Dance?, winning its "1 day special" episode with dancing partner Hidemi Yamamoto performing a pasodoble and also winning its second "1 day special" with partner RYOKO performing a salsa.

Choreography

Film