Asahi newspaper explains that this young man is enduring a cold waterfall at Osaka’s Shoukouji temple (勝光寺) on the last day of 2010 to ask for spiritual intervention to secure a job. I wonder if he’s not just flaunting his body with “training” a euphemism for exhibitionist masochism. (Thanks to husband for providing this important news image and story).
Whatever the story is, I can imagine no better image to start off the new year.
Happy 2011 everyone!
“Does this skirt make my butt look big?”
How is it that the wonderous Japanese male gender-bending, almost all in the name of heterosexuality, keeps getting bad press and moral condemnation. Another foreign article in Times Online profiles men who like to eat cake, a feminine past time, and dream of becoming house-husbands.
Rather than celebrate freedom and variety, the phenomenon of herbivores and ojo-man has alarmed sociologists who predict the demise of the Japanese nation. One pompous sociologist is quoted with this fearful prediction:
“I worry that herbivorous boys are the future of Japan . . . As young Japanese men become more timid and more averse to taking risks, it will affect the energy and vitality of the society.”
Who knew that a skirt and feminine aspirations could be such a powerful threat to the survival of a proud people? Are girly men Japan’s terrorism?
Update: CNNGo has a profile about Japan’s first men-only nail salon, in Osaka only for now.
Tokyo Moe 