Trying to Look Pretty is the Trend for Young Japanese Men

Young Japanese men are starting to resemble their female counterparts when it comes to the pursuit of beauty, with the nation awash in salons dedicated to male grooming and products such as hair removal creams, electric nose-hair trimmers and face-firming masks targeting the image-conscious man. Men in their 20s and 30s today were teenagers when the now-common expression "ikemen" - meaning a good-looking man - was a new buzzword. The advent of the term and a social phenomenon lionizing ikemen have given males of this particular age group a belief that looking pretty is pretty cool. At the same time, gaining a more attractive look is a way to compensate for a lack of self-confidence.

Denim becomes the perfect fit for Tokyo’s Ginza

Denim and the tony Ginza district in Tokyo never before seemed the right fit, but for one day, they were tailor-made for each other. An outdoor fashion show was held in the Ginza district on March 24 to showcase clothes and other fashion items made of quality denim produced in Japan. More than 150 models walked the 100-meter catwalk covered in denim for the event, the Ginza Runway, on Ginza's central street. The show, watched by crowds of shoppers and passers-by lining both sides of the runway, featured about 200 items by popular brands by apparel companies and students at fashion schools in Japan. The items ranged from pastel-colored jeans, luxurious dresses with frills and kimono, to headwear and bags. The show was the brainchild of a Ginza department store and others, intended to cheer people up after the nation marked the one-year anniversary of the Great East Japan Earthquake on March 11. The denim made in Japan was chosen because it is widely used by top fashion houses around the world because of its high quality. Children from the disaster-stricken Sendai and Tokyo’s Chuo Ward, where the Ginza is situated, made appearances in the show's finale.

Miss Universe-Japan finalist is Manileña

Naomi S. Kida is perhaps the first Japino to make it to the finals of Miss Universe-Japan. Born in Tondo, Manila, in June 1988, she made it to the Top 5 of the beauty contest in Tokyo on June 17, 2011. Naomi is the daughter of Cristina Rivera Santiaguel of Imus, Cavite and Masami Kida, president of a cement production company. Fluent in Japanese, English and Filipino, Naomi regularly visits the Philippines and stays in Almanza, Las Piñas, with her aunt. “If I am back here and speak Tagalog, I have to change my [frame of] mind. It takes me one to two weeks to adjust,” she told the Inquirer over lunch recently in a restaurant in Salcedo Village, Makati City.