There’s nothing worse than a bad haircut, especially if you are a girl. If you dare to cut your hair short and the results are more Miley Cyrus than Emma Watson, it’s going to be a rough couple of months of hat wearing. But what happens when you step out of the salon feeling amazing, only to find that your boyfriend hates your new ‘do? If you’re living in Japan, get your notepads ready! According to a survey conducted by Niconico News, the following are the top three least attractive haircuts for women, as chosen by men in Japan.
fashion (Page 71)
Foreigners visiting Japan for the first time might be taken aback by how widespread the use of umbrellas is. Sure, during rain storms umbrellas make sense, but even during pleasantly sunny days you’re likely to see enough women putting up parasols to make you think the Bauhaus were in town.
Even this is understandable as “the Land of the Rising Sun” is not just another pretty name. In the middle of summer the often cloudless skies leave us at the mercy of the sun’s unrelenting rays. Combined with a lack of trees in many urban areas there’s simply no escape. And with pale skin traditionally considered to be a sign of beauty and elegance, it’s no wonder so many women still carry a parasol, but it would seem that the heat is getting so bad these days that men, too, are bit by bit turning to a once exclusively feminine accessory for relief and protection.
While there are several clever techniques for staying cool during Japan’s sticky summer, you really can’t overlook the simple tactic of just wearing less clothing. Going shirtless is one option, but unfortunately that pretty much restricts your entertainment options to swimming, boxing, and the two-for-one choice of shark fighting.
On the other hand, shorts and a shirt provide much more social leeway. As with all choices men make, though, it’s imperative to consider the question, “Will women think I look good?” A recent survey asked women to give their opinions on guys showing some leg.
Producers of the upcoming reboot of classic anime franchise Sailor Moon have been frustratingly tight-lipped with fans. Originally set to premier this summer, its premiere has now been pushed back to winter, and to date, not a single piece of art from the new series has been released.
Merchandising giant Bandai, on the other hand, has been putting out a steady string of new goodies for Sailor Moon fans as part of the series’ 20th anniversary. New Sailor Moon-themed accessories were released in June and July, and the company has now made it three months in a row with two new necklaces plus a new pair of earrings that went on sale this month.
One of the first major adjustments I had to make after moving to Japan was making a habit of carrying a bag with me whenever I go out. Having grown up in L.A., it took me a while to overcome the notion that bags were strictly for students and people with a double set of X chromosomes, but eventually I saw the light. If you live in an urban area of Japan, you’re reliant on public transportation. Without a car and a trunk to haul stuff in, a bag is really the only way to carry anything you can’t fit in your pocket but don’t want to hold in your hand all day.
Of course, my resistance might have broken down a lot quicker if I’d known about the upcoming man bag that makes you look like a giant robot.
Part of our job here at RocketNews24 is to demystify Japan. It’s not that we are trying to make it seem less special, but we would like to turn it from a land of social and cultural barriers into the participatory place our team loves and calls home.
Today we’ll be covering how to tie the sash (or obi) on a man’s yukata summer kimono. Yukata is a look you can rock at festivals, fireworks shows, or just about any entertainment venue during the warmest months of the year. Despite the tradition involved, putting on a yukata isn’t really any harder than tying a necktie (and if you haven’t mastered that yet, you really should have your dad teach you before you go off to college).
As part of this year’s ongoing 20th anniversary celebration of the classic anime, toy giant Bandai has recently added a few new items to its line-up of Sailor Moon-themed accessories.
Last month saw the introduction of a ring styled after the heroine’s transformation brooch, and now you can decorate your neckline as well with one of six Sailor Moon pendants.
The popular manga character and customizable toy Danbo has finally decided to move out of his parent’s house and get a real job, after spending his angsty teen years traveling Japan in search of enlightenment.
This collaborative figure from toy maker Kaiyodo and clothier BEAMS outfits little Danbo with chic, modern-casual business attire, preparing the box boy for his new career – we’re guessing somewhere in the logistics field.
Hobo-chic is back! Just when you thought Mugatu’s Derelicte style was long gone since the peak of Zoolander, here it comes again in the form of a bag that’s made to look like a shabby cardboard box.
With summer fast approaching and people shedding layers to stay cool, every businessman faces a decision of vast importance: what type of undershirt to wear beneath your white button-up.
Men, if you’ve never given this any thought before, consider this fair warning: A Nikka Spa! survey of 100 female office workers confirms that your choice of undershirt could have grave and far-reaching consequences and the wrong choice might even get you accused of sexual harassment.
With cherry blossom season over in Tokyo, the weather here is definitely turning warm and pleasant (at least for a little while, until the rainy season starts and then the hot and humid summer). Women across Japan are eagerly shedding their coats to enjoy colorful, spring fashion, and to our delight, one of our reporters at Pouch has found the purr-fect item to combine fashion and fun — “cat tights”! Read More
A storm of boos has flooded Japanese forums in response to the invention of fake knee-high stockings. This piece of clothing makes a woman appear to be wearing long socks when she is actually wearing fully sealed tights. As a product, fake knee-high stockings greatly help women to comfortably achieve a cute look. But for some men, the lost opportunity to catch a glimpse of an exposed leg that is brought on by these full-coverage stockings is too much to handle.
Gadgets purveyor Apparestore is hoping that pretending your ears are so unclean that fungus has actually started to grow out of them will become the new fashion trend with these “crazy headphones” featuring weird objects that jut out from the earbuds. Samurai swords and sushi are just some of the things you could have seemingly growing out of your ears with a pair of these cheeky earphones.
Who says the office is no place for scantily-clad girls with blue hair? Now you can look smart and professional while staying true to your animé roots with the latest in clothing for discerning otaku- the itasuit!
Shorter businesswomen wishing to appear taller can experiment with vertical lines, fashion styles and, of course, pop on a pair of enormous high-heeled shoes in order to gain a few inches, but short of wearing platform shoes and styling their hair into ridiculous quiffs, the shorter male office worker is at something of a loss.
Although the average height of both males and females in Japan is on the rise due to increasingly western-style diets, Japan’s men are still a little on the short side. And that dents their confidence. Thankfully, though, a footwear designer in Japan has recently launched a special line of business shoes that, through a slightly elevated heel and a discreet inner-sole, reportedly add an extra 7 cm to any man’s total height.
North Korea isn’t exactly renown for its footwear industry, but the recent appearance of a new pair of sneakers on North Korean television has caused quite a stir in the Asian media.
Featuring an “extra-supportive heel section” and a red design with a series of white stripes, the North Korean design bears a striking resemblance to Japanese company Asics’ own model.
Is this a simple coincidence or are we looking at an all-out rip-off?
Why should girls be the only ones allowed to stay toasty warm in winter?
Fed up with getting the chills and knowing that winter was only just beginning, RocketNews24‘s resident adventurer and male model Mr. Sato was feeling rather down in the dumps this week. But when news arrived that nearby Ikebukuro Tobu department store had begun selling a new range of stockings and ultra-warm underwear just for men, his face lit up with the warmth of a thousand suns and he was out the door in mere seconds.
Barely an hour later, he arrived back at RocketNews Towers ready to try his latest purchases on for us.
As you can see from the photo above, it was quite the show.
As great as touchscreen-operated mobile devices are, they’re a real pain in the neck when it comes to winter and you have to pull off your gloves to operate them.
It’s fine if you stop in a cafe or restaurant where you can slip your gloves off and type a quick message or check an email, but when an unexpected phonecall comes in and you’re left swiping at the unlock screen like a cat pawing at the TV during a nature show, you soon grow to hate using a smartphone in winter.
Gloves with special metal fibres in the tips have been on the market for a couple of years now, but they’re not always of the greatest quality. And even if you do find a decent pair, what if you already have a pair of gloves that you’re attached to and would rather use instead?
Japanese company Onsight might just have the perfect solution…
Longtime readers of our site, or anyone who follows Japanese pop culture at all, has probably noticed that two of the country’s most heavily exploited media franchises are Evangelion and Hello Kitty.
In May, the inevitable finally happened when respective branding companies Groundworks and Sanrio teamed up to launch a line of crossover products to commemorate this fall’s release of the newest Evangelion movie, Evangelion: 3.0 You Can (Not) Redo.
Now, with the long-awaited film only a few weeks away, Japanese underwear maker 3RDWARE has joined the fray to outfit your First Child with adorable Eva x Hello Kitty boxer briefs.
While browsing online store Amazon, you’ve no doubt stumbled upon a few interesting or downright strange reviews of products written by fellow shoppers. Some of the reviews are both well written and informative, helping us make the best purchasing decisions possible; others, meanwhile, might cause us to wonder how the human race has survived this long, or make us consider contacting the authorities.
One review on Amazon Japan, however, has caught the attention of hundreds of shoppers and has become something of a talking point online.
The review, written by a self-professed middle-aged man, is of a videogame that sees gamers select clothes for, dress and style young women as fashionably as possible, and is intended mainly for the younger female audience.
This male reviewer, however, was incredibly taken with the title, going so far as to say that it has changed the way he sees the world…