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 excitement about receiving a ticket to Burning Man through the aid ticket program for people with lower income (under 5 million yen), and how many Japanese people are eligible.
* The application process: explaining why you can’t afford a regular ticket (which costs around $650), providing tax papers as proof of income, and describing what you can contribute to the community (cleaning, cooking, kinbaku, pole dance, etc.).
* Kinoko’s personal situation: being neurodivergent, LGBTQ+, and how having a stable, sufficient income is difficult in Japan.
* What Burning Man is: a week-long camping festival in Nevada’s Black Rock Desert with about 70,000 participants, where people build a temporary village and burn a large wooden statue (”the man”) and a temple on the last day.
* The no-money rule inside Burning Man: a social experiment where participants exchange gifts, skills, or help instead of using cash. Water can be pre-purchased with a water ticket, but food and drinks are given freely by other participants.
* The importance of consent in all exchanges, and the presence of sheriffs and police to handle any violence or crime.
Tip: Turn on the automatic transcript feature if you’d like to read along.
Connect with Kinoko-san
* Kinoko-san’s X: https://x.com/kinoko1027
* Kinoko-san’s blog: https://ameblo.jp/kinoko1027ameba/