About Yuri
Japanese popular entertainment displays a fascination with gender ambiguity, perhaps understandably in a culture where gender roles are still quite strictly defined. Androgyny, transvestism and homosexuality are successfully marketed to a primarily straight audience in Japan.
"Yuri" is what Lesbian romance in Japanese comic books (manga) and animation (anime) are called. It literally means "lily"; lilies traditionally symbolize Lesbianism in Japanese culture. (Chrysanthemums symbolize gay male romance.) It ranges from quite innocent schoolgirl crushes (shoujo ai) to explicit erotica (hentai).
But one refreshing aspect of yuri is that much of it blithely ignores the complications of being gay and gets right to the fun stuff: romance. This is partly because Japan does not share the Western taboo on homosexuality. Homosexuals are still expected to marry and reproduce, as it is their duty to their families, but covert homosexual activity is tolerated as easily as extramarital heterosexual affairs.