After two consecutive political images– not sure which is uglier, politicians buttholes or faces– I thought this blog needed some festive yankiis to balance out the male beauty spectrum.
These guys were selling drinks and street food at the Nichome Rainbow Festival two weeks ago. I love how they combine androgyny (hair clip, check!), damaged hair, towel as scarf, and a touch of punk (lip piercing, check!).
Now we’ve all seen the future of Japan, and can rest more easily!
Tokyo Metro is so much more than a functional means to go from Point A to Point B. On “de-training,” I was briefly blinded by this fountain of damaged and teased (men’s) hair. It amazes me to think how much time he devotes to this personal sculpture, without a doubt to impress the ladies. When I recovered, and stepped back, I was equally impressed with his incredibly girlie, flouncy blouse.
In addition to endless thass, there was endless yankii fashion at the omatsuri. No doubt this festival was extra riche in eye candy because the shrine is almost equidistant from Kabukicho, Golden Gai, and Ni-chome. According to Donald Richie, this old shrine was famous in the post-war years for being a place where truckers met trannies.
The above photo captures the absolute best of yankii fashion. The boys with their teased, damaged, and plastered helmet hair, and boots-in. The girl with piled high hair, looking both 50s in her leather jacket, 60s and 80s in her curvaceous fishnets. The best part is that all are eating food on a stick: two are eating pickled cukes and one an ice-cream.
In the photo below, they seem to have realized they captured a new fan. And I love how the more traditional fellow does a double-take, perhaps more startled by the foreigner’s interest than the archetypical fashion participating in this thousands year old religion. You can also see the girl’s shoes and her amazing legs much better!
Trust me, there were more big-haired boys than I could possible capture with my simple camera. Here’s one more. I am looking forward to the start of summer.
Tokyo Moe 