tape rolling...

ALAS! The first half of the night’s outing at Kabuki-cho was incredibly disappointing. Yes, the punksters were there… the dodgy people parading in front of the seedy shops were there… BUT there was no yakuza, no mafia, and there were only what seemed like prostitutes but we didn’t even know that for sure. Well, in any case, the young people there (students, working adults etc) make the trendiest Singaporeans look like nerds next to them. Yes, in case there was any room for doubt, I did momentarily feel like a misfit in the midst of a make-believe world that held just too much glamour for me. But the thirst for adventure that night drowned out the discomfort quickly and all I noticed from then on was just how attractive all these people were. I know how the young people in Singapore rave about the good looks of Japanese idols and how kawaii Japanese girls are, but seeing these armies of beautiful people marching around was just a tad overwhelming. I do not exaggerate when I say that a great many of these people can easily come across as being better looking than the Japanese stars we see on TV and magazines. There were so many good-looking people that it was not even funny anymore.

I’m reading “Memoirs of a Geisha” at the moment. In her narration, Sayuri (the protagonist) shows how crucial looking good is to a geisha. It doesn’t matter that when she wakes up, she is just like any other woman: greasy face, untidy hair, plausibly irritable and all. But in front of her audience, she’s always glamorous and faultlessly beautiful; the meaning of “beautiful” in those days (little has changed though) embodying the suggestion of dolling up and dressing to kill (to the point of looking grossly different from the person who wakes up in the morning). Walking along the streets of Kabuki-cho made me feel like I was watching a live fashion show. For that matter, the people walking past looked like they were consciously putting up a show as well, what with the cool hairstyle, heavy makeup (sometimes even for guys), trendier-than-thou clothes and an attitude and walk that screamed for attention, only that everyone else was usually too busy attracting attention themselves to notice. I (and maybe my companion) was probably the only real audience to these “performers”.

All of a sudden, it dawned upon me how much this society values good looks and as a result, how easily temptations can overwhelm the people in it, since they have bought into the idea that good looks are paramount and continue to perpetuate this belief by doing a terrific job living up to it. The presence of all these gorgeous people and the licentious theme the place reeks of brings to mind the strength of the temptations and the weakness of the soul. Naturally, it is not a sin to dress up; but the excessive pursuit for good looks with the implied motive of carnal pleasure cheapens beauty and makes relationships superficial, or even transactionary. This, was what I felt beyond the earthy admiration for the armies of dolls marching past. It seemed like they were almost aimless in their walk, just that everyone else already had a goal in mind, so they might as well just take the same path too. But, nobody knows what for. And just as it is with so many other things, this little corner of Japan doesn’t tell a unique tale. It could very well be a reflection of the world at large; a world that affords its people the luxury to indulge in such puerile pleasures.