From sex to childhood dreams, there are lots of reasons why some
people in Japan are wearing tight-fitting head-to-toe spandex body
suits, it appears.
The suits envelop the entire body - including the eyes - and are
favoured by people who find the anonymity of the outfit
liberating, The Japan Times reports. The costumes are called
"zentai" - from "zenshintaitsu" - the word for a full body
suit.
In Japan, many people "feel unable to find their role in society"
and find solace by erasing their outward appearance, says academic
Ikuo Daibo. Others, such as 36-year-old teacher Nezumiko,
acknowledge a sexual dimension. "I like to touch and stroke others
and to be touched and stroked like this," he says. Another member
of Tokyo's Zentai Club explains: "I was always fascinated by hero
costumes as a child."
The trend is apparently not limited to Japan. The Zentai Project
group, whose website is based in Britain, says its members
wear the suits "for the amusement of themselves and the
public".
Hokkyoku Nigo is part of a small subset in Japan with a
fetish for wearing outfits called “zentai” — an abbreviation of
“zenshintaitsu”, which means “full body suit” — who say they are
seeking liberation by effacing the physical self.
Some meet through Internet forums and through
gatherings like the Tokyo Zentai Club, whose ten members get
together every other month, just like any other group, to hold
barbecues or parties. Unlike any other group, they are covered
head-to-toe in skintight Lycra.
“I was always fascinated by hero costumes as a child,”
said member Hanaka, 22, who was introduced to the club by her
25-year-old boyfriend, Popo.
“When I was 13 or 14, I even tried to make a full-body
suit myself, sewing stockings together. But I stopped, thinking
maybe I was doing something weird.
“I was really happy when I finally found out on the Internet
that there were people like me out there,” said Hanaka, who always
comes to Tokyo Zentai Club events with Popo.
Academic Ikuo Daibo of Tokyo Mirai University said
zentai fans seems to be groping for a different way of expressing
their own identity.
“In Japan, many people feel lost; they feel unable to
find their role in society,” he said.
“They have too many role models and cannot choose which
one to follow.”
He said they take solace from the erasing of their
outward appearances and say they believe it offers a way for people
to get to know others as they are, rather than because of how they
look.
“In a way, they are trying to expose their deeper self by hiding
their own identity,” said Daibo. “I find it a very interesting way
of communication.”
