Sanja matsuri this weekend in Asakusa

This festival looks like heaven. Gorgeous yakuza tattoos. Who’s going this weekend? (Photo credit).

The husband says this guy is a yakuza. I say he’s well shod!

Even the Pope would be jealous if he saw these shoes!

Old school kimono still looks shady

The husband took one look at this photo, and declared yakuza. I like the traditional kimono, the fedora, and the over-sized kumade rake. This gent seems to be preening for attention no less ardently than the male hosts.

Random Gay Tokyo life

Sublime and random Tokyo gay stories in August:

1. A gay Italian visitor to Tokyo is *shocked* at the sight of Japanese men using paper fans to cool themselves on trains and sidewalks. “In Italy, only women and fags dare use a fan.” There is nothing more satisfying than observing an Italian man surprised by another nation’s male effeminacy.

2. My new super-gay hairdresser (rare in a country where most are straight) has recently told me about his working the festival circuit with his yakuza friends carrying a portable shrine shoulder to shoulder and dressed in fundoshi (ritual male thongs), his earlier stint at a Ginza hair salon when he cut the hair of  minor royals, and advice about yankii and nudist beachs in Chiba.

A few years younger than this author, my new gay Japanese sensei is also a middle-aged competitive body builder, with distinct orange in his hair and skin tone. Did I mention that we met at Haguromo, the super-gay and sometimes yakuza-filled sento? How often can I get my short hair cut? He’s talented with hair and full of helpful stories and expressions.

3. I’ve heard that many Japanese prefer “small faces.” Just recently, a Japanese friend explained that Japanese distinguish between weak faces (うすい、薄い）and strong faces（こい、濃い). Previously I understand that these adjectives are applied to liquids like tea (literally, the concentration through quantity and steeping time) and even to food types (sort of like light and heavy).

Apparently with people, so-called weak faces have “fewer distinguishing features” or “fewer things sticking out.” Strong faces have deep set eyes, large noses, more prominent chins. This distinction is at once racial and yet pretends not to be.  I have a hard time grokking this, but will be more open to hearing about these immutable differences.

2010 in review

Thanks, WordPress and my readers!

The stats helper monkeys at WordPress.com mulled over how this blog did in 2010, and here’s a high level summary of its overall blog health:

The Blog-Health-o-Meter™ reads Wow.

Crunchy numbers

The Louvre Museum has 8.5 million visitors per year. This blog was viewed about 230,000 times in 2010. If it were an exhibit at The Louvre Museum, it would take 10 days for that many people to see it.

In 2010, there were 273 new posts, growing the total archive of this blog to 717 posts. There were 341 pictures uploaded, taking up a total of 17mb. That’s about 7 pictures per week.

The busiest day of the year was July 5th with 3 views. The most popular post that day was Hot or not: Kobayashi Takeru?.

Where did they come from?

The top referring sites in 2010 were julieinjapan.com, greeneyedgeisha.blogspot.com, sticky.queerclick.com, blogger.com, and dontstoptiligetenough.blogspot.com.

Some visitors came searching, mostly for yakuza, anderson cooper boyfriend, yakuza tattoo, takeru kobayashi, and narimiya hiroki.

Attractions in 2010

These are the posts and pages that got the most views in 2010.

1

Hot or not: Kobayashi Takeru? June 2009
7 comments

2

Yakuza skin August 2009
1 comment

3

Anderson Cooper’s boyfriend: a huge meat head? November 2009
5 comments

4

Narimiya Hiroki August 2009
8 comments

5

Fundoshi v Fujoshi April 2009
6 comments

Tattooed kewpie: bad boy or firefighter?!

I saw this amazing tattooed Kewpie in the middle of a display of dozens of good luck ornaments at the Hanazono Shinto shrine for the Torinoichi festival. This shrine is conveniently located between Ni-chome and Kabukicho, and certainly draws some of Tokyo’s most beautiful nocturnal beings seeking spirituality and cash for the new year.

Of course I assumed that this Kewpie was a yakuza, with his handsome full body tattoo. No, the husband informed me later, his little flag says that he’s a firefighter. It’s odd that tattoos are so taboo in Japan, and worn not only by gangsters but also firefighters and carpenters.

Don’t those who rescue us and build our homes deserve to go into the neighborhood sento baths with the rest of us? Or is it better that they are relegated to specific places that accept them (and their admirers)?

(For beautiful people spotting and/or tattooed kewpie buying, this festival concludes next Wednesday and Thursday nights Thursday and Friday nights, Nov 18 and Nov 19).

Some favorite new blogs

FuckYeahBlondKoreans: “Because they are even hotter when they go blond” A collection of blond (mostly male) Korean pop stars, including plenty of Jaejoong (aka, Tohoshinki’s Jejung or ジェジュン) and G-Dragon.

Shibuya-Nights: Blog by young European woman chronicling sexual adventures with gyaruo, hosts, yakuza, and many more.

What are your favorite Asia blogs?

Come see “Hollywood, Je T’aime” at Tokyo Lesbian Gay Film Festival

Los Angeles-based filmmakers Jason Bushman and Charles Herman-Wurmfeld arrived in Tokyo this weekend to show their film “Hollywood, Je T’aime” at the Tokyo Lesbian Gay Film Festival. Their film will be playing Thursday July 15 at 8 pm, and Saturday July 17 at 8:45 pm at Spiral Hall in Aoyama. The director-producer team will be at both showings for a Q&A. I’ll be there on Thursday, and encourage anyone in Tokyo to see their film or attend the festival.

The main star, a friend of the director, looks like a young Adrien Brody. It’s Jason and Charles’ first visit to Japan, and I tried to entertain them on Saturday night by showing them Ni-Chome, Hanazono Shrine (we prayed for their movie’s good fortune in Japan), Golden Gai, the male host area of Kabukicho, and finally Hagoromo, the gay-meets-yakuza sento in Nishi Shinjuku, where somehow I have become a regular.

Omatsuri thass

Summer is time for omatsuri, that curious blend of Shinto spirituality, yakuza food stalls, and major male thass. Generally Tokyo reserves the thass for ladies, but omatsuri is a special time for men to wear their festival coats with either fundoshi (a ritual jockstrap) or this tight white fabric that’s like a mini-skirt.

Needless to say, I find these male outfits bring me to a higher level of spirituality, compassion and awareness. As the weather warms up and the festivals spread throughout Tokyo, I am hoping to exceed last year‘s festival perving.

I love how nonchalant the men are despite revealing their thighs and the lower portions of their rears. The white, split-toe shoes and white socks only add to the “moe.”

Tattoo heaven!

This image of Shuntsuke was taken by the Tokyo photographer Max Hodges. Max, where did you find this guy? The combination of *huge* hair, exquisite tattoo, and his gaze directly into the camera are swoon-irresistible. Max, please ask Shuntsuke to also pose for a back and butt tattoo photograph!

People outside Japan may not be aware that all tattooing is associated with yakuza, and is highly stigmatized. The combination of fine art, naked skin and prohibition make it all the hotter! Fortunately, there are a few public gyms and sentos where tattoos are allowed. No surprise that these places are also heavily gay.

Max, you can make a fortune selling images of Japanese men’s tattoos. I volunteer to help!