J a p a n e s e    C u l t u r e

Valentine's Chocolate at the End of the World, a photo by timtak on Flickr.

Izanami, the primal female at the beginning of the Japanese creation myth, said to Izanagi, her future spouse, "you are an attractive guy" before they mated and this caused her to give birth to a spineless individual, and required that they repeat their courtship. It was only when dude Izanagi made the first move did creation -- their birthing of the islands of Japan -- go as to plan.

Even today in Japan, women are not meant to make the first move, or express desire of any sort, except on one day of the year, the topsy turvey liminal festival of Valentines Day, when it is traditoinal that women give chocolates to the men they like, and the those they want to get things from.

If the Japanese creation myth is to be believed, one must worry about the fruit of such unions, especially in the face of increasing numbers of "herbivourous," Japanese males. Japan may have fallen into a negative feedback spiral where there are not enough red-blooded males to approach the ladies, and approaches in opposite direction (gyaku-nan, reverse chat-up) have "spineless" result. Creation is unravelling.

Labels: horror, nihobunka, nihonbunka, reversal, Shinto, taboo, 日本文化, 神道

# posted by Timtak @ 1:18 PM