Real resort attracts men honeymooning with virtual girlfriends

Is this truly “only in Japan” or does Western media love stories about “weird” Japanese men? Funny how these weird men are always cast as dysfunctional straights.

So here’s the latest story in the Wall Street Journal: a resort town suffering from the collapse of rural Japan and the terrible economy promotes itself as a destination for LovePlus+ dating gamers. This story produces the sensationalist title, “Only in Japan, Real Men Go to a Hotel with their Virtual Girlfriends,” the sad subtitle, “Dating Game Simulation a Last Resort for Holiday Town and Its Lonely Guests,” and the innuendo rich description of a town seeking to “attract single men– and their hand-held devices.”

The game is at once demanding of its users’ time, and also regressive. Men in their 20s and 30s enact a high school romance. The summer fun at the seaside resort ends in late August when the virtual girlfriends must go back to school.

I’ve reported other geek love stories, like the dakimakura or huggable pillow girlfriends. It seems foreigners enjoy hearing about how dysfunctional Japanese men can be. Perhaps I also get an added chuckle out of the spectacle of improbable hetero desire. But I also agree with the many critics of this news genre that this is hardly representative of Japanese masculinity.

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.

Male maid cafes

The Japan Times features a wonderful Christmas Eve story about the growing popularity of male maid cafes. What I love is that this trend of men assuming the maid costume is presented as having nothing to do with sexuality or gender identity.

1. Men like dressing as women, and it’s becoming more acceptable.

Behind this nascent trend, observers say, is that more men are beginning to enjoy dressing as a woman from a fashion viewpoint, and society is becoming more tolerant of the practice.

2. There are not enough women workers.

It started when one of the regular waitresses quit.

3. Male customers feel more comfortable being served by men.

“Men who are not used to being served by women can feel relaxed and talk to the ‘maids’ easily because they are male,” said Chaan Sarin, who heads the cafe’s waitstaff.

4. For the maids, cross-dressing provides stress-relief from work. It’s only temporary, the girlfriend does not know, and this personal therapy will be ended with marriage.

“I become a totally different person to release my stress from work. I have the feelings of a man and I will quit once I get married,” he said.

5. Manga makes them do it.

More male fans are also dressing like their favorite female characters in “anime’ animation and computer games.

6. Publishing houses are helping men look better in drag.

Cashing in on this trend, Osaka-based Yu-time Publishing released the book “Otokonoko no Tameno Henshin Gaido” (“Guide for Boys to Transform Themselves”) in October 2008.

7. Tolerance is related to looking pretty, and new media sources allow men to be prettier women today.

“People began to accept men dressed as women, saying it is OK as long as they are beautiful. At the same time, as there is more information nowadays on how to dress like women, men have gotten dramatically better at it.”

Japan has the most awesome combination of extreme kinkiness and feigned innocence.

Japanese men behaving badly

A week full of scandals and bad behavior. Above is Oshio Manabu, an actor and pop singer, who fled the house of a woman with whom he did Ecstasy after she fell ill. He called his manager and left without calling for medical help. Later, she died. Now And now Manabu’s wife is divorcing him.

The second scandal involves “self-proclaimed professional surfer” Takaso Yuichi  busted for amphetamine stuffed in his underwear who blamed his wife, popular actress Sakai Noriko. She fled the city but was arrested today after leaving her son at the home of her husband’s mistress.

Sadly I can’t find a photo of alleged surfer Takaso (Above is Takaso, thanks to an anonymous tipster, unfortunately not caught in surfer action), although I was charmed to hear that the government has pulled the wife’s movie promoting the new lay jury system in Japan. Apparently they don’t want a fictional “juror” who is a real life suspect.

The Japanese press is finding many warnings that Noripi was corrupted by her husband of ten years. Why she even got a tattoo last year: a clear signal of descent into depravity, no?

Early last year a tattoo was spotted on her left ankle, something not considered in keeping with her pure and innocent image. Showbiz sources say she had lost a lot of weight and was behaving erratically lately.

And lastly here is Noripi singing her “Blue Rabbit” (Aoi Usagi) song: