Why are Americans so ugly?!

OMG. What a horrible outfit & nasty hair! This is the mistress of former Democratic candidate John Edwards, the smooth talker until recently married to the lady with cancer. Miss Rielle Hunter declares to GQ magazine that their love is real, and she’s helping him “live the truth.” The only part of this photo that is *not* offensive is the baby’s purple “ugly” doll.

A quick review of her Wikipedia page reminds me that she is the former girlfriend of brat pack author Jay McInerney, and the inspiration for the coke-devouring character Alison Poole, in his 1988 “Story of My Life.” The Huffington Post describes the fictional lady as follows: “Alison isn’t easy to like. When we first meet her, she’s an STD-carrying slut who cons her latest lover into giving her money by telling him she needs an abortion.”

Where is the dignity of America’s ruling class? Maybe her visibility is a plot to make Obama look better.  Thank heavens for Michelle Obama.

Provocation and Dignity

Ah, commercial English in Tokyo. This Shinjuku “dining and bar lounge” named “in aqua” offers provocation and dignity. Does this mean that it is dirty and still high class? Or maybe the nouns were chosen at random.

Random San Francisco post

OK. To be honest this post has nothing to do with Tokyo. Except perhaps in a comparative studies sort-a-way. Above is a photo from an absurdly fetishistic site called Brolores Park, featuring male “bromances” in the famed park between the Mission and Castro. You might also check out 7 Places to Get Drunk and Lose Your Dignity.

Do you think the movie Hump Day will come to Japan?

Puppies in Shibuya

Shibuya is an area that I avoid, especially on weekend nites. My husband describes this busy neighborhood as full of “horny hetero teens” mostly from outside Tokyo and aspiring to big city life. A recent dinner with work colleagues found me there until close to last train time.

Poking around, we saw this incongrous juxtaposition: back-lit photos of sleazy girls next to “Baby Doll” puppies. Were these innocent puppies a metaphor, a bait-and-switch, a euphemism of some sort?

The Dignity of Women

A best seller in Japan is Mariko Bando’s “The Dignity of Women” (じょせいのひんかく), which raises important questions about national and gender identities. Millions of Japanese have bought her book full of advice to young Japanese career women, such as speaking in a refined manner, being punctual, and not accepting free tissues offered outside the train stations. Bando rightly declares, “Women’s dignity is the dignity of human beings.” I am still waiting for the English version to better effect my own personal transformation, although there are deals to take the book to South Korea and Taiwan.

Shu claims there’d be no interest in this book in the U.S. since no one there is interested in dignity and public space. Responses?

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