This couple have managed to reproduce their looks on their pets. The lady has a long haired lap dog, the man a bull dog. They all seem happy together.
lady
Upside down dancing is muscular but not very lady-like
I would rate this pole dancer a high score for sheer strength, but a few deductions for form and costume. She’s my kind of lady. 
Melting older ladies’ hearts is enka heart-throb Hikawa Kiyoshi
I discovered enka heart-throb Hikawa Kiyoshi (氷川きよし) on the New Year’s Eve Kouhaku show. He did a big enka ballad in an over-sexed Arabian Nights production with gyrating belly-dancers. I love how in this image above he’s in front of a (very not gay) rainbow. It’s good to see that some youths are willing to entertain the nation’s growing population of elderly.
Yuji Oda gets married, to a lady!
Aren’t weddings the happiest events on Earth? In a rare guest blog, the husband reports about a well known actor widely rumored to be gay and his weekend nuptials. This foreigner had never heard about him, and doesn’t find him very visually compelling. Husband, take it away!
Yuji Oda, a popular actor who has been rumored to be gay, suddenly got married! (Shocking)
She is 12 years junior to him and a “regular citizen,” which means that they won’t reveal her identity. I believe that his new movie is coming up, and this is an important period for his career, so his agency put a lot of pressure on him and even arranged this marriage. Ken Hirai (a popular singer, who is rumored to be Oda’s ex) must be crying now. It’s good to be a regular citizen, not celebrity.
http://www.yuji-oda.com/site1/?init
More Tokyo Pride Parade drag
So much fun drag at the Tokyo Pride Parade last weekend. I love how Marie Antoinette stands near the 60s mod flight attendant (whom the husband thinks is a famous person; anyone know who she is?).
The drag fun also included some real women in fantastic outfits, including this very happy pink bunny above. I love how the lady below made her dress and hat and necklace all out of the ubiquitous blue sheet.
There was also some fierce foreign drag.
An interesting “international” couple with lady towering over gent.
And another variation of the American flag as costume.
JR Characters (1 of 3)
JR Nakano station is always a people-watching pleasure. Less self-conscious than Harajuku and less desperate than Shibuya, Nakano’s station attracts the hip, the funky, and the downright strange. This is the first in a 3 part series of JR characters.
I love how nonchalant is this lady wearing a sparkly pink top, fluorescent blue skirt, several handbags, and a hat that will not stop. Japanese are so polite that no one stared, and I was the only one who immediately pulled out my camera.
The hat is a marvelous creation. Perched on top of the main quilted, multi-patterned hat, which nearly obscures her (?) face, there is a blue sequin mini-hat, pink butterfly wings, many feathers, a stuffed lady bug, and an over-sized candy inside a rolled up wrapper.
What other objects do you think would go with this hat?
Random men in Shibuya
In keeping with the moe theme of this blog, I would like to end this year with a completely shamelessly, inappropriate and vulgar medley of random Shibuya men. With 10 minutes to spare for a business meeting at Hachiko, I turned my new Canon S90 on the crowd.
The photo above is perhaps the best: the central subject fetishized, the public zipping by, and one woman in the background smiling knowingly towards the lens.
If you asked me what is my favorite Japanese uniform, I would say the mask: ubiquitous, a sign of danger inbound or outbound, of dubious functionality, and quintessentially Japanese. Above this boy rocks his mask with ipod, shaggy orange perm, and the skinny pants tucked inside some girlish boots. I am slayed.
Continue seeing and reading more after the jump.
Ladies lunch set
It’s common in Tokyo to see menus with Ladies’ Lunch (redi-su ranchi or レディースランチ). Italian, Indian, Japanese and other restaurants routinely offer this ladies’ choice.
Somehow I still get excited to see the sign, imagining all sorts of feminine indulgence. In reality, it just means a lunch menu set with one fewer course than the regular set menu, at a slightly lower price. And, yes, guys can order the “ladies set,” too, but maybe the owners hope men will want to order more.
Happy Lady’s Day, 10% off
The Jeans Mate near our apartment is open 24 hours, despite the fact that this is a residential neighborhood. It seems to prompt them to do all sorts of desperate stuff. Last night, raining already and with a typhoon on the way, they had a banner proclaiming, Happy Lady’s Day, 10% off.
Has anyone heard of Lady’s Day? I’ve heard of Lady’s Night at bars. It smacks of desperate retailing. What do you think?
Guest post: Asian pop slash
My online friend Marius Mink sent me this amazing collection of links to Asian pop slash, and it was too delicious not to share this post, with her permission, with the world of fan girls and boys.
A quick introduction to this extraordinary guest post. Slash is typically gay male pairings from pop culture created by small groups of female fans. A version of Boys Love based on famous characters from manga, movies or even real life (think Kirk and Spock, for example).
What is most amazing about the Youtube clicks below is that Asian pop has taken this culture one step further. The boy bands themselves are now featuring male smooching as a “fanservice” to their boys-love-loving female fans in concert and on television. While the US has women kissing women in order to turn on men, this latest Asian phenomenon has boys kissing boys in order to get their female fans into a super-frenzy. OMG!
Please enjoy!
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Marius Mink’s special guest post:
In an earnest attempt to find my hanchul collection, I went through my favorites and found SO many delicious treats for you. I hope you enjoy the vids. Most of them have nothing to do with Hanchul but I know you will like them. Also, unfortunately most of my good Hanchul stuff got deleted from youtube, but some pretty important stuff is still on.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z9wt73LF8xI&feature=channel_page Heechul and Sungmin kissed. Starting on Jan 2nd, 2009 (I believe), Heechul performed a song called “Crazy” several times. ^^ He kissed four boys in four diff performances. This, of course, made ALL the kpop news blogs. This is my second favorite but, unfortunately, as much as I love Sungmin, he’s an effing homophobe. For MONTHS after this kiss, he complained about it and said things like “I can’t be around Heechul the same anymore.” In an earlier incident, Sungmin had to touch lips with Hangeng and he made a big deal about that too. -_-
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QZx4MRBe2yw&feature=related Heechul and Jungmo—bad quality but worth it. This was the first kiss. The first time I was floored b/c Korean pop culture is way more conservative than Japanese, so this was groundbreaking. By the 2nd, 3rd, and 4th time, I was absolutely in shock. Heechul’s gotta be the most daring man in Kpop. Jungmo is part of a krock band called TRAX (they’re not well known but they’re awesome). In my opinion, Jay Kim (the singer of TRAX) and Heechul kind of have a history together. There is some convincing canon slash on them out there.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LBkpXcwiDdI&feature=related Heechul and Siwon–the uber Christian (but I think homo) member of Super Junior.
http://gengchul.com/ If you can read Chinese…
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-aHAbaR1kkk&feature=channel_page Kindan no Koi- I have yet to watch this film. It’s probably one of the only BL films in Japan that I haven’t seen. I can’t even find it raw. It looks bad, but that’s never stopped me from watching/reading yaoi before. It’s from the ppl who made Boys Love—best movie ever.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ETZ-q26UKgE&feature=channel_page This is a vid of the now broken up band of Korean transexuals called Lady. My sis and I love them.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2AwB2TDLlo8&feature=related You’re effing welcome. 🙂 It’s a shame that youtube removed the first vid I ever saw of him. This man, Jung Hyung Min, got a little stint of fame from this event. He was on Starking, one of the most famous tv shows on Korean tv.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A-rd4ntV_z4&feature=related Jung hyung min again. I LOVE this guy.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X5013ob6KZ4&feature=channel_page This is the opening song of a crazy ass Japanese gay camp film I stumbled upon at a previously homophobic friend’s PPV. The two lovers, Yaji and Kita, are in search of magical mushrooms b/c the blonde one is addicted to drugs. The blonde guy is super famous. He played the emperor in Tom Cruise’s Last Samurai. I find that hilarious. The brunette is super hot in real life. They make out a couple of times in the film.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kNKa56ooOQo&translated=1 This is a recent gay Korean film based on the uber famous Japanese manga Antique Bakery (Bangin-sensei cosplayed as the glasses guy). This film is fabulous and the gay action between the French boy and the pretty Korean guy is gorgeous. Watch it. You’ll love it.
Now we begin the Hanchul part:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KkINzfl-AEw&feature=PlayList&p=09609FD031338ECF During their Don’t Don stage, Hangeng boasted some fierce blonde hair. This is his now famous hip thrust in the song.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3cp2pLLGoRQ&feature=PlayList&p=D7A497AF7B35247B This is a really cute vid of Hanchul holding hands and being all coupley on Chinese television. I’m not gonna lie… this video inspires me almost more than anything else to learn Chinese. I SO want to be able to understand Hangeng and the Chin prog he’s on.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rfvoz4y4odc I love this SOOO much. It’s adorable. Hanchul at its best.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rD3Vj6j_VLo This is THE most famous Hanchul clip. It occurred on the Korean variety show YSMM (which I’m addicted to). I highly recommend watching the whole ep b/c it’s hilarious and thoroughly entertaining. Plus, I’m in love with the singer Sung Si Kyung and he’s on there. Also, the woman with short orangy hair is a great singer too.
Tokyo Moe 