Is Lady “Donattela” Gaga the Mommy-Daughter pair to rival Michael Douglas-Matt Damon bad romance?

Speechless. I am hoping that next up Lady Gaga will perform a young Michelle Obama.

 

Young love, at Four Barrel Coffee

 

These young hipsters seem to be very much in love.

 

Would you pay this woman to “learn to love”?!?

The esteemed Guardian newspaper colorfully describes a lack of sexual desire and practice among young Japanese. Apparently, it’s “too troublesome” to deal with sex or marriage. What I found most unbelievable is the report that this red gloved woman, with the improbable name of Ai Aoyama, earns a living providing sex counseling to the unwilling.

A young Greek like an apparition from the 19th century

Rarely have I met any readers of this blog. Well, I met a few women bloggers who share my interest in Japanese male vanity. And a young American living up in the hills thanked me for posting about the Nichome gay summer festival. But I was completely taken aback when this heavily bearded, pale youth asked me on one of those social apps whether I was the author of the Tokyo Moe blog.

We met up briefly at the end of summer. He arrived in a black ruffled shirt and waxed mustache, and confessed that he was one of the readers who initially thought this blog was written by a woman. I guess the word “husband” confuses even young gays into hegemonic thinking. We shared a sidewalk drink or two, and I was delighted that this simple blog could bring perverts together.

The adorable young Greek in his 20s also told me that he has visited Tokyo 11 times. I hope he comes back soon!

Hot young Japanese dad from the early 1930s

The story about cooking expert Yoshiko Tatsumi was certainly not about this, but I couldn’t help noticing how hot her “pre-war construction industry executive” daddy was in the early 1930s. Why don’t today’s men look to that fine example of manhood?

Japan’s non-sexual “Herbivore” men seen thru Taiwan web video news

Both unflattering (Wimpus Japonica) and kind of complete animated video explaining Japan’s “herbivores,” the young men (perhaps 30%?) who are eschewing sex for domesticity, fashion, and the company of other well dressed young men.

The 1 minute 30 second video covers post-Bubble austerity, a new rejection of  hetero sexuality as consumption, Japan’s declining birth rate, and gender boundary crossing. (Via Mutant Frog Travelogue).

Praying- or just showing off- in cold waterfall on last day of 2010

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!

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.

It’s not OK to wear slippers outdoors

OK. I said it. I try to be open-minded about fashion, but sometimes I just have to say “no!”

Walking towards an appointment at a university in Yotsuya, I noticed that this young guy was wearing a new fashion: an informal shirt with a plaid tie. The new part was that the tie material exactly matched a small detail at the bottom of the shirt’s seam. Way to retail matching parts and look put together even if the shirt is not conventionally associated with ties.

What deeply offended me is that this young guy was wearing slippers. Yuck! Walking through Tokyo in bedroom slippers is unsanitary, unpolished, and unacceptable. These soft slippers are bad, but not as bad as the other university I often visit where students (and some faculty) wear those horrid plastic slippers that are best relegated to “bathroom slipper status.” I think those wearing them consider them comfortable, but I just see them as the nastiest excuse for footwear on earth. I’d rather go barefoot!

I hope that this public fashion photo satisfies some of the readers who offered such lovely congratulations recently. I am sorry if not all street fashion is Tokyo Moe approved. Just noted and dispersed.

More Wentz: making dim-witted hot!

The husband and M both pointed me to this video. Worth watching! First Wentz’ (male) friends feed him as he shouts “umai” (tasty), then one friend gives him food with so much wasabi his jaw goes slack, you can see the food in his mouth, and he cries. OMG! Dim-witted hasn’t looked this good since Keanu stopped being young!