Is it just me, or do you think this is a fashion crime committed in broad daylight on the airport tarmac? How can the First Lady of Mexico greet the pope in a matching outfit? I am thrilled that she won’t cede all the spotlight to the creepy guy with the gold cross.
Demure, feminine, and yet not unlike wearing a white lace gown to a wedding where you are not the bride.
Gleaming wedding ring notwithstanding, are all Republican senators gay unless proven otherwise. Phillip Hinkle, an Indian Republican state senator, met a 20 year old guy on Craigslist, and committed some form of sexual assault. Bravo to the victim’s older sister who defended him. (Thanks Christophe in Paris for keeping us up to date).
After the excitement of yesterday’s Royal Wedding– the dress, ahhhh!!– nothing is more appropriate than this lovely vacancy sign at a love hotel in Shibuya. Is the marital dog image the right one for lovers looking for “short term rests”? The random owls are a nice touch, plus the intriguing “in/full” that seems to stand in for vacancy/no vacancy.
Congratulations, Kate & Will on your nuptials. To commemorate you can buy this “loving and humorous” plate. Click through to see the full NSFW (mom, that means “not safe for work”) full image. (Via Dan Savage’s blog).
Nothing’s better than a full-on Japanese apology, except perhaps when performed by an illustrious actor. This time it was Kabuki star Ichikawa Ebizo apologizing for getting into a drunk brawl in posh Nishi Azabu that caused injuries including a fractured left cheek bone, two chipped front teeth, and multiple internal and head bruises.
The “prince of Kabuki”stands to lose 100 to 200 million yen in product endorsements (US$1.2 to 2.4 million). And in true Japanese fashion, his shame threatens the overall image of kabuki, or so some say. The Yomiuri covers the facial reconstruction side of the story.
I’d like to think about how long his vow- “I won’t feel like having a drink for a while”– will last, particularly in light of this handsome actor’s drunken wedding image below.
Update: After reaching some sort of out of court settlement post-Xmas, Ebizo’s explanation for the fight: “Ebizo has claimed he was struck without warning when he was providing care to the man, who had been drinking heavily.”
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
Awwww. I am touched by this Nico Nico Douga live-casted marriage between man and Nintendo videogame character. I like the honeymoon photo above. See below for a video report of this path-breaking wedding. The happy couple’s names are SAL9000 & Nene Anegasaki.
I hope the marriage lasts longer than the console!
This image is priceless: it’s a “konkatsu bra” in which inserting a ring stops the marriage deadline countdown and plays a congratulatory wedding march. I love how Japan always introduces new sociological terms, and this one is a winner. “Konkatsu” is a combination of the words “wedding” and “activity,” and means “marriage hunting.”
In addition to negative reproduction rates, Japan also has remarkably low marraige rates: from 1975 to 2005, the numbers of unmarried people have risen 14% to 47% for men aged 30 to 34 and from 8% to 32% for women.
Sociologist Yamada Masahiro and journalist Shirakawa Tohko invented the term and sold over 170,000 copies of their book Konkatsu Jidai (The Era of Marriage Hunting). The authors believe that marriage must be actively sought. There are now konkatsu magazines, a television show, bars, shrines, and even a special section of the Nippon Ham Fighters baseball stadium catering to this new goal.
Supposedly women are too busy focused on careers, while men are less aggressive because of money concerns and job insecurity. One woman quoted in the Wall Street Journal article, despite her failed efforts at marriage hunting, somehow imagines that “marriage is like permanent employment.” Apparently, women far outnumber men in “marriage hunting” events.
I find this term and newly defined phenomenon incredibly funny. Maybe Japan would have better luck with its marriage rates if it allowed and actively promoted gay, lesbian and trans marriage. Or maybe marriage is just not that desirable. My guess is that the government will next promote out of wedlock procreation. Gambate, Nihon!
Tokyo Moe 