I find this personal image culture slightly baffling as it is alien to me but what sometimes runs through it is the domestic cat! These youths are using cats to promote themselves it seems to me.
When I search for cat stuff on Twitter, the search results can sometimes be drowned out by very short (animated .gifs) videos of what appears to be young Japanese men who are genderless (or South Korean or Chinese?). They are made up and their hair is dyed and coiffed to within an inch of perfection. They are not transgender as far as I can tell. They are males who don’t subscribe to the classic male image. They are pretty boys in Western parlance. And they love to put cat motifs in their online presentations as in the video below.
I have no idea what it is all about. It is a huge culture difference to the UK or USA. I have presumed that these are Japanese guys by the way because this is what you see in Japan. If I am wrong tell me please. I am clearly unsure. The Twitter feed does not help me.
A bit of research tells me that this is probably jendaresu-kei (or “genderless style”). I am also told by CNN that Tokyo’s ultra-trendy Harajuku district is where you see this style more than elsewhere. There is also a boy band (I believe) who are often filmed larking around in rehearsal and they sometimes mess around with references to cats. I am not sure what it is about. Perhaps they are doing everything that they can to attract the girls, girls who like pretty young men who like cats.
I’d love a Japanese person to comment to explain what is going on.
Please search using the search box at the top of the site. You are bound to find what you are looking for.
