When I first came to Japan, I was surprised at how…. well… feminine alot of Japanese guys were. Then, and still now, the fasion for men was super tight clothes and women’s haircuts. Then men, being raised in the local culture, of course where much more reserved and less outgoing then the average Western male.
I would snicker at the more extremely feminine and flamboyant individuals, (Though Western notions of masculinity do not necessarily apply here in Japan.) confident that no American male would ever do such a thing.
How wrong I was.
Recently, I have been researching American pop-culture in preparation for returning to the U.S. By which of course, I mean I have alot of free time currently, as I am basically unemployed. While doing this research I have stumbled across a fairly new phenomena in the states: The emo kid. After fifteen whole minutes of watching videos on youtube, I feel I can safely say I am an expert on the subject, and like Dan Brown, I have discovered a new, alternate history to the Emo Kid Scene. First the facts-
- Get their hairstyles from cartoons intended for Japanese children.
- Guys who make out with other guys thinking that this will get them girls, and dont find this counter-productive.
- Being able to rattle off a dozen band names that no one has ever heard of = cruise control for cool.
- Able to pretend their life as middle-class teenagers is one of hardship and suffering, and yet manage to keep a straight face.
- Dye their hair jet black with what appears to be magic marker ink.
- Allow mothers who have only sons to join in with other women who complain about their children stealing their make-up.
- Wear incredibly tight pants and messenger bags which look suspiciously like purses.
- High heeled boots? Masculine fashion accessory!
- Believe that vomiting random, melodramatic words onto paper with no rhyming scheme, meter or even coherent meaning can be called “writing poetry.”
- Manage to make Goths look tough-
So, cross referencing this information with an exhaustive study of Japanese culture, as well as the fact that when you cross an emo kid and crabgrass you get a lawn that cuts itself, I finally determined the secret origin of the Emo scene kid to be this-
Ok the vid has little to do with emo kids but it is still damn funny.
Repatriate 