Videos and photos from the event show women happily offering up their breasts to the handsome star.
Just last week, fans of Japanese actor and singer Takayuki Yamada were thrilled to hear he would be making an appearance at Shibuya’s iconic 109 shopping mall, measuring busts as part of a promotion for Co-medical’s range of Funwari Room Bras.
While some wondered whether this would be a controversial move for the well-known star, it turns out it was actually a stroke of marketing genius for the Japanese bra brand, as 3,000 people lined up from 5:00 a.m. in order to secure their chance of having Yamada size up their assets.
The marathon event, which ran from 10:30 a.m. to 5:00 p.m., saw the 34-year-old star fastidiously measuring the underbust area of a wide variety of participants, who all seemed titillated by the company’s prior warning that “breasts may be touched inadvertently during the measuring process“.
As the event got underway, Yamada live-streamed some of his bust-measuring prowess to fans via Japan’s me&stars shopping app. He can be seen holding his hands up to his face after measuring each participant, to hide their clothing from view so he can give them a colour recommendation out of the black, white, pink or blue “room bra” sets on sale at the event.
Yamada and other staff members were dressed in special shirts that made it look as if they were wearing the room bra sets, compete with cleavage included.
Despite 3,000 people lining up for the event, Yamada was only able to measure a certain number of busts per hour, which meant only 300 people were lucky enough to receive a ticket to participate.
▼ This person received a ticket for the 2-3 pm. slot.
This young woman says that despite catching the first train in the morning, she wasn’t able to meet the star as the reception for the event closed after the limited number of tickets were given out by 5:50 a.m.
For those who did make it inside, there was a photo wall, where participants were encouraged to share photos with the hashtag #山田孝之先生のバスト測定 (#YamadTakayukiSenseisBustMeasurement).
And while most of the participants were women, men were also allowed to take part in the bust-measuring affair, as long as they were accompanied by a female partner.
Yamada acted like a professional tailor and stylist throughout his 7-hour shift, measuring busts, shaking hands and matching up colours to suit individual participants.
According to me&stars, Yamada was exhausted after the event. As it turns out, measuring busts all day isn’t as glamorous as it seems!
According to Co-medical, a portion of the sales from the day will be donated to the Pink Ribbon Foundation, which provides financial support to breast cancer charities. Given the enormous popularity of the promotion, it might well pave the way for other celebrities to follow suit, and if they’re looking for a new venue, Tokyo’s Breast Slash Cafe might be the answer.
Source: Net Lab, Instagram/roombra