Rancha Misumi’s Dream Starts at Night, in a Space where Developmental Disabilities and Gender Dysphoria are not Stigmatized

Extract from The Asahi Shimbun

November 20 2022

7pm. Rancha’s day begins in the internet virtual space called the ‘Metaverse’.

Her silky black hair sways just below her shoulders and her eyes are so transparent they seem to suck you in. Rancha is a V-tuber who streams on YouTube in her 3D avatar form.

When she is in the Metaverse, she talks with friends who come to visit her in her room and goes to various places.

Sometimes she even takes part in glamorous stages. She wears a light blue outfit with rainbows on it, and sings and dances to original songs she has written herself.

She sings and dances to an original song she has written herself: ‘Dreams that have been asleep overflow my body, colouring my shape and screaming’.

After spending time until around midnight in the Metaverse, she switches off her computer and goes to sleep.

In the real world, Rancha is a 26-year-old man living in the Chubu region of Japan, who quit his job at a newspaper company this summer after working there for three years.

Rancha always felt it was hard to live.

Rancha stopped going to school in elementary, junior high and high school. Even when he wanted to chat with his classmates, he couldn’t respond well because he was worried about what they would think of him.

Rancha was even bullied by people who said she had a “gross face”.

Around the third or fourth grade, Rancha was diagnosed with autistic spectrum disorder (ASD) and attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD).

Rancha’s language comprehension scores were well above the norm, but Rancha’s information processing skills were much lower.