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| China-Japan-Koreas |
| In Japan, They're Renting Men |
| 2018-08-09 |
| ...It's all part of his job as a rented "ossan," the Japanese word for a middle-aged man. He allows himself to be hired by anyone, for nearly any purpose -- not involving physical contact -- as long as they pay his hourly wage: a mere 1,000 yen (about US $9). And he loves it.... Nishimoto's inspiration came when he overheard "high school girls making fun of middle-aged men on the commuter train," particularly their hairy ears, and calling the men "smelly" and "dirty." Previously admired in a male-dominated Japanese society, ossan are now struggling to maintain a positive reputation in the fast-changing culture where values are in flux. "I never realized that ossan were disrespected that much," Nishimoto said. "I thought, 'I need to regain the honor of ossan.' "... When he started, expected that the bulk of his clients would be "gentle, obedient Japanese boys" needing advice from "older, more experienced men." "The young men did not come," he said. Instead, eight times out of 10, clients are women, Nishimoto said. There's a branch of the ossan rental service to fulfill immediate requests, he said, since many customers want to talk "now": "Her husband cheated on her; she had a quarrel; she's being harassed at work." |
| Posted by:g(r)omgoru |
| #8 I asked a slightly older single lady how she consistently got such good deals when she went car shopping. “I always bring a man along,” she said. “Whenever I go alone no salesman will negotiate seriously, but when there’s a man there, even if he doesn’t say anything, they stop talking colours and start talking price.” So there’s that. |
| Posted by: trailing wife 2018-08-09 22:59 |
| #7 ? A woman will pay just to talk to a middle aged man ? I don't often talk to strange women. The reason was, the more I talked, the stranger they got. |
| Posted by: Anguper Hupomosing9418 2018-08-09 19:02 |
| #6 This gave the Weather Girls an idea for a new song. |
| Posted by: charger 2018-08-09 18:55 |
| #5 The role of women has always been strange in Japan. For instance the men did most of the fighting but they turned household finance over to the women. So you'd have the wife giving the husband his allowance for the important things like drinking. Also marriages were often "arranged" and if the wife was from a prominent family one didn't want to piss off that family. |
| Posted by: Bugs Thud4877 2018-08-09 10:28 |
| #4 Which, given their history, may well have been a good thing. |
| Posted by: Glenmore 2018-08-09 10:10 |
| #3 We killed off the real men in Japan. And Germany. |
| Posted by: Glenmore 2018-08-09 10:00 |
| #2 This is what happens in a fully feminized society. And to think, Japan was once a nation of badass samurai. Now they're panty-sniffers, herbivores, and otaku. Sad. |
| Posted by: Herb McCoy 2018-08-09 09:43 |
| #1 "'I never realized that ossan were disrespected that much," Nishimoto said.'" Wait'll he sees "ossan" in the rear-view mirror. |
| Posted by: Ulans Oppressor of the Trolls9629 2018-08-09 09:37 |