Showing posts with label Japanese male. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Japanese male. Show all posts

Friday, July 7, 2017

Innocent Exhibitionism -- Cross-cultural male camaraderie in Japan




While living in Japan, I found it kind of amazing that the otherwise polite and docile Japanese could be so rowdy and getso raunchy in the right circumstances. Most of these centered around group events where drinking was involved. I guess it happens everywhere with young people -- like ay college parties and fraternities, etc. But still is a bit of a paradox when the seemingly shy Japanese get plastered (or maybe that's just an excuse or front) and start stripping and performing what Puritanical Americans would think of as "lewd" acts. 


While Japanese are modest about nudity in general -- there are times when you can catch a glimpse of guys showing pubic hair or asses -- and sometimes a cock. I used to go cycling along some of the rivers around Tokyo. The city uses the flood banks for public sports fields or you can also see similar activities in public parks too. When stopping for a break, I could often get glimpes of guying changing clothes in broad daylight - I mean from street clothes -- stripping down to nothing or fleeting glimpse of ass and cock, and change into their team uniform or sports clothes right there in front of everyone -- especially when they were surrounded by the hunky teammates. Teams of intramural sports -- soccer, rugby, American football, baseball play on these fields usually during the weekends and holidays. Invariably, because there are no dressing rooms, the guys have to strip and change out of and back into their street clothes.This kind of CMNM scene has always been a turn-on -- it is like seeing one naked guys in a locker room full of clothed athletes, but it is out in public -- an open field.



It's kind of cool to see this kind of "innocent" exhibitionism among team members. But there is another type of flashing among Japanese men that seems to happen a lot but is not really so innocent -- maybe not really sexual or sensual -- but more like playful machismo, I guess, but it is still a turn on.

I never got invited to participate to such a degree but I have been in the room -- usually at a overnight retreat at an inn or hot springs resort where similar male stripping occurs. Without fail, some of the guys get (supposedly) too drunk to stop themselves, and end up pulling all kinds of stunts. They seem to start out as party games and end up with somebody getting undressed -- sort of voluntary (or sometimes forced) flashing for the rest of the group. 


I never got any photos -- but I found these photos on the net by a group of Japanese college students . They seem pretty typical for the kind of drunken playfulness that leads to somebody getting pantsied or just flashing the group. I used a Japanese language search engine and found these.

Japanese sometimes call this "skinship."

What is so cool about it?  Has anybody else experienced this kind of male-male "bonding" rituals between straight guys or in mixed gender groups -- in North America, Asian or Europe.?   I don't have a fetish about it , but think it is kind of cool. While these guys are sort of playing around with "sexy" homoeerotic behaviors -- maybe even identifying a bit with the homoerotic nature of what they doing -- it seems to me a kind of healthy way to de-sexualize nudity between men. Yes, there are some women at the party too -- although none of them usually get nude or show much if anything at all.

Share any thoughts or photos you have in the subject on a note at this topic below.







 


Saturday, June 17, 2017

The fundoshi - the traditional Japanese undergarment




I am not really into fundoshi (wearing them myself-- freeballer here), but I certainly enjoy seeing other men wear them. It's the traditional garment (actually undergarment) worn by most Edo era men under their kimono or yukata (before arrival of Perry's black ships circa 1857). For nearly a century, it was still used as underwear and the bathing suit for men, but it's popularity as an everyday article of clothing declined after the American Occupation introduced Western-style underwear for men. 


It's now become garment of choice for many 'masturi' - Japanese traditional festivals - many of
which celebrate the coming of age of young men and involve some type of virility or fertility ritual or ceremonial tasks. A variation of it, the 'mawashi' is still worn today by sumo wrestlers. 

In 'matsuri', groups of men (old and young) don the fundoshi (with or without happi coat) and parade the streets and shrine grounds carrying the heavy wooden floats (actually portable shrines, 'mikoshi'), heaving it up and forward with their loud chants and boisterous energy. Quite often when ONLY the fundoshi is worn - with nothing else - the festival is frequently referred to as a 'hadaka matsuri' or naked festival. 


It's true that some department stores in Japan got the idea to 'rename' the fundoshi and market it as 'samurai pants' or something like that, but it's still rather a special item that most men wouldn't own. For example, how popular is the thong for underwear or a bathing suit? Still there are a few men who wear kimono on a daily basis (instead of Western suits or pants) so I'm sure that you can find fundoshi at department stores and speciality stores. Even if not don one publically, some men might like the masculine image of the fundoshi and may be wearing them undertheir western attire - sort of like men who like to wear a jockstrap instead of boxers or briefs.

 A lot of men at the age of 20 (for both men and women) celebrate Coming of Age Day (2nd Monday in January) and some of them wear traditional kimono (and may be wearing a fundoshi underneath (although I have my doubts). Summer festivals and firework display bring out hordes of people, particularly young men and women, in the traditional lighter cotton print 'yukata' (cheaper version of the often outrageously expensive kimono). I bet a few men wear a fundoshi (or like I do - nothing) underneath.


Some of my Net pics on Japanese male bonding, including many with men in fundoshi:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/sunbuns/sets/72157600219588448/

Mr. Wada is photographer who specializes in Japanese festivals and seems to capture men in fundoshi at literally hundreds of festivals. 

http://wadaphoto.jp/maturi/

An online store's ad for fundoshi:
http://www.wasuiya.com/english/index.htm

A blog by Japanese guy interested in naked and semi-naked men:
http://blog.livedoor.jp/fundoshi/archives/cat_489179.html


(He has several categories, included the one for matsuri and fundoshi above)


YouTube vid on how to put on (tie) a fundoshi: (in Japanese - for modesty's sake, the model is already wearing a fundoshi as the instructor demonstrates how to put on (over the existing one). 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3GZE5SV1NBY

So you can imagine what it's like being where a lot of men are getting dressed in fundoshi. He explains in Japanese that most people can't get a fundoshi tied by themselves (you need a third or fourth arm). So you can see why I think male bonding is one of the functions of Japanese festivals - you have to get naked and up closer and personal with another guy and then groups of men in order to wear a fundoshi and participate. 

Well, I was wrong about one thing - YOU can put on a fundoshi by yourself. The same instructor completes his training of the younger fundoshi wearer - and put him to the test. A follow-up section of the earlier video (see my last posting for the URL).

This time he starts out without anything on underneath.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RYzcxUshh6E



Thursday, February 12, 2015