Otoko no ko

Japanese beauty magazine asks readers to identify the one crossdresser among 12 beautiful women

An interesting campaign that shows off the power of their products.

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Japanese town’s mascot character may be a man dressed in women’s clothing, possibly on purpose

Everyone notices the girlish clothes, but those with a trained eye have also spotted the boyish wings.

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Cross-dressing boys are becoming more and more popular with otaku these days, and games are starting to get in on the act now, too. Transform a cute sporty boy into your very own otoko no ko in this new (and free) mobile raising simulation game.

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Thai university student and “otoko no ko” Jade Woe has all the brains AND beauty, too!

“Otoko no ko”, beautiful boys who can easily pass for girls when they try to, are a favourite of Japan’s netizens (and us!). Who doesn’t love marvelling at stunningly beautiful people, whatever the gender? Here at RocketNews24, we’ve brought you more than a handful of cute beauties, and here’s another one for you… Thai university student Jade Woe!

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Upcoming male “female cosplay” event draws attention online and our interest

Cosplay is, of course, a popular pastime of otaku, and one of the most popular types of cosplay right now is the gender-norm-breaking “otoko no ko.” As we’ve explained previously, otoko no ko are men who identify as male and like wearing women’s clothes…and who often happen to look damn good doing it too!

And it seems that otoko no ko numbers are growing too, if the Internet is any indication. Though otoko no ko cosplay events have been around for a while, a contest coming up this weekend is drawing attention online.

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“Otoko no ko” Satsuki tells her story, explains how Japan’s hospitals aren’t trans-ready

We’ve seen several gender stereotype-destroying otoko no ko (girl-boys) recently, from Kaoru Ishima who models as both a man and a woman, to Nong Poy the stunning transgender Thai actress.

The latest otoko no ko to take the internet by storm is Satsuki, a transgender woman who has a large online following, and has undergone sex reassignment surgery – a rarity in Japan. She blogs about her experience transitioning from a man to a woman, explaining her conflicts with Japan’s medical system, and how she eventually abandoned it altogether.

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Monthly “Propaganda” event in Tokyo is a paradise for the trans and crossdressing communities

As another one of those tricky wasei-eigo words, “new half” refers to transsexual individuals and those people who identify more with the opposite gender. A new Japanese term has also established itself within the past several years to denote the same thing–男の娘, which is pronounced as otoko no ko (the usual way to say “boys”) but written with the kanji for otoko no musume (“young women-men”; musume refers to “young ladies” as in the name of the sensational idol group Morning Musume).

Thanks in large part to the prevalence of otoko no ko in popular manga, social media sites, and video games, casual crossdressing events are enjoying a relative boom of popularity in Japan, and nowhere is this phenomenon more visible than at the monthly Propaganda event held in Shinjuku, Tokyo. Best of all, there are no strings attached–everyone is welcome, from professional drag queens to adults just looking to experiment with a different way of having fun! More details after the jump.

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