bald – SoraNews24 —Japan News— https://soranews24.com Bringing you yesterday's news from Japan and Asia, today. Sun, 31 Mar 2024 04:08:19 +0000 en-US hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=7.1.4 https://soranews24.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/3/2020/05/en_rocket_1024.png?w=32 bald – SoraNews24 —Japan News— https://soranews24.com 32 32 176746664 Final results: Here’s what Seiji’s balding head looks like one year after hair transplant surgery https://soranews24.com/2019/10/09/final-results-heres-what-seijis-balding-head-looks-like-one-year-after-hair-transplant-surgery/ https://soranews24.com/2019/10/09/final-results-heres-what-seijis-balding-head-looks-like-one-year-after-hair-transplant-surgery/#comments Wed, 09 Oct 2019 03:00:19 +0000 http://soranews24.com/?p=469305 
Now you can finally find out if his hair transplant surgery worked!
One year ago, our Japanese language reporter Seiji Nakazawa got sick and tired of his balding hairline and decided to try out hair transplant surgery. He’d hoped the movement of hair from the back of his head to the front would help cover his ever-expanding forehead, but six weeks after the operation, he didn’t have high hopes.
▼ Seiji’s hairline before the surgery
Months have passed and there haven’t been any updates about the state of his non-luscious locks, so you’ve probably been wondering, dear SoraReaders, how our poor Seiji was doing. It’s been almost a year since the last update…Did you fear the worst? Well don’t worry, because we’ve got news!
Firstly, to review, the type of hair transplant surgery that Seiji underwent is the type that transfers hair follicles from a healthy part of the scalp to a balding area. For this particular type of surgery, the actual quantity of hair follicles on the head doesn’t change, so it’s the same thickness as it was before, just moved around a bit.
In other words, the hairs on his head migrated, like people have migrated across continents. Seiji likes to think of the group of hair that was transplanted to his forehead as the Germanic Hairs. Now, a history pop quiz: After the Germanic people migrated to their new lands, what did they do?
That’s right, they established a kingdom! They put down roots and grew into a thriving society. And it’s the same idea for a hair transplant.
So that’s Seiji’s weirdly roundabout, yet oddly magnificent way of explaining hair transplant surgery. But one difference between the two is that the Germanic people took 200 to 300 years to migrate, whereas Seiji’s hair follicles only took a single day! Isn’t that amazing?
Of course, the next day his forehead had lots of little wounds on it, and for a week he wasn’t allowed to wash the affected area, but if you compare that time to the time it took the Germanic people to settle, it’s nothing.
According to the clinic where Seiji got his surgery, once the hair is transplanted it takes about one year to fully come in. Seiji initially posted about the hair transplant surgery on September 3, 2018, so…
It’s been about a year since the surgery!
Look at that progress! The “M” shape of his previously balding head has almost disappeared, and the hair is growing in so naturally that one might never know that Seiji had been struggling with baldness. Since Seiji himself hadn’t really taken the time to analyze the progress of his hair growth, the results were even a surprise to him. To think that once he had been afraid of his receding hairline, and now had come to forget that it was a problem at all…
Reflecting back, Seiji realized that it had taken about half a year for the transplanted hair to grow out enough to not stand out, and it had only taken about a month for the back section of his hair, which had been shaved off, to look normal again.
Currently, the hair that has grown in is a little wavy, which the doctor says is normal. “That sometimes happens,” he said. “It’ll grow out of the waviness in about two years.”
Compared to the migration of the Germanic people, it’s a fast progression, but for Seiji, it was a pretty long year. From the very beginning, he was pretty scared of the process. He trusted the doctor, but he could not erase the doubts he had that it would not work. And those doubts changed form as time passed.
“Will the hair grow out easily and nicely without any problems?” And then, “What will I do if one part doesn’t take and it grows out lopsided?”
These kinds of worries, Seiji mused, are probably common for all kinds of surgeries that affect a person’s physical appearance, but that doesn’t mean they didn’t trouble him. In the end, however, it turned out all right, and the hair grew in nicely.
But what Seiji learned from sharing his experience in an article online is that a lot of people have negative opinions about the surgery.
He learned that these negative opinions about changing one’s physical appearance, the belief that doing so is shameful, are deeply rooted.
In truth, Seiji understands the idea that only a real diamond is worth admiring. There are probably lots of people who would call the sparkle of a man-made diamond fake, and assign it a low value. But Seiji respects and supports people who take steps to overcome the wall of fear and prejudice that they experience in this world, where judgments are made based on appearance.
Besides, this surgery has made Seiji happy–and it’s been a good year for him. He found a new, hip way to drink beverages, met an alien, became an international rock sensation, and even got married! Is it all thanks to a newfound confidence granted by his now luscious locks? Perhaps, or perhaps not. But we can’t deny that feeling happier with himself has been a major milestone for him.
So for those who might be thinking of doing something like Seiji did to change their appearance, do what makes you happy! Haters are gonna hate either way, so keep doing you. Just know that Seiji has your back if you choose to take the leap.
Photos © SoraNews24
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]]> https://soranews24.com/2019/10/09/final-results-heres-what-seijis-balding-head-looks-like-one-year-after-hair-transplant-surgery/feed/ 0 469305 seiji hair1 Rich and bald or handsome and poor? Survey asks Japanese women who’d they’d rather marry https://soranews24.com/2019/03/15/rich-and-bald-or-handsome-and-poor-survey-asks-japanese-women-whod-theyd-rather-marry/ https://soranews24.com/2019/03/15/rich-and-bald-or-handsome-and-poor-survey-asks-japanese-women-whod-theyd-rather-marry/#comments Fri, 15 Mar 2019 05:00:59 +0000 http://soranews24.com/?p=445593 
Does a thick wad of bills make up for a thin head of hair?
While a number of the SoraNews24 staff are happily married or in committed romantic relationships, our Japanese-language reporter Yuichiro is going through a bout of extended bachelorhood. However, he’s not just troubled by his sparse dating calendar, but also by his increasingly sparse head of hair, and he’s sort of worried that maybe the two are connected.
▼ Yuichiro 10 years ago (left) and today (right)
So when Japanese Internet portal Fusamen, which bills itself as a resource for information on hair restoration treatments and techniques, conducted a survey about how Japanese women feel about guys with thinning hair, or no hair at all, it piqued his interest, and their response to the first question knocked his pride down a peg.
Fusamen surveyed 500 single women (18 younger than 20, 198 in their 20s, 202 in their 30s, and 82 in their 40s), and the questionnaire started off with “Do you like men who have thinning hair/are bald?” The vast majority, 90 percent, said they did not.
However, things started looking a little better with question 2, which asked “Could you fall in love with a man who has thinning hair or is bald?” 54 percent of the women said they could, implying that even if scarce hair isn’t their preferred look for a guy, it isn’t an instant deal breaker. The picture for got even rosier when Fusamen inquired “Could you marry a man who has thinning hair/is bald?”, as 61 percent said yes, they could tie the knot with a guy as head as smooth as the wedding bells that would ring for them.
You might have noticed something a little strange about those numbers, though: only 54 percent of the women said they could fall in love with a thin-haired guy, but more of them, 61 percent, said they could marry one. Maybe that discrepancy coms from respondents interpreting the question “Could you marry a man who has thinning hair/is bald?” as meaning that they’re already in love with this hypothetical man, and answering whether or not his lack of hair would be a deal-breaker, in and of itself, that would prevent them from marrying him.
Or maybe the gap is because for the survey participants, love isn’t the only part of the equation when calculating if they want to get married. For its fourth question, Fusamen asked “Would you rather marry a rich, bald man, or a handsome (ostensibly thick-haired), poor man?”, and the women had a pretty clear preference.
● Bald and rich: 76 percent
● Handsome and poor: 24 percent
▼ “Why hello there, (76 percent of) ladies.”
Those number align almost perfectly with a separate survey from a Japanese women’s magazine a while back, in which 75.5 percent of the respondents said they’d rather date a rich, ugly man than a handsome, unemployed dude.
Of course, neither choice in the bald/rich and handsome/poor scenario mentions anything about personality. To get a closer look at the women’s marriage criteria, the survey also asked “What kind of thin-haired/bald man would you be willing to marry?”, with the responses being:
● Rich: 35 percent
● Kind: 29 percent
● Cheerful/funny: 9 percent
● Cool: 9 percent
● Dependable/helpful: 6 percent
● Fun 4 percent
● Other: 8 percent
▼ The results don’t specify what proportion, if any, of the “Other” responses translate to “Wears a toupee.”
So in other words, while most of the Japanese women who were surveyed may not prefer a guy to be thin-haired or bald, those aren’t insurmountable traits, and so you don’t need to feel like you absolutely have to go through gruesome-looking hair replacement surgery or eat tons of roasted soybean powder. Because what really counts is what’s on the inside (of either your heart, your wallet, or some combination of the two).
Source: Fusamen
Top image: Pakutaso
Insert images: SoraNews24, Pakutaso (1, 2)
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]]> https://soranews24.com/2019/03/15/rich-and-bald-or-handsome-and-poor-survey-asks-japanese-women-whod-theyd-rather-marry/feed/ 0 445593 BS 0 A month and a half later, how is Seiji’s hair doing after his hair transplant surgery? https://soranews24.com/2018/10/17/a-month-and-a-half-later-how-is-seijis-hair-doing-after-his-hair-transplant-surgery/ https://soranews24.com/2018/10/17/a-month-and-a-half-later-how-is-seijis-hair-doing-after-his-hair-transplant-surgery/#comments Wed, 17 Oct 2018 05:00:12 +0000 http://soranews24.com/?p=429207 
Did it work? Or is Seiji doomed to a defiantly giant forehead forever?
About a month and a half has passed since our Japanese language reporter Seiji Nakazawa, hating his steadily depleting M-shaped hairline, decided to get hair transplant surgery. He underwent an outpatient procedure and struggled with an absolutely torturous post-op experience, all in the hope that his big forehead would finally be covered in lush locks.
▼ Pre-surgery M-shape
But just the other morning, Seiji looked in the mirror and couldn’t stop himself from cursing aloud. His forehead looked huge again! Just in case it was an optical illusion, he pulled back his hair to get a better look at the former bald spots, and…
There it is!! The M is back! He could clearly see it in the mirror. The hair that had been so carefully implanted into the balding parts of his head, which had appeared to grow in so lush just 10 days after the surgery, now looked pitifully thin and sad, seven weeks later.
He had heard that some of the transplanted hair might fall out over the course of recovery, but he’d never imagined it would turn out like this. Feeling doomed to have his giant forehead forever, Seiji fell into a pit of despair.
“Isn’t this too thin?” he wondered, chewing on his fingernails anxiously. “Will it really grow in?” “There are going to be parts that’ll just stay bald forever, aren’t there?” Seiji was so worried about the state of his “M” hairline that he had to consult with the doctor who performed his surgery.
▼ Meanwhile the back of his head, from which the transplanted hairs were removed, is as lush as always, curse it.
But the doctor’s response was reassuring: “It’s normal. Did the hair grow back well at around two weeks after the surgery?”
▼ The answer was “Yes”.
“In that case, it will grow back again. Don’t worry.”
▼ The progression of the transplanted hair after 3 days, 1 week, 10 days, and 2 weeks, and then every week after that
So the doctor said Seiji’s situation is normal. Yet he can’t help but worry. It does look much thinner than before; every time he starts to think that his particular thinning might be the exception to the rule, he gets so anxious he can’t sleep at night. He would be absolutely devastated if even surgery couldn’t fix his baldness.
Will Seiji be able to escape the evil reaches of the “M”? Only time will tell. In the meantime, a little kinako powder might not hurt.
Photos © SoraNews24
]]> https://soranews24.com/2018/10/17/a-month-and-a-half-later-how-is-seijis-hair-doing-after-his-hair-transplant-surgery/feed/ 0 429207 seiji1 Our Japanese language reporter tries out hair replacement surgery (viewer discretion is advised) https://soranews24.com/2018/09/07/our-japanese-language-reporter-tries-out-hair-replacement-surgery-viewer-discretion-is-advised/ https://soranews24.com/2018/09/07/our-japanese-language-reporter-tries-out-hair-replacement-surgery-viewer-discretion-is-advised/#comments Thu, 06 Sep 2018 16:00:31 +0000 http://soranews24.com/?p=424730 
It turns out that surgically restoring his locks to their luscious glory had some unintended side effects…
Baldness is not unusual in Japan; in fact the country was found to have more bald men than any other in Asia. Yet in spite of just how common it is to be bald in Japan, it’s still not a popular look among women, who ranked it as one of their top three least appealing traits in a marriage partner.
That’s one reason why our Japanese language correspondent Seiji Nakazawa hates his baldness. He has always struggled with the ladies. Plus, as a kid he was made fun of for his “big forehead”, and now he’s got a receding hairline that makes it look even bigger. He’s got a wicked widow’s peak that’s steadily thinning out. Just look at that “M” shape on his already expansive forehead!
“Just once,” he wished, “Just once I’d like to have a normal forehead!” So he decided to make his dream come true by signing up for hair transplant surgery at a local clinic.
Hair transplant surgery involves moving hair from the parts of the head where it’s the most lush to the spots where it’s thinning or bald. There are several different kinds of male baldness, but it’s pretty common for men to lose hair in the front while retaining it in the back, so a popular way to treat this kind of baldness is to take the healthy, thriving hair from the back and implant it on the top. After it’s transplanted, the hair begins to grow normally.
Unfortunately, the place the hair is taken from can no longer grow more hair, so it’s not like you’re just sprouting new hairs; you’re actually moving the follicles from one place to another. Nevertheless, the fact that this operation exists is like a dream come true for those who suffer from top-of-the-head baldness.
It is a surgery, though, and for many that’s a hard step to take. It might hurt a lot, and you run the risk of it not working at all, leaving you even more bald than before. But Seiji chose to do the surgery because he was tired of his M-shaped hairline and seemingly ever-growing forehead, and for the sake of those who are hesitant about it, he decided to document his experience.
On the day of the surgery, Seiji first discussed the plan for the procedure with the doctor before entering the operation room. He was worried that there wouldn’t be enough hair to cover the bald spots on his forehead, but the doctor assured him that the hairs on the back of his head were grown densely enough to be sufficient.
After the plan was laid out and a diagram drawn on his head, Seiji was given local anesthesia shots in four different places in his forehead.
Then, in order to properly extract the base of the follicles, the hair on the back of his head was shaved down with electric razors.
After that, he was turned upside down, and the anesthesia was injected into the back of his scalp as well.
At that point, his head had gone numb, and his forehead felt dull, like it was made of gum. When they began to remove the follicles, he could feel a pricking, but strangely it didn’t hurt at all. It was similar to the time he got his wisdom teeth removed. He felt himself getting sleepy…
And before he knew it, five hours had passed, and they were already transplanting the hairs in the top of his head! Somehow Seiji had fallen asleep for the majority of the procedure. When he woke up, there was only one hour left to go.
Six hours is quite a long surgery, but because it wasn’t a formal surgery and because he’d fallen asleep, Seiji didn’t think it was so bad. If anything, the first pinch of the anesthesia shot was the most painful part. It was so painless it was almost disappointing.
That’s what he thought, anyway. But when he took a selfie of his forehead after it was all done, he got a little bit of a shock at what he saw. Blood was oozing out of his head like in a scene from a horror movie!
It was then, belatedly, that he’d realized that what he’d done was pretty major surgery. Nevertheless, the nurses wrapped up his head in a bandage and sent him home for the night.
Seiji was told that it was possible to feel some pain during the night, or that there might be some swelling. But he didn’t feel anything even when he woke up the next morning, and the doctor said he could remove the bandage if everything felt alright.
So right away he checked out his gnarly wound. It wasn’t as bad as before; the blood had congealed nicely, though it still looked a little grisly and raw. Even so, it doesn’t need to be bandaged again, though you’re not supposed to touch the area until it heals. In fact you can’t even wash it for a week! To help the hairs take hold, heavy exercise is also forbidden, as is tobacco and alcohol.
And therein lied the biggest challenge. The seeping wound on his head wasn’t a problem for Seiji, and he could live without alcohol and exercise, but to go without cigarettes for a whole week?! Seiji normally smokes about a pack a day, and he gets terribly irritable if he can’t smoke for even one day.
Plus, he and the other members of the writing team tend to take cigarette breaks every 20 or 30 minutes, so he’s used to regular smokes. Having to stop cold turkey for a full week, while his colleagues continued smoking regularly, would be a special kind of hell for him.
Just in case, just to make sure, Seiji asked the doctor if “No tobacco” included cigarettes. “It might affect the latching on of the hairs…” was the doctor’s response, and that was the final word. No cigarettes for a whole week.
“Bring it on!” said Seiji, but his confidence did not last very long.
▼ The other writers didn’t seem to pay him any mind as he stared longingly and jealously out at them through the window while they smoked.
▼ In fact, he could have sworn that they were smoking more than usual, just to spite him.
▼ “What? Did you…did you want a smoke?”
“Aaaaaahhhh I want to smoke!” cried Seiji in a fit of withdrawal-induced rage at the end of the first day, almost ripping out his newly implanted hair.
▼ Day 2 of no smoking….and Seiji is trying not to murder everyone for their cigarettes.
One week of no smoking? Yes, that was the real hell. Not the surgery, not the open wounds, not the healing pores or the recovery in general; no, not being able to indulge in a cigarette after lunch, after a bath, before bed….that pushed him to the real limits. During that week, Seiji lived on gum and mints, but it was never enough to satisfy his craving for a good cigarette.
The fifth day was the peak of the mountain. As a future rock star, Seiji had to go to a rehearsal with his band, but the waiting room in the local rehearsal studio posed the biggest challenge…
Literally everyone around him was smoking. Cigarettes and rock go hand in hand, and that made the recording studio a worse hell than even work. It was a cigarette festival in there. The devastation he felt was so acute, it was like he’d started climbing a ladder out of hell, only to have the ladder pushed over when was almost at the top.
And to top it all off, every one of them had a gorgeous, luscious head full of hair. Seiji had many choice words for them, but we’ll just leave them to your imagination.
Yet even through this torturous purgatory, Seiji somehow managed to survive one whole week without cigarettes. There were nights when he couldn’t sleep, and mornings when he couldn’t get up, but he fought it to the last. Seiji is a champion for the masses!
In the end, he actually felt like his health was much better after a week with no cigarettes. He felt more alert and rested in the mornings; it actually felt pretty good. He didn’t even have as many nicotine cravings anymore, either, so it might have even been possible for him to quit cigarettes entirely! (He hasn’t said if he actually did or not. We suspect he didn’t.)
As for the actual surgical wounds, they were raw for about three days after the surgery, but after four or five days they seemed to heal over. His scalp had been a little itchy, but there had been no swelling, and by the end of the week, the wounds had scabbed over and looked almost like ordinary pores.
For Seiji, the hardest part about the whole process was having to give up cigarettes, but he does still have nagging worries about whether the surgery worked. “Will I really grow hair on the top of my head?” “Will it really be nice, thick hair?” “What will happen to the back of my head?” These are all niggling things that still concern him.
Hair takes a long time to grow, so we have a while to wait for the final results. Seiji has promised to write a new report if there are any changes to his skin or visible progress. Will his enormous forehead be sufficiently buried in a luscious bush of hair?
Hopefully it will be, but if not, studies show that eating more curry and less raw eggs can help prevent baldness (and less cigarettes will probably help too). Good luck, Seiji!
Images © SoraNews24
]]> https://soranews24.com/2018/09/07/our-japanese-language-reporter-tries-out-hair-replacement-surgery-viewer-discretion-is-advised/feed/ 0 424730 seiji bald1 What’s funnier and more likely to make you study than poo? How about male pattern baldness? https://soranews24.com/2018/03/29/whats-funnier-and-more-likely-to-make-you-study-than-poo-how-about-male-pattern-baldness/ https://soranews24.com/2018/03/29/whats-funnier-and-more-likely-to-make-you-study-than-poo-how-about-male-pattern-baldness/#comments Wed, 28 Mar 2018 15:00:01 +0000 http://soranews24.com/?p=409190 
Can comedians Takashi and Saito-san use their power of alopecia for good, and get kids studying kanji?
Studying kanji, the Chinese characters that along with hiragana, katakana and bad English make up the Japanese writing system, can be really very interesting. Working out that volcano (火山) is a combination of the characters for fire (火) and mountain (山) is a genuine epiphany moment.
But the hours and hours, and more hours, of writing out kanji and learning the different ways to pronounce them in different contexts (oh look, another exception to the rule) is not exactly a barrel of laughs. If only there were a way to combine kanji practice and childish humour for Japanese kids, adults or even foreign learners to enjoy. Into that niche market, entered Professor Poo and a surprisingly large number of poo-based textbooks and even confectionary. But now the kanji poo business has dried up. What next? Baldness.
While not necessarily a laughing matter for sufferers, especially since it seems some Japanese women would refuse point-blank to marry a bald man, receding hairlines and barcode-esque comb-overs are the source of amusement that has been chosen for the next series of no-doubt very popular kanji drill textbooks.
This time the textbooks feature example sentences about Takashi and Saito-san, members of the popular comedy double-act Trendy Angel, who have made a career from joking (and rapping) about their own lack of hair, even winning the M-1 Grand Prix comedy event in 2015.
▼ Apparently you can flog a dead horse.
“1. Even if Saito-san were to be born again, he’d be bald.”
“2. Saito-san’s hair will never grow again.”
“3. Takashi is bald for life.”
It isn’t only the Japanese who laugh at the follicly challenged, we’re clearly no better, as the joke in my Christmas cracker last year had this to impart, “What did the bald man say when he got a comb for Christmas? Thanks, I’ll never part with it”.
The two textbooks are aimed at school children in their first and second years, aged around five or six, but given the popularity of the poo-themed kanji drills among adults, and the celebrity endorsement of Japan’s most popular baldies, these books may be the latest hit success in the puerile humour meets education boom. Of course it begs the questions, once you’ve run out of poo puns and baldy bawlers, what’s the next idea to be scraped out from the bottom of the barrel to get kids studying?
Source: PR Times
Top image: Pakutaso
Insert images: PR Times
]]> https://soranews24.com/2018/03/29/whats-funnier-and-more-likely-to-make-you-study-than-poo-how-about-male-pattern-baldness/feed/ 0 409190 rsz_hageimgl0552_tp_v A curry a day keeps hair on your head: Japanese nutritionist claims curry helps prevent baldness https://soranews24.com/2016/07/17/a-curry-a-day-keeps-hair-on-your-head-japanese-nutritionist-claims-curry-helps-prevent-baldness/ https://soranews24.com/2016/07/17/a-curry-a-day-keeps-hair-on-your-head-japanese-nutritionist-claims-curry-helps-prevent-baldness/#comments Sun, 17 Jul 2016 05:00:03 +0000 http://en.rocketnews24.com/?p=333441 
Add spice to your life – and hair – at the same time!
Curry is available everywhere in Japan, from kids’ restaurants to fast food places to high-end restaurants. Many grocery stores even have whole aisles devoted to instant curry of all different flavors, just like cereal aisles in the U.S. For whatever reason, this originally Indian dish underwent a Japanese transformation, and is now super popular all over the country.
But there’s one other thing Japan and India have in common besides a love for delicious curry: a low percentage of male baldness.
▼ Don’t go to Japan or India if you want to catch any Bald-a-saurs!
https://twitter.com/MatthewSantoro/status/752339407189925888
According to a survey carried out by a major Japanese wig maker, Japan ranked 14th in the list of countries with the highest percentage of male baldness. Western countries littered the top slots, with America’s baldness rate more than double Japan’s, and India didn’t even crack the top 20.
The reason behind this? Japanese nutritionist Yoshiko Nakagawa says that the cause is curry. The mixture of spices found in curry such as turmeric, saffron, nutmeg, and capsaicin are good for the body’s metabolism and blood circulation, which is known to encourage hair growth.
The spices found in curry are essentially the same as Eastern medicine, which is what curry originated as in Japan. Alternative medicines have proven to be effective in many situations, but have also been pretty ridiculous in others, so take that for what you will.
Here’s what Japanese netizens had to say about this spicy news:
“Eat curry three times a day! Got it!”
“I’m not convinced. There are so many bald Japanese/Indian people.”
“Does it count as being bald if you hide it really well?”
“I don’t like curry OR having hair, so I guess I’m all set.”
“Wait a second. Ghandi… Dhalsim…. They’re all bald!”
We’re not 100-percent convinced of the findings either, but hey, another excuse to eat more curry can never be a bad thing!
Source: Asagei plus via My Game News Flash, AGA
Featured/top image: Coco Ichibanya
]]> https://soranews24.com/2016/07/17/a-curry-a-day-keeps-hair-on-your-head-japanese-nutritionist-claims-curry-helps-prevent-baldness/feed/ 0 333441 curry balding top Hage? Yes, way! Artist assembles all-star line-up of all your favorite bald anime characters https://soranews24.com/2016/05/13/hage-yes-way-artist-assembles-all-star-line-up-of-all-your-favorite-bald-anime-characters/ https://soranews24.com/2016/05/13/hage-yes-way-artist-assembles-all-star-line-up-of-all-your-favorite-bald-anime-characters/#comments Fri, 13 May 2016 04:00:23 +0000 http://en.rocketnews24.com/?p=320075 
No hair? No problem! Especially for this gathering of super-powered follicly-challenged anime men.
There are plenty of tropes in manga and anime, but one that doesn’t get enough love is the strong bald man trope. Think of your favorite series and you’ll probably find a character who would be a good candidate for a Rogaine (hair growth…for men) commercial.
But what they lack in lustrous hair, they surely make up for it with immense strength. Are you picturing such a character now? See if you can spot him in this piece of awesome fan art that throws together some of the best bald (“hage” in Japanese) and balding characters in manga.
https://twitter.com/dragongarowLEE/status/711562856907599872
▼ No need to be ashamed of baldness when you see all these amazing characters together!
While certain characters would probably have some issues with one another, it’s almost magical to think of them all getting together for a Hairless Anonymous support group. You can definitely see @dragongarowLEE’s artistic talents on display as each of the characters match their original art style. Could you find your favorites in there?
Here are a few of ours that might be a bit harder to pick out.
▼ Jet Black from Cowboy Bebop
https://twitter.com/dragongarowLEE/status/711192645641629697
▼ Dhalsim from Street Fighter
https://twitter.com/dragongarowLEE/status/711162944378310657
▼ Dr. Wily from Mega Man
https://twitter.com/dragongarowLEE/status/708999894888017920
▼ Alex Louis Armstrong from Fullmetal Alchemist
https://twitter.com/dragongarowLEE/status/706500921354817536
“Bald characters” isn’t the only group fan art @dragongarowLEE has drawn. He’s also done assembled collections of muscular characters, school uniforms, and “older brother” characters.
https://twitter.com/dragongarowLEE/status/728900860646850560
▼ Macho Man Series
▼ School Uniform Series
▼ Older Brother Series
We really love how well @dragongarowLEE captures the feel of each character in the portraits. If you like his work, check out some of his other stuff that he shares on his Twitter feed. He sometimes even posts 30-second videos of him drawing a character.
https://twitter.com/dragongarowLEE/status/729678689777029121
https://twitter.com/dragongarowLEE/status/728546953697492992
Whether you connect with the baldies group or one of the others, we definitely like this idea and hope there’ll be even more group art in the future (all signs point to yes). Might we suggest a kick-ass female character series?
Source, images: Twitter/@dragongarowLEE (1, 2)
]]> https://soranews24.com/2016/05/13/hage-yes-way-artist-assembles-all-star-line-up-of-all-your-favorite-bald-anime-characters/feed/ 0 320075 hage 4 hage 4 hage 4 hage 1 hage 2 hage 3 Amazing female cosplayer transforms into One-Punch Man, bald head and all 【Photos】 https://soranews24.com/2016/02/03/amazing-female-cosplayer-transforms-into-one-punch-man-bald-head-and-all-%e3%80%90photos%e3%80%91/ https://soranews24.com/2016/02/03/amazing-female-cosplayer-transforms-into-one-punch-man-bald-head-and-all-%e3%80%90photos%e3%80%91/#comments Tue, 02 Feb 2016 16:00:59 +0000 http://en.rocketnews24.com/?p=298522 Anime’s hottest new hero has no hair, but that’s no problem for this dedicated fan who cosplays as One-Punch Woman.
Superhero anime One-Punch Man struck a serious chord with overseas fans, thanks to its mix of jaw-dropping visuals and offbeat humor. With the TV series having aired its last episode in December, you’re sure to see more than one person dressed up as Saitama, its protagonist, at an anime convention this year.
The gravity-defying and wildly colored hairstyles of anime icons can be a sticking point for the prospective cosplayer, but Saitama presents the opposite problem. He’s literally bald as a cue ball, with less hair than even well-known animated scalp-showers Charlie Brown and Homer Simpson.
▼ Saitama
But that fact wasn’t going to scare off cosplayer Anna Lynn, nor was the fact that Saitama is a man and she’s a woman.
Specifically, Lynn is a woman with a full head of hair. But as a dedicated costuming enthusiast, that bit of inaccuracy wasn’t going to fly for her Saitama cosplay, which required a change to from this…
…to this.
Lynn isn’t quite so hardcore as to shave her head for this project, though. Such a move would make it hard to cosplay as anyone else, after all. Instead, she covered her cranium with a bald cap, then applied makeup to smooth out the transition to the tone of her natural nose and cheeks.
▼ One of two ways to look like Saitama without cutting your hair.
But while she went for maximum accuracy in recreating Saitama’s head, Lynn decided to make a few alterations in adapting One-Punch Man’s costume into something for her One-Punch Woman to wear. For starters, she brought the neckline down farther from the collarbone and left the zipper open.
And whereas the original outfit is a standard jumpsuit, Lynn’s shows quite a bit more leg and backside.
One-Punch Woman also ditches Saitama’s flat footwear for heels, and it’s here that Lynn’s shoes do a bit of cosplaying of their own, as her “boots” are actually a pair of pumps with long covers placed over them.
That wasn’t the only part of the costume that required some hand-crafting, either, as Lynn also made the bodysuit, gloves, belt, and cape.
Lynn originally put this outfit together for the recent winter iteration of Sacramento’s Sac-Anime, which was held from January 1 to 3. She’s also posted messages alluding to a planned trip to Anime Expo in Los Angeles this summer, although it’s not clear if she’ll be reprising her role as One-Punch Woman or wearing one of the many other impressive costumes that can be seen on her Facebook page.
Source: Facebook/Anna Lynn Cosplay
]]> https://soranews24.com/2016/02/03/amazing-female-cosplayer-transforms-into-one-punch-man-bald-head-and-all-%e3%80%90photos%e3%80%91/feed/ 0 298522 Lose hair, save big! Hokkaido hotel offers discounts for bald guests https://soranews24.com/2014/08/15/lose-hair-save-big-hokkaido-hotel-offers-discounts-for-bald-guests/ https://soranews24.com/2014/08/15/lose-hair-save-big-hokkaido-hotel-offers-discounts-for-bald-guests/#comments Thu, 14 Aug 2014 20:30:07 +0000 http://en.rocketnews24.com/?p=172778 
In a society that celebrates long and luscious hair, those who lose their locks prematurely are at a bit of a disadvantage. A person’s lack of hair can be caused by any of number of things: stress at work, illness, shaving it off for charity, or simply plain old genetics. But with so many products out there that promote flowing locks and even more for hiding hair loss, it’s easy to feel like a loser when you don’t have hair in Japanese society.
Well it’s time to start turning “less hair up there” into “more money in your wallet”! Hot on the heels of the Tokyo bar that gives generous discounts to bald patrons comes a hotel in Kamikawa, Hokkaido which is set to offer reduced rates to the follicly challenged! And it’s not just pure generosity behind these savings, either!
The Sounkyo Mount View Hotel in Kamikawa, Hokkaido, has recently been offering a 500 yen (US$4.87) discount to customers who have either no hair at all or sport buzz cuts, the first discount of its kind by the Hotel Tetora Group, which owns 12 hotels across Japan.
▼The Mount View Hotel
The reason for this discount isn’t purely altruism though. While baldies will appreciate the extra money in their pocket, the discount makes sense from a business standpoint as well.
Upon overhearing a worker’s comment on that cleaning the hair that collects in the drain is the most time-consuming part of cleaning a room, the manager–who is bald himself–quickly replied, “For bald guys like me, the cleaning process is a breeze.” With that, a flash of inspiration came to him, and as of August 8 a notice appeared on the hotel’s website notifying people of the imminent savings for smooth-headed guests.
▼Yeah, we wouldn’t want to clean that either…
If you think about it, it’s not just saving time in the cleaning process. Those without hair will use up less water when bathing, they use little-to-no shampoo and conditioner, and of course they cut down on power usage since they don’t have to blow dry! It’s a win-win for both parties!
Sounkyo Mount View Hotel asks guests to inform the staff when taking advantage of this discount, so if you’re rocking a buzz cut or silky smooth one top, don’t be ashamed to take advantage of it! Take a stand, be proud of your melon, and demand savings! Krillin certainly will be taking advantage of this!
Source: Hachima Kiko
Images: Dragonball Wiki, Tetora Hotels, Delta Plumbing
]]> https://soranews24.com/2014/08/15/lose-hair-save-big-hokkaido-hotel-offers-discounts-for-bald-guests/feed/ 1 172778 baldy hotel 6 baldy hotel 4 baldy hotel 5 hotel baldy 2 Ninety-nine problems, but looking like a 5-year-old playa ain’t one of them https://soranews24.com/2014/08/15/ninety-nine-problems-but-looking-like-a-5-year-old-playa-aint-one-of-them/ https://soranews24.com/2014/08/15/ninety-nine-problems-but-looking-like-a-5-year-old-playa-aint-one-of-them/#comments Thu, 14 Aug 2014 16:00:33 +0000 http://en.rocketnews24.com/?p=172663 
Preschool. That tender age between three- and five-years-old where kids cry whenever they are separated from their parents but change moods instantly when something entertaining happens. They are only beginning to discover the crazy mad, mad world around them. It’s like they don’t have a care in the world! They can eat what they want, wear what they want, and do what they want! They should cherish these worry-free years before they start encountering the real world problems of an elementary school first grader…right?
Well…we hate to break it to you but…
Bazinga! Preschoolers in Japan.
Image: Twitter
Okay…this is certainly not what ALL preschoolers in Japan look like, but it is certainly a trending topic that has Japanese netizens taking to their keyboards, especially when this picture came out last year.
Image: Hamsoku
That leopard wearing, sunglass clad child was only a preschooler at the time the photo was taken, which elicited the appropriate response from the internet of:
“That’s crazy!”
And
“I fear for the future of children like this.”
Since then, more and more magazines and blogs have featured pictures of kids dressed in these outfits. Dressing up your toddler like this isn’t cheap; usually these clothes and hairstyles are extremely costly! When faced with the following two pictures, netizens voiced their opinion again, once more declaring this fashion wholly unacceptable. A common thread runs through many of their comments.
Image: Twitter
Image: Twitter
“They’re at risk of going bald!”
“When you bleach a kid’s hair like that, they will definitely go bald.”
“I’m really worried about them going bald.”
“That’s so sad…they’re only preschoolers and look at their head…”
Medical fact or internet rumor? It’s certainly a cause for concern when fashion may have a direct impact on the amount of hair someone will have in the future. Of course, when you look at someone dressed up like that it’s not just the hair that is worrisome.
“It’s a living dress up doll.”
“It’s like they’re pets.”
“There will be bullying and trauma in the kids’ futures.”
“Bad parents that treat their kids like toys; it would be good to immediately erase them from the world.”
“It’s really sad how pathetic the parents are.”
There seems to be no sympathy for the parents who dress their kids this way and when you look at the pictures, it’s hard to imagine that this is a positive experience for the children.
After staring at the pictures and wondering if that was real hair, we realized that the two pictures above are actually the same person! This five-year-old boy dreams of becoming a member of Johnny’s and has a website and idol name already: Ryuchalo.
▼Clothing brought to you by: Chubbygang!
Image: 5 Year Old Host: Ryuchalo
Image: 5 Year Old Host: Ryuchalo
Image: 5 Year Old Host: Ryuchalo
He already has over 16,000 friends on his blog. Is that 16,000 other preschoolers? Or is it 16,000 parents looking to dress up their own children this way?
▼ A dog who teaches you English? This is a little Charo that we could get behind!
Image: YouTube
Hopefully, this is a minor fad; a passing trend like parachute pants and slap bracelets. But you can never quite tell in Japan. We’ve certainly heard of parents who live vicariously through their kids, but these parents seem to be dressing vicariously through them too!
Source: Hamusoku
Top Image: Ponyo Wiki
]]> https://soranews24.com/2014/08/15/ninety-nine-problems-but-looking-like-a-5-year-old-playa-aint-one-of-them/feed/ 0 172663 preschool 8 preschool 7 preschool 3 preschool 1 preschool 2 preschool 6 preschool 5 preschool 4 preschool 9 Tokyo pub offers “balding discount” for follicly-challenged diners https://soranews24.com/2014/04/27/tokyo-pub-offers-balding-discount-for-follicly-challenged-diners/ https://soranews24.com/2014/04/27/tokyo-pub-offers-balding-discount-for-follicly-challenged-diners/#comments Sun, 27 Apr 2014 03:00:52 +0000 http://en.rocketnews24.com/?p=144167 
A Japanese pub deep in the heart of white-collar Tokyo wants to help out their customers whose heads are showing the consequences of too much stress and hard work (and perhaps a bit of genetics too).
The restaurant hopes that instead of covering their heads with a complex comb-over or taking a cue from monks to shave it all off, “salarymen” white-collar workers treat their thinning hair as a badge of honor and proof of their dedication to help the struggling Japanese economy. And to show their support, the restaurant has announced a generous “balding discount” as a way of thanking follicly-challenged gents for sacrificing their precious locks for the country!
“Otasuke,” which translates roughly to “huge help,” opened earlier this month in the Asaksaka district in central Tokyo, and has grabbed national attention for their customer outreach efforts. A sign outside the shop declares their full support for “hard-working fathers losing their hair” over their stressful jobs.
Restaurant manager Yoshiko Toyota said that she and the owner came up with their business idea after volunteering in the recovery efforts to rebuild the Tohoku region in northeastern Japan. Toyota saw how the hard-hit area was being helped economically by the rest of the country and wanted to find a way to support those white-collar workers who in turn are helping to rebuild Tohoku.
Toyota explained that she thinks thinning hair is a “badge of honor” and wanted to say thank you to all the salarymen who are driving Japan’s economy. To say thanks, Otasuke gives a special “balding discount” to any person who comes in and admits their baldness to the waitstaff. The restaurant seems to accept a wide definition of “balding” and will give the discount to anyone who “shows their baldness” to a server.
▼ Ads for baldness and scalp treatments have become increasingly common in Japan
The discount is aimed at groups of customers who eat at the buffet (which includes all the alcohol or soft drinks your white-collar body can handle in two hours) on the second floor, where all the tables sit six people. The buffet normally costs 3,780 yen (US$37) for men and 3,240 yen for women, but bringing along a balding friend can score you quite a bit of yen off the group’s final bill.
The somewhat complicated discount works as follows: having one bald customer in the group will take 500 yen ($5) off the total bill. Two bald customers saves the group 750 yen. Three bald customers nets the group a 1,000 yen discount. Four bald customers results in 1,500 yen knocked off the group’s bill, and having five bald or balding customers will give the group a voucher for one free buffet.
But the ultimate discount is saved for a group of six bald diners who get a yet-to-be-determined “top secret” surprise.
The bar on the first floor of Otasuke also offers an informal “balding discount,” which is determined at the on-duty manager’s discretion. The restaurant may give balding customers a free appetizer or a free sampling of their many Japanese sakés from the Tohoku area.
Also in the works is some sort of special “balding menu,” Toyota said. One of her ideas is a hard-boiled eggs with some cut seaweed on top to resemble a comb over. (We suggest a creative use of broccoli sprouts)
Although some Japanese netizens wondered how strict the restaurant would be in their definition of baldness and whether skinheads are welcome, many applauded the restaurant’s very unique form of support for the Japanese economy and the reconstruction of Tohoku in particular.
“Let’s assembly a balding army and go!”
“My time has finally come!”
“I want to send this to my friends, but I’m afraid they’ll be offended…”
What do you think of this restaurant’s outreach to the balding community and its connection to Tohoku relief efforts? Is it a good, if strange, idea or do you agree with the netizen who thinks that this is no laughing matter and asks, “How many hundreds of yen will these sad saps throw away their pride for?” Let us know in the comments below what you think of Otasuke’s balding discount!
Feature Image: RocketNews24
Source: Yahoo! Japan News
Inset image: AGA
]]> https://soranews24.com/2014/04/27/tokyo-pub-offers-balding-discount-for-follicly-challenged-diners/feed/ 5 144167 2014.04.26 rockethage1 Screen Shot 2014-04-27 at 8.44.18 AM