Matching hair to fur collar

Another blog post shamelessly “borrowed” or re-blogged from InvisibleGaijin is this post about the latest Tokyo men’s fashion: dyeing your hair to match your fur collar. I love both the fashion itself and the reporter, who claims that “man skirts” are so last month. This photo is a visual love poem to the Tokyo Metro.

Underwear obsession

Just when I feel jaded about the blogosphere, I discovered a new blog InvisibleGaijin that mixes wicked satire and faux news with a focus on men’s fashion. Swoon.

The above is from InvisibleGaijin’s story about Japanese underwear, which connects undergarment obsession with recession and soshoku danshi (herbivores), and in part reads:

Self-professed gaijin with love/hate relationship with Japan, Fuzakeruna Konogaijinme, commented, “Japanese salarymen always turn inwards in recessions, peering into their navels in hopes no one notices they don’t do shit at work. Underwear that makes your balls feel good always sells.”

(Image from www.pants-ya.com. Almost NSFW).

Cute uniforms

A bunny clutching a teddy bear? In front of a house smaller than the bunny’s head?

Only in Japan would middle-aged men working for a tract home builder wear super-childish manga splashed uniforms. Do you think the worker feels professional, confident, and ready to move some pre-fab homes?

Can US bow low enough?

I am, of course, *loving* how US conservatives are going crazy over Obama’s bowing to the Japanese Emperor. How dare he show respect to the titular leader of a foreign country?! Never mind how W walked hand-in-hand with the Saudi Arabian royal petro dealers or cozied up perched on their arm rests.

Obama playing nice in Japan and currying favor in Chinese signals a shift from the aggressive unilateralism into a new era where the US must please and satisfy the purchasers of our ballooning Treasury debt. The sexual undertones add to the political realignment of new roles and possibilities.

As others have noted, Obama was poorly prepared for his meeting with Japanese leaders. You do not bow while hand-shaking. It is either/or, or at the least bow-then-shake.

Tokyo’s Danny Choo Brings Dance Tooper to Singapore

Tokyo based Danny Choo, global otaku extraordinaire, brings his Dance Trooper to Singapore. The little island will never be the same. Two notable parts of this amazing dance video: wiping the sweat from his helmet, and the prominent crotch. If such flamboyant male heterosexuality spreads, world peace will surely follow.

New slang & trends of 2009

One of the joys of November in Japan is the release of the top 60 new slang and trends of the year. Publisher Jiyu Kokuminsha provides the list, and fortunately Pink Tentacle provides excellent translations of each term (with explanations for those who may be less familiar with pop culture, politics and notorious crimes in Japan).

Next month 10 finalists are selected. I will start introducing some terms on my blog. You can read the full list of 60 new slang of 2009 on Pink Tentacle.

Above is sekushii buchō (セクスィー部長, or sexy department chief), a character with exaggerated masculine sex appeal from the NHK sketch-comedy show “Salaryman NEO.”

Shake weights for men

Is this for real? Apparently it was introduced on the Ellen show and then Jon Stewart’s Daily Show.

Here’s a hilarious online description: Shake Weight: The masturbating-style workout device for men

Three men, standing around–wielding, long, hard vibrating devices. It’s like any normal day in the locker room of a David Barton Gym. (You NYC folks know what I mean *WINK*)

Meet the Shake Weight: A revolutionary Terminator dildo (possibly sent from the future–or the gods) . . .

World’s longest California roll

There’s always someone with a size fixation. University of California at Berkeley students made the world’s longest California roll, 331 feet, with 80 pounds each of avocado and cucumber. The event drew the attendance of Japanese Consul General Nagamine Yasumasa. OK, you’re right, I posted this because of the attention-seeking student with his mouth open wide

Strange but sexy image

This image may be trying to make some environmental statement. Shallow me just finds it sexy and more than a little moe.

Nightie sign is extra moe

Nighties are, by definition, more moe than function. The “I do love” introduction adds an extra frisson of perversion, and I can only wonder how the Ikuko nightie “satisfied you.”