Won't Miss #14 - maid fetishists (reflection)

I'm fully cognizant of the fact that my geographic circumstances strongly affect my experiences here in the U.S. as they did in Japan. Nonetheless, my subjective reality is as valid as any other. They may not be generalizable, but they are fair. When I discuss life in Japan for me as opposed to life in America for me, I speak anecdotally, but that doesn't mean it's not a reflection of a truth, at least as it applies to life in Tokyo and life in suburban California.

One thing about life in Tokyo was that fetishistic behavior was something I not infrequently witnessed. Whether it was men reading pornographic papers or manga on the train, panty fetish tokens, or women dressed in costumes in Akihabara to cater to the whims of men who wanted to fulfill certain fantasies, the way in which women were portrayed specifically to serve male idiosyncrasies was something I could not escape. I'm sure that this was, in large part, because I was living in a densely populated metropolis.

That being said, I've been to San Francisco several times and even taken public transportation in the U.S. (I know, the horror!), and I've never seen anyone portray their fetishistic behaviors (note: I did not go to Castro St., but I doubt I'd see women being objectified for the amusement of men there), let alone women on streets in costumes meant to happy up the menfolk. I'm sure there are places in which this happens in the U.S., perhaps outside of Hooters or some places in Las Vegas, but it's not something I see nearly so often here. 

While I don't have an ethical problem with it, I could not help but feel bad when I encountered women dressed as maids in Japan because they were rather clearly ashamed of being in that role on multiple occasions. Most of them turned away if someone tried to take a picture of them. If people persisted, they would walk away. I don't think any woman actively enjoys occupying a role which is about objectifying themselves to please strange men, but many do it because the money is good. Their presence wasn't a curiosity to me. It just made me sad. Before panties get knotted in a wad over this, I'd ask that people genuinely consider the question of how they'd feel if their wife or daughter had that sort of job, not because the job is shameful, but because it is steeped in women behaving in a servile manner while catering to a fantasy which often has sexual overtones. 

By virtue of circumstances, prudishness, or whatever, I'm glad that I don't encounter such things in the U.S. I don't miss seeing women dressed in maids or related costumes in Akihabara. 

Won't Miss #402 - cosplay

A rack of costumes that young women can borrow for activities in a gaming center. 

The Wikipedia entry for cosplay ("costume play") claims it is a type "performance art". This has to be one of the most pretentious and inaccurate explanations I have ever heard of the tendency of some people to put on costumes resembling anime (cartoon) characters. In the U.S., I think cosplay tends to be a part of special events such as conventions. In Tokyo, you can see women putting on costumes at game arcades so that they can cram into photo booths and take their picture dressed in some ridiculous get-up. The costumes are not about the women adopting a different persona for their own enjoyment, but about some tiny little thing which they squeeze into so that men can be turned on by how they look in them.

I won't miss seeing this type of cosplay and how it reflects the fact that young women unwittingly embrace and support their own objectification. 

Won't Miss #377 - panchera

Personally, I don't care if people have their fetishes as long as they keep them private and they don't harm anyone in order to fulfill them. It's really none of my business, unless it is flashed in my face on a regular basis. "Panchera" is the Japanese word for panty fetishism, and you see it everywhere. There are anime-style signs with girls' dresses flipping up showing their cartoon underpants. There are posters for movies and products which show hints of panties, and there are products, like the one pictured above, that cater to fetishists desire to possess a plastic figure showing its underwear. Most of these representations don't just show underpants, but very young girls' underpants. I'm pretty sure that this fuels panty theft, as well as junior high school and high school girls being groped on trains. 

I won't miss having this creepy fetish unavoidably displayed in front of me, nor the likely social ramifications that catering to it is causing. 

Won't Miss #219 - panty thieves

There used to be a commercial for video on demand services that showed a man who realizes as he's settling into bed that he forgot to return a rental DVD to the shop. He undergoes a series of difficulties as he finds a street blocked and he can't ride his bicycle except down a series of stone steps (which demolish his bicycle) and he has to run to the rental shop before midnight or pay an overdue fee. As he's running down the street, a pair of panties flies off a hook it is hanging to dry from and flies onto him. He takes it in his hand and looks at it just as the police see him and they start to chase him thinking he's a panty thief. This joke works because there are men who will steal womens underwear if they hang it on their first floor balconies and the idea that police would suspect a man of pilfering panties he's holding has verisimilitude in Japanese society. Because of this type of theft, you can't hang your underwear out to dry from first floor apartments (and many women won't hang theirs out at all, as you'll notice if you look at the type of laundry people hang outside their homes).

I won't miss these creepy, fetishistic panty thieves.