One of the old men’s parties must be trawling for the ladies’ vote with this dapper young politician

Just remember that this hot politician’s party daddy is the decrepit Abe, who 7 years ago resigned from the Prime Minister job after 10 months of service due to stomach problems. Why is he leading this cute guy’s party, again? Are they trying to confuse the feminine public? He seems very confident about his abilities to count to three using his fingers.

Update: My bad. Actually this pretty politician, with a cloth condom on his mike, works for another decrepit political daddy, Noda, current prime minister and pro-nuke anti-populist. And we haven’t even mentioned far-right wing Ishihara, who is against women, gays, immigrants, and French people, plus he’d like to add more friction (and not the sexual kind) with China.

Can Japan resist allure of K-pop ikemen?!

Shinee (샤이니, pronounced “shiny”) is a Korean boy band that will be making its Japan debut in June, 2011.

There’s always seems to be yet another K-pop boy band whose dancing, fan service, and fashion exceed anything Japan’s Johnny has ever imagined. If it weren’t for the Japanese husband, I wonder if maybe I shouldn’t be studying Korean. Well, in Tokyo, at least we have Shin Okubo to enjoy a bit of Korea without getting on a plane.

There’s a name for hot young dads: ikumen

This new word イクメン combine the slang ikemen, which means attractive man, with iku, which means child-raising. It is one of the many, many sub-categories of men I find very hot in Tokyo. Watching men whose main accessories are their toddlers inspires admiration and lust.

And, like every trend in Japan, it’s been fully commercialized, including a special section of Takashimaya department store’s website! For more 2010 new words, check out this Japan Times article.

Is Tumblr making it easier to collect and share ikemen images?

OMG, now I’ve discovered two more Tumblr blogs, presumably by white women who love young Asian guys. Probably connected to FuckYeahBlondKoreans.

FuckYeahIkemen: As their tag lines says, “You have to admit it, Asian men are gorgeous. Korean, Japanese, Taiwanese, it doesn’t matter, we love them.” As long as they are young, often blond, and preferably shirtless seems like the unwritten extra criteria!

FuckYeahHirokiNarimiya: An attractive Japanese actor I’ve blogged about before. Widely rumored to be gay.

Omikoshi in Ni-chome

I will end this 3 part series on the Shinjuku omatsuri with this image of an omikoshi (portable shrine) being marched through Ni-chome. It was a fun crowd, part gay, part old-timer, part gay old-timer! I love how this ordinary street is transformed by mystical spirits and a sense of community and common purpose.

Just to keep on topic with Tokyo Moe, there was one ikemen photo I captured of the shrine. The husband saw the photo, and said, “he’s handsome.” Dunhh! I know!

I just want to be a teen werewolf

Wow! That’s a lot of heavily made-up, teen male angst! The video is entitled “I hate you Josh. I’m a teen werewolf.” It includes memorable lines like, “I don’t suck Daffy Duck’s dick.”

Thanks to all my lovely readers who commented about the 200,000th page view. I will definitely bring more street fashion, more sneaky photos, and of course more ikemen. But, no doubt, along the way, I will also include the many random and strange things I see in Tokyo and online. Please feel free to send any relevant stories and images that you think I should post!

Boy bands at suburban festival

At a large suburban festival, we saw *three* booths involving boy bands. My favorite was the one above which involved a rifle shooting game, with the boy band images as either prizes or encouragements. This older guy looks ready to teach the kids how to shoot to kill. The guy running the game was kind of an ikemen, with his fried hair piled into a glitter sequin watch cap.

Below two booths sold boy band imagery. Interestingly, in Japan, there is no equivalent girl band objects. I guess Japanese (male loving) women are just lucky in that respect. I also suspect that the imagery objectifying women is perhaps too dirty to be shown in public at a festival.

And still more. Plus there was a Korean store full of Korean bands and idols.

Folded and Hung

Courtesy of my online friend Adrik, here is an image from “Folded and Hung,” the Phillipine’s “most dynamic and promising fashion forward Filipino apparel retail corporations.

Ikemen Alert: Teikyo University Rugby Players

It’s summer, hot, humid and sultry, but I am already dreaming of going back to university. Based on this brilliant Tokyo Metro ad campaign, I choose Teikyo University.

With all the summer male eye candy, I apologize for the previous post and my recent failure to show more alluring Tokyo men’s images. I’ll try to make it up to you dear readers in the next days.

The husband accused me of being more sympathetic to “air-heads” than otakus. And he also tried to tell me that Teikyo Uni is more famous for sports than academics. Unhh, so what? These guys are ikemen, and I am *not* imagining their brains.

Am I too old to try out for cheer leader squad? And which one should be team captain, and why?

Baseball madness

That glazed expression is the result of two beers before dinner. And those tiny plastic umbrellas? No, it is not raining. It is a fan tribute for a home run at the Swallows baseball game in Jingu Stadium. Anyone who knows me could be surprised seeing me at a ball game, but I was invited and, well, it’s Japan, so why not?

My pal encouraged me to sit in the cheap seat bleachers to fully enjoy the rowdy fans. It was a packed night because the opponents were the very popular Hanshin Tigers from Osaka. The stadium is divided right to left for each team’s fans, and we sat in the Swallows section. Although the rules are the same, the atmosphere is very different.

On our side, there were many plastic bats rhythmically beating, team jerseys and towels, general chants and player-specific chants (including a version of “Oh Canada” for one foreign player, and “ikemen” for one of the Japanese players), a few horns, some very large flags, and beer vendors in neon clothes with kegs strapped to their backs. While the Swallows fans have their plastic mini-umbrellas, the Tigers have large yellow balloons which they release into the sky at the 7th inning. A Japanese fan in the Swallows stands complained that it produces a lot of trash.

This fan in front of us was very friendly, proud of his team and their foreign players, and eager to lend us his dancing umbrella. Despite his super-butch appearance, I liked how he explained his “ikemen” chant (“because he’s sexy”), and that he came to the game with his buddy and the hugest pink and white sports bag I have ever seen.