-Shop cute Japanese products and cool products from Japan. This cute blog is about Japanese kawaii, kawaii Japan, kawaii fashion, Japanese pop culture and more. It's a kawaii blog from Japan, Japan blog in English by a Japanese girl.

Chubby Kawaii
7/NOV/2009 on air

Plump women should enjoy fashion more!!

Anna Umemiya’s semi nude was shocking because she’s got the flab on her belly, neverthelss she’s been a well-known model. Whitney Thompson and Beth Ditto are also well-known as a chubby cute model/singer.

Chubby cuteness is becoming popular these days in Japan, too. Especially middle aged men are likely to find chubby women beautiful. Yamamoto-san, the chief editor to STORY magazine created the word “Motepuyo” 3 years ago, meaning moteru(=popular among men) puyopuyo(=chubby). “Plump women look beautiful!” That’s why Hiraguri-san, a dokumo to the STORY magazine is not as skinny as normal fashion models.

What was so fascinating about Hiraguri-san as to be chosen as a STORY model?
Q.1-What part of her body did Yamamoto-san, the chief editor like most?
A.1-It was the waist without curve. Believe it or not, there are men who like it.

Q.2-What are the 3 major points that men think beautiful for plump women to have?
A.2-butt, upper arm and decollete
But there is a big difference between “puyo” (plump but cute) and “buyo”(fat and ugly). If one tries to keep cuteness or beauty in some ways, it’s a Motepuyo woman. She may have complex and embarrassment against certain part of her body, but when she tries to make it look better, that’s the kind of woman men like. Collarbone under decollete can be observed whether she is fat or not. So it’s good to open this part if she wants to be looked slimmer than she actually is.

Morisanchu (森三中) is a Japanese comedian group from 3 plump girls. They are very cute and popular. Everytime they are on TV, they get a flood of inquiries from the audience about their chubby cute fashion. Tanaka-san is a stylist who supports them. She broke 4 basic fashion rules for the chubby girls intentionally.

4 basic rules for the chubby girls to follow so they look better. (in general)
1) The chubby should not wear pastel and primary colors, because that make them look swollen.
2) The chubby should not wear striped or polka-dot pattern, because that make them look wide.
3) The chubby should not wear mini length.
4) The chubby should not wear fluffy garments.

Tanaka-san broke all these basic rules, and that’s what Morisanchu are dressed. She even launched her original brand that is especially designed for the chubby girls who want to enjoy fashion proactively. Kasumi-chan is a sales assistant to the shop. She studies what kind of coordination can make the chubby girls look cuter everyday.

2 chubby girls get advice and they are made over with Forever 21 clothing. We tend to hide ugly parts of our body more and more, but the point is to notice the good parts of our body and emphasize that part.

Japanese market have not paid attention to the chubby customers so far. This results there are no kawaii designed items for them. Now many Japanese companies such as this lingerie brand started to target these people, asking what they want to buy at a development meeting. The chubby users know what they want more than anyone!

Kirin’s opinion:
Compared with the U.S for example, Japanese stores have very limited size ranges. S(36), M(38), and L(40) only at most of the places. I’ve been wondering how the outsized people cope with this. These days there are more size ranges but they are more small sizes, such as XS, XXS or too skinny jeans which I will never even put a leg in!! XD
In Japan I always have to consider myself fat because of too many skinny girls around. I also feel tired of the notion that skinny is the best always. I expect our society to have more values that do not stick to a single absolute way, idea, thought, goal, and etc.
What do you think?

***There are archives of episodes listed under the page titled “Tokyo Kawaii TV” that is just located under the title banner of this blog.

Continued from a previous post, I’d like to share more about my short trip to Osaka.
Here’s “Mizukake Jizo” filled with moss or alga because it’s watered every time we pray.

As we entered the gate…there was a line of people who came to pray.

Can you see some green statues? I kinda refrained from taking photos from front of Jizo, as that attitude may look fool against God. It’s only Jizo statue but as a Japanese I somehow feel like showing some respect to it.

Nice small alley that connects this small shrine and commercial area filled with drinking places.

Speaking of Osaka, it’s also famous for “Owarai geinin” or comedians especially who are good at Manzai style of comedy. Many professional comedians are from Yoshimoto group in Osaka and it’s natural we can find Yoshimoto shop to purchase some popular comedians goods.

Osaka Takoyaki charm was kinda cute! My friend just said, “That’s because you’re from somewhere else. The locals are already bored.” She never enters Yoshimoto souvenir shop, which is just the same as I never visit Tokyo Tower since my childhood. ^ ^;

Tsuutenkaku tower is a symbol of Osaka. It’s located in Shinsekai, which is a place for men again. There are many many Kushikatsu bars and Japanese chess or “igo” game or several analog types of game places. All these atmosphere just made me feel as if we were back 30-50? years ago. I’m afraid young women wouldn’t like this place. Most of the people were middle-old aged men and tourists.

A fake Billiken-san statue. The genuine one is inside Tsuutenkaku tower, according to what I heard. But we didn’t go inside the tower then.

Again this area looks…what to say…”vulgar” to be honest. The scenery is messed up with too many individual signs but that even looked delightful to a tourist like me.

There was no way we didn’t try the most famous Kushikatsu at the most famous Kushikatsu bar “Daruma“!! As you can see, so many celebs have visited this bar and left autographs that are kept all over the wall above menu.

Original Kushikatsu for 105yen. I have no idea why they don’t open a branch bar at…such place like Shimbashi in Tokyo. Shimbashi is also a place for mid-old aged men to hang out for drink.

“Do not soak the Kushikatsu twice into the sauce!” This is repeatedly warned and is a basic rule that we have to follow. That means, we should not soak the Kushikatsu after we had some bites because the sauce container is to be shared with others. Cabbages were free. Kushikatsu was fine, but I found myself not very fond of this type of place. I’d prefer Tapas or Bar. To be honest, I like western foods and wine more than Japanese foods and sake. :p

I like Osaka and I wonder how it’d be like if I move to live in there. People are funnier and things are cheaper. The city is very small compared with Tokyo, and so everything is so close and convenient. I could visit grandma more often. But I know I’ll miss Tokyo a lot more! The main purpose of this trip was to see my grandma, but in this public place I just share my Osaka tour with my Osaka friend who kindly spent time with me from 10am to 9pm.

I’ve visited Osaka (only my grandma’s house) so many times since my childhood because it’s a hometown to my father. But it was my first time trip to look around the city like this, thanks to my friend from Osaka. She always says that I am as funny as Osaka people. It sounded so interesting when she said that my skin (outside) is the one from Tokyo but my mind (inside) is totally the one from Osaka! Yeah, that’s possible. I found compatibility in Osaka, while many Tokyo people don’t like it. (Basically there’s a cultural difference between Tokyo and Osaka, and each people do not like others very much.)

I’ve been away to Osaka to see my grandma for a couple of days and I came back last night. My father is originally from Osaka, although no Osaka culture or Osaka dialect were shared with me who was brought up in Tokyo area. It’s always fun to hang around non-familiar places whether it’s inside or outside Japan. Again I find I like travelling!!

1st day -with local friend-

Osaka subway~. If you’ve ever come to Osaka, you remember this. Compared with Tokyo subway, it’s very small and less complicated with less people. But I always felt that the ceilings, because they are not very high, somewhat gave me the feeling of pressure, nevertheless I am very short. I don’t think there should be much difference between the ones in Tokyo. I have no idea where that feeling came from.

Kanidouraku! One of the most popular Doutonbori photo~.

Kuidaore doll was there, even though the Kuidaore restaurant has been closed for a while.

These are all familiar symbols in Dotonbori. Especially the Kuidaore doll character with red and white bordered outfit is still popular even after Kuidaore restaurant was closed some time ago. I understand that. Osaka people would not want the restaurant go. People still love Kuidaore, and that’s why they keep the character left.

My friend took me to the Ootako Takoyaki stand that is famous for its big lump of octopus inside Takoyaki.

You don’t know Takoyaki? Here it is. A light snack with small pieces of octopus inside the dumplings with sauce and dried bonito flakes over them. I don’t eat Takoyaki usually because I don’t know what else I should eat it with. Only Takoyaki for meal is too little but with rice or noodle, it looks like too much carbohydrate…

Anyhow this day we had another carbohydrate after Takoyaki, that was Ramen at Kinryu. It was not too oily, not too heavy, and was good with some kimchi.

The atmosphere of the restaurant was…what to say? It was designed for men. What I miss in Osaka is nice cafe or restaurant with good atmosphere. The ramen is only 600 yen with a couple of Chinese-style barbecued pork, free kimchi and steamed rice as much as we want. No wonder men like it!

Interior was a bit odd but fun to explore.

…to be continued to the next post. Stay tuned!