Does Japan view male sexiness differently?

[HumbleTangerine]

I think it's very possible that their vision of ideal male beauty is a bit different, but like Meg said it's important not to generalize. Based on movies, anime and ahem, other movies, it's easy to get a certain impression of their ideals, but these sources are hardly that credible.

[BYoNexus]

Ideas of sexiness would differ from region to region. This just makes sense. If everyone thought the same features were sexy, it would be a dull dull world

[Chris]

There were also some Buddhist sects in Japan that advocated homosexual sex as a form of worship, and there was also a tradition called shudo among the samurai class, where a slightly older warrior became the lover of a younger one, similar to ancient Greek pederasty and the round shield society although in many shudo relationships the warriors were of similar ages.

Agreed. However in ancient Greece and Rome there were also relationships between peers. It's interesting that similar systems existed in cultures that never met, I mean Japan and Mediterranean lands.

[Buzzer]

But not all american cartoon characters look like shaggy. He was just asking a question, based on what he see’s.

Well part of the problem is that anime is a specific kind of drawing style that has evolved out of the utility of two things: repeatedly drawing characters in very great volume for the often very very long-running manga comics that preceded most anime based on their characters and storylines, and the desire to show a great variety of expression in easily mass-drawn faces in manga, where animation could not put in any facial expression other than what was drawn. So this is why there is such tremendous attention to the eyes, for example.

So I think it's a mistake to take from anime a notion that it reflects some kind of pure physical ideal that Japanese culture holds so much as it is merely one visual style which allowed artists to easily draw facial expressions in manga while often needing to draw the same character's face hundreds or thousands of times.

[Buzzer]

Agreed. However in ancient Greece and Rome there were also relationships between peers. It's interesting that similar systems existed in cultures that never met, I mean Japan and Mediterranean lands.

It is interesting whenever you see what appears to be something like convergent evolution with social or cultural practices, but also I suppose it makes sense too when you consider the emphasis both societies placed on the warrior class, carefully controlling reproduction among higher status families, and the need for warriors to work very closely together, possibly for months or even years at a time, without women on hand.

[Chris]

It is interesting whenever you see what appears to be something like convergent evolution with social or cultural practices, but also I suppose it makes sense too when you consider the emphasis both societies placed on the warrior class, carefully controlling reproduction among higher status families, and the need for warriors to work very closely together, possibly for months or even years at a time, without women on hand.

Could be but on the other hand there were many societies in similar circumstances you mentioned and they didn't create so called pederasty. In Greece there was also another issue, divine example, I mean Gods seducing young men but if it comes to Japan I'm not an expert in this matter.

[Bowyn Aerrow]

So anyway, I just got back from Japan, I interviewed all 127.6 million of them, and the answer is 'yes'.

Or 42... god I'm exuasted having to learn japanese to interview all 127.6 million was one thing, coming up with all the time to actually ask each one.....

[Buzzer]

So anyway, I just got back from Japan, I interviewed all 127.6 million of them, and the answer is 'yes'.

Or 42... god I'm exuasted having to learn japanese to interview all 127.6 million was one thing, coming up with all the time to actually ask each one.....

Did you say hi to my cousin?

[Pix]

For what it's worth (I've only watched parts of it), an interview with Japanese females on what kind of guys they'd like to date:

[Pix]

Btw, on the comparison to Greeks and Japanese above, I just recalled hearing an explanation (years ago, I'm fuzzy on the details) in why their manly men had such small penises...something to do with romanticizing childhood before one became wholly disillusioned with both self & society, a happier time, there was even a saying that if the gods are kind they grant a quick death by or about age 20. So it was an ideal for them, or at least many of them (obviously Spartans and others would be different, but then childhood was supposed to be utter hell in Sparta that started young in weeding out the weak, and they'd devote less time to the arts to reflect it). There were other reasons, and also exceptions to the rule (as they'd invariably be with as much history was there), but that was the gist of it.

Women, OTOH, were for child bearing, that was about it, so they were typically shown as curvy and mature, especially sexually.