November 25, 2008

"I like this tight feeling. It feels good."

Men's bras. In Japan.
"I think more and more men are becoming interested in bras."



Via Metafilter, where they go right for the "Seinfeld."

22 comments:

TitusTheReflex said...

ridiculous

Ron said...

Hellfire, I need a push-up just to hide my extra 9mm clips in my decolletage! Eh, whadda gonna do?

Tibore said...

Why? Just... why??... Since when does a guy need a bra? I sure as hell don't.

Automatic_Wing said...

Great advertisement. Rough translation:

Why aren't there any bras for men?

The reason is that they're not necessary.

But...for the people who think they want one...they are NECESSARY!

Bob said...

PT Barnum's observation on fools born every minute springs to mind. The next logical step is for us men to wear high heels.

Meade said...

I dreamed I took the bull by the horns in my Wishroom bra.

vnjagvet said...

First it's being a sitzpinkler. Now it's a a bra. Yeah a bra. That's the ticket.

What's next?

Methadras said...

What? You mean the Japanese don't have a tranny mecca like the Thai's do? Shocking.

John Burgess said...

Oh, sweet Baby Jesus!

Bob: Men have been there, done that. I hope they don't plan on going back.

Check out the shoes of the period when Charles I and II were kings. Even the Regency period had men in high heels.

chuck b. said...

Oh, and here I am with an Eddie Izzard DVD playing.

Several years ago, I gave a friend the Apres Noir catalog of men's lingerie as an ironic Christmas present. There it was on the checkout counter at the local bookstore; I knew it would be a hit. (That's my way of saying I didn't know such a thing even existed until that point.) It remains the best ironic Chirstmas present I have ever given.

Can't find anything about it online now, but there's this Salon article (excerpted):

I like to think of myself as someone who is not a prude or a pervert, but some peculiarity in between. Being on virtually every mailing list in existence, I am a hardened veteran of the junk-mail pitch. Looking through the Après Noir catalog, though, my defenses buckle. I feel my id creeping out through every available orifice, like snails on the sidewalk after a downpour, glistening slime in their wake. The one person modeling these articles is a fit, attractive, white man in his 30's who, in photo after photo, is wearing a trousseau of women's silky slips, panties, camisoles, garter belts and body stockings. Each is designed for "the masculine physique," I read, available in chest size 48 and waist size 42 for the full-figured, with extra large pouches for the well-endowed.

It is unsettling, deeply unsettling. I am reminded of the first shock of viewing pornography as a 12-year-old. But no private part is made public here: penis is invisibly tucked into lace panties, nipples discreetly covered by frilly corsets. Something else is absent in these photographs, too: I find none of the burlesque humor of a cross-dressing Milton Berle; the shame of an "outed" transsexual; nor the flamboyance of a raging drag queen. In their place, I see confidence and comfort oozing from a muscular man in a white see-through cat suit, a sense of fulfillment that comes from some unfathomable place.

***

"Unsettling"--yes, that was my reaction too.

chuck b. said...

Oh, whatever happened to that whole Oscar de la Hoya thing? Was that all photoshopped fakery after all?

If so, that's too bad!

Unknown said...

Gyyyeeeeaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhhh!!!!!!!!

Anonymous said...

This is what we get on the Althouse blog...a waste of bandwidth. Over on the Volokh blog they at least try to address the burning questions of the day, like: "Why don't we hang pirates anymore?". They may get it wrong, but at least they don't waste time on men's bras.

You'd think the legal issues surrounding the hanging of pirates would get Ann's legal juices flowing. But, no. She's more interested in guys' underware.

LoafingOaf said...

I don't know why I man would wear a bra, but I'm very upset that Nordstrom has cheapened their undershirts and boxer shorts. Nordstrom used to have high quality undershirts that were extra long so they'd stay tucked in. Now they're just crap like everyone else sells. And their boxer shorts have gone to hell too. I'm very sad about this. Everything is just turning to junk in this country, I swear. Can't even find decent underwear anymore. Who makes the best men's underwear? I need to know.

John Richardson said...

It's Japan. They are an Asian country. They are trying to sell man-bra's to Japanese men. So why in the heck do they use some blonde Occidental to sell them?

Methadras said...

Dudley Do-right said...

This is what we get on the Althouse blog...a waste of bandwidth. Over on the Volokh blog they at least try to address the burning questions of the day, like: "Why don't we hang pirates anymore?". They may get it wrong, but at least they don't waste time on men's bras.

You'd think the legal issues surrounding the hanging of pirates would get Ann's legal juices flowing. But, no. She's more interested in guys' underware.


Well, you know the challenge is gone now. She can divert her attentions to more mundane practices like this particular entry. I mean, she helped in getting Mr. Barely elected, so what is there more for her to do. Japanese mens bras need their cheerleaders too you know. Why not Althouse?

Unknown said...

Is that ad serious? I wonder if the Guardian was getting jobbed.

And even if they weren't, it'd be nice if they could find someone to write their subtitles who knows what an appositive is.

George M. Spencer said...

Japanese men are wearing girdles, too, reported the Wall St. Journal last year.

Sounds like Underarmour to me. Give it a macho name.

“This is not a girdle, but exercise wear,” a Wacoal spokesman told the WSJ.

Mr. Smarterthanyou said...

This is why Japanese don't breed.

They have no actual men left.

Kinda like what the gay and feminist lobby are trying to do here too.

Unknown said...

"Why don't we hang pirates anymore?"

Answer: the Man Bra.

See? It all fits. Next, I'll work in 'metrosexuality' into my Grand Unified Theory of non-Pirate Hanging.

Eric said...

This is female chauvinism at its worst!

Not only do I refuse to wear a bra, I say, let's bring back the "BURN THE BRA!" movement (this time for men).

plutosdad said...

The solution to man-boobs is:

1. buy bigger shirts to hide them
2. work out and eat right and lose those extra pounds!

And what do Japanese men need with these? Outside of sumo wrestlers, you don't see many fat Japanese men afflicted with man-boobs. That just makes this all the more scarier.