It’s the burning question on everyone’s lips: Who is Tights World?

On 17 January, Osaka Prefectural Police issued a bulletin that they are searching for a man calling himself “Tights World” who is attempting to interview women about the specs of their tights.

The incident that triggered the hunt for Tights World occurred at about 8:30 p.m. on the 16th in Nishiyodogawa Ward. A woman walking along the street was approached by a man riding a bicycle who said, “I’m Tights World. Please tell me the denier of your tights.”

No more of the encounter was reported, probably because the woman wisely fled the scene and went straight to the police. Tights World is described as a man in his 30s, about 160 to 170 cm tall and having no distinguishing clothes or markings.

▼ We are concerned he may also be capable of asking about threadcounts or even Gurley units.

His use of the word “denier” was especially interesting. A denier is a unit of measurement regarding the density of fibers in a particular fabric. What Tights World wanted to do with this information is anyone’s guess though. Readers were equally baffled.

“Maybe it’s some kind of spy code?”
“I think I’d like to go to a place called Tights World.”
“Maybe he meant to ask her about DeNiro the actor but got cut off.”
“If he can’t gauge the denier by looking, then he doesn’t really deserve the title of Tights World.”
“That sounds like it’s from JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure.”
“Well, I guess you can call me Denim World then.”
“Godspeed, Tights World….”

Occam’s Razor would suggest that this is yet another pervy guy out harassing women, but there are some suspicious details to the story. The oddest part is clearly him introducing himself as “Tights World,” as if it were meant to carry any kind of clout with the woman he was attempting to speak to.

However, it does sound like a potential name of a magazine devoted to such garments for which he might possibly be a reporter doing some legitimate field research… in the middle of the night on a bicycle.

A quick search revealed the existence of a blog and periodical by the name of Tights World, dating back to 2005. Right away we might assume they are the ones responsible for the incident, but according to their Twitter bio, they are located in the Kanto area, near Tokyo rather than Osaka.

https://twitter.com/tightsworld/status/1086173109168689152

Furthermore, they released a statement regarding this so-called “Tights World” appearing in Osaka.

“This is might be a pervert who is ripping off Tights World. He showed up at a bookstore in Umeda in 2015. We think it might be the same guy.” (Pinned Tweet, 18/1/2018)

“An incident occurred at a Kinokuniya book store in Umeda, Osaka in which a man using the name ‘Tights World’ asked women shopping there various questions such as the denier of their tights and so on. He is not affiliated with Tights World, but he appears to know of Tights World. So we demand that you please stop what appears to be sexual harassment in bookstores.” (Embedded Tweet, 5/12/2015)

https://twitter.com/tightsworld/status/1086234070118330369

So it looks like this person is a repeat offender and either a Tights World member gone rogue, or someone with an ax to grind with the organization and looking to sully the good name of respectful, law-abiding tights fetishists everywhere.

https://twitter.com/tightsworld/status/1086399996319084544

Hopefully police can find and put an end to this Tights World impostor soon because he’s weirding everyone out — including the real Tights World.

This recent incident is especially bad since it occurred near an all-girls’ school. We can only hope it’s one of the bizarre ones that doesn’t let its students wear tights, “because it affects the girls’ concentration.”

Source: J-Town Net, Twitter/@tightsworld, Hachima Kiko
Top image: SoraNews24
Insert image: Wikipedia/Vigorini