百合ップル[yurippuru]
I think this term is still new though I could guess the meaning straightaway when I heard of it for the first time. Well, if you happen to like 同人誌[doujinshi"fan-made comic"], you might know the term, 百合[yuri]. It simply means a lily, but also means lesbian. Incidentally, 薔薇[bara"rose"] means homosexual. Yes, 百合 is an exact opposite of BL. So that’s to say, it’s Girls’ Love. This kind of thing has been remarkable because of the famous novel series, マリア様が見てる[maria-sama ga miteru] though it’s less profitable than BL. ップル actually means カップル[kappuru"pair"]. So this term is an abbreviation of 百合カップル though only カ is omitted. 百合ップル is then a female and female pair from a certain anime or manga. Speaking of 百合ップル, I can think of Haruhi/Mikuru(The Melancholy of Suzumiya Haruhi) and Rei Ayanami/Souryu Asuka Rangley (Evangelion), and so on.
Besides, there’s a gay magazine, 薔薇族[barazoku] in Japan. 族[zoku] means a tribe, a group, or folks. So that’s why the term, 薔薇 is generally accepted to have a meaning of homosexual though there’s no definition of this in your dictionary. Also, the editor of 薔薇族 made up this term, 百合 when he was asked how to say lesbians at the interview. It was no point, but it has settled somehow…
Avplaya said,
August 6, 2007 at 4:57 pm
Cool! I did NOT know Yuri was created by barazoku mag! Guys creating nicknames for Lesbians… I wonder if the term is accepted by the real Lesbians in Japan? I guess so since a lot of those Butler cafes are technically just lesbian bars in other countries.
bangin said,
August 7, 2007 at 11:17 am
Yes, there’s a porn drama called 百合族[yurizoku]. It was very old film, but has some sequels like 百合族２ or 新・百合族[shin-yurizoku]. So it is not only generalized, but also accepted among the real Lesbians.
But in Japan, butler cafes are for fujoshi mostly. I guess they’d like to get dressed as a butler, and customers would like to see and talk about otaku things with butlers.