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Japanese men discover their feminine side
Hers is a story I thought may be of some intrest
http://www.abc.net.au/news/2012-08-20/japanese-men-discover-their-feminine-side/4211556
Moderator
Quote:Quote:EMMA ALBERICI, PRESENTER: It’s a culture that once celebrated bushido, or the way of the warrior, a place where men were men, soldiers, sumo and samurai.
But today, more and more Japanese men are cultivating their feminine side, with an explosion in sales of male beauty products as well as skirts and dresses designed specifically for men.
Cross-dressing is becoming more mainstream in a society that once had rigid gender lines.
One book advising young men how to dress as women has sold more than 100,000 copies, as North Asia correspondent Mark Willacy reports from Tokyo.
MARK WILLACY, REPORTER: It’s Friday night in Tokyo’s flashy Akihabara district, but university student Mio Ogura isn’t heading to one of the neighbourhood’s many bars or clubs. Instead he’s coming here, to make-up classes for men.
NAOKO TACHIBANA, MAKE-UP INSTRUCTOR (voiceover translation): If men want to put on make-up, there aren’t many places to help them get information about doing it properly. Most time they put it on too thick and they don’t look feminine and cute.
MARK WILLACY: This class is filled with public servants, office workers and executives. Mio Ogura has been dressing up as a woman since he was a teenager. He describes it as his hobby. The science student says he’s heterosexual and has a girlfriend. For him, this is about being beautiful and testing the boundaries of his society.
MIO OGURA, SCIENCE STUDENT (voiceover translation): I want to become a cross-dresser who can amaze people. It gives me pleasure because I look different to the way I usually look.
MARK WILLACY: Class over and back out on the street, this proud cross-dresser even manages to turn a few heads. He says his girlfriend supports his hobby, which involves the odd photo shoot.
TOSHINAGA HIJIKATA (voiceover translation): So-called gender boundaries, that a man should be macho and a woman should be pretty, are breaking down in Japan. Men are longing to wear something pretty.
MARK WILLACY: Toshinaga Hijikata has published a series of books offering men advice about cross-dressing. Sales have now passed 130,000 copies. He says Japan is slowly learning that not all men want to be macho.
TOSHINAGA HIJIKATA (voiceover translation): It’s probably too strong to say there’s prejudice, but cross-dressers are not looked upon by society as normal or natural, but gradually, they’re being accepted.
MARK WILLACY: And it’s not only men who would be regarded as effeminate who enjoy dressing in dresses. Jienotsu Nagashima loves wearing the clothes of his favourite manga or comic book heroes. It’s called cosplay, but he just happens to prefer the female characters.
JIENOTSU NAGASHIMA, ULTIMATE FIGHTER (voiceover translation): It lifts my spirit and I feel excited wearing the dress of my favourite character. It gives me a feeling of satisfaction.
MARK WILLACY: He mightn’t be the prettiest girl about, but don’t dare laugh at Jienotsu Nagashima because he may come back to hurt you. That’s because he’s also known as Jienotsu, kickboxer, wrestler and ultimate fighter. Two years ago, he won Japan’s K-1 World Tournament.
While Jienotsu’s love of dressing up has confused and bemused some of his opponents, others have used it to publicly taunt the Japanese fighter, questioning both his physical toughness and his sexuality.
JIENOTSU NAGASHIMA (voiceover translation): A Dutch opponent called me gay for wearing my dresses, saying it disgusted him. I’m not gay. But I thought, “What would it matter if I was?”
MARK WILLACY: It’s Saturday night in Tokyo and these women, well, men actually, are having some fun. This was once an underground movement in Japan, a subculture seen as immoral. And many cross-dressers still hide their alternate identities.
MIO OGURA (voiceover translation): When my mother and sister found out, they laughed. My sister got angry because I was so pretty. But I’ve kept it hidden from my father.
MARK WILLACY: For these Japanese men, being unmanly is something to be proud of. In a society often seen as too rigidly bound to convention and tradition, they’re a challenge to the old order.
Mark Willacy, Lateline.
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