News from Japan
This reminds me of that Lisa Stansfield song "Been around the world and I can't find my baby..."
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From the Mainichi Shimbun Website
Kept men living the life of Riley on their darlings' dosh
Minoru Saito scrapes by on a meager income taking photos of naked women for lowbrow publications. But a chance online encounter about a year ago with Sonoko Mita, a female dentist making almost 10 times what he does, has changed Saito's life immensely.
"I had no intention of living off her, but we were in Yodobashi Camera one day and I spotted this 300,000-yen flash that I'd wanted for ages. I gazed at it and said, 'Boy, I'd love to buy this, but I haven't got the money.' She turned around and said, 'That's nothing, I'll buy it for you now,'" Saito tells Spa! (7/25), adding that with that single phrase he was hooked.
Times have changed and even in still largely neo-Confucian Japan the idea of a guy being the breadwinner has become old hat, leading to a growing number of men like Saito who live off the fruits of female labor, according to Spa!
In the year since Mita first bought Saito the flash, she has since lavished him with about 1 million yen's worth of pricey photographic equipment, which he stresses he wants to eventually repay her for one day.
"Thanks to her, I've now got the equipment I need to take on jobs I wasn't able to do before. I'm still not making much, but when I do, I want to pay her back. Mind you, I've got absolutely no idea when I will start making much," the 32-year-old snapper says.
Saito, who is married to another woman and freely admits that he hasn't got much to offer in the looks department, says his appeal for the wealthy dentist lies in his heart.
"Having worked with lots of models and girls in the sex business, I'm really sensitive to women's feelings. I know that you should never put women down, especially if they're capable and successful," he says. "I always do whatever Sonoko tells me. And, because I've received so much money from her, I never fail to show her that I'm working hard and her kindness isn't being wasted."
Masaru Yamaguchi is another man making little money of his own and getting by on the largesse of a female partner, in his case, his wife, Yasuko. Yamaguchi has been a car racing driver of little note, but his wife had long been a fan. When they met more than a decade ago, he was scraping by on an income of 2 million yen a year while Yasuko was raking in 20 million yen playing the stock market. They eventually married and she continued lavishing presents on him, including a luxury four-wheel-drive car, as well as giving him free reign with the family credit card (until he started blowing 500,000 yen a month on it and she took it off him!). Even after Yamaguchi retired from racing two years ago and has since filled his time only with the occasional part-time job, otherwise living the life of Riley while his wife foots the bill.
"If I say things like, 'I'm living off her,' Yasuko gets really angry, but the reality is our life centers around her. Even though it's probably not the best way to put it, I'm nothing more than her pet," Yamaguchi tells Spa! "Still, I have no idea how much money she has in the bank and there are times when you lose money trading in stocks, too, so I must admit I do get a bit anxious."
Shun Oikawa has no such worries, never raising a sweat on work and comfortable in the knowledge that his real estate saleswoman girlfriend Aki Miyaji will gladly give him cash from the 20 million yen a year she makes.
Oikawa is quite happy to be a kept man, saying that his association with Miyaji has made him more sophisticated.
"I couldn't go out to posh places wearing jeans, so she took me out to a really expensive clothes store and decked me out in gear costing around 500,000 yen. She introduced me to the managers of loads of posh restaurants, so I can get in anywhere," Oikawa says, adding that Miyaji has also showered him with presents like a Mercedes Benz SL500 and pocket money of half-a-million yen a month.
But Oikawa admits there are aspects of his relationship with Miyaji that he doesn't enjoy.
"She thrusts her values on me, telling me things like not to hang around with my no-good buddies," he says. "Still, if I keep the home pretty clean, she'll give me 50,000 yen pocket money before I do go out to meet them."
Despite the kindness lavished on him, Oikawa feels no need to show greater commitment to 35-year-old Miyaji.
"Look, she's taught me a hell of a lot. I did what she told me to, made myself a better person and loads of different women have started coming on to me. She also taught me heaps about business. So much, in fact, that I'm gonna get a buddy and start a real estate mediation service of my own soon," the 31-year-old tells Spa! "But, as for marrying Aki? Not a hope." (By Ryann Connell)
July 24, 2006
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From the Mainichi Shimbun Website
Kept men living the life of Riley on their darlings' dosh
Minoru Saito scrapes by on a meager income taking photos of naked women for lowbrow publications. But a chance online encounter about a year ago with Sonoko Mita, a female dentist making almost 10 times what he does, has changed Saito's life immensely.
"I had no intention of living off her, but we were in Yodobashi Camera one day and I spotted this 300,000-yen flash that I'd wanted for ages. I gazed at it and said, 'Boy, I'd love to buy this, but I haven't got the money.' She turned around and said, 'That's nothing, I'll buy it for you now,'" Saito tells Spa! (7/25), adding that with that single phrase he was hooked.
Times have changed and even in still largely neo-Confucian Japan the idea of a guy being the breadwinner has become old hat, leading to a growing number of men like Saito who live off the fruits of female labor, according to Spa!
In the year since Mita first bought Saito the flash, she has since lavished him with about 1 million yen's worth of pricey photographic equipment, which he stresses he wants to eventually repay her for one day.
"Thanks to her, I've now got the equipment I need to take on jobs I wasn't able to do before. I'm still not making much, but when I do, I want to pay her back. Mind you, I've got absolutely no idea when I will start making much," the 32-year-old snapper says.
Saito, who is married to another woman and freely admits that he hasn't got much to offer in the looks department, says his appeal for the wealthy dentist lies in his heart.
"Having worked with lots of models and girls in the sex business, I'm really sensitive to women's feelings. I know that you should never put women down, especially if they're capable and successful," he says. "I always do whatever Sonoko tells me. And, because I've received so much money from her, I never fail to show her that I'm working hard and her kindness isn't being wasted."
Masaru Yamaguchi is another man making little money of his own and getting by on the largesse of a female partner, in his case, his wife, Yasuko. Yamaguchi has been a car racing driver of little note, but his wife had long been a fan. When they met more than a decade ago, he was scraping by on an income of 2 million yen a year while Yasuko was raking in 20 million yen playing the stock market. They eventually married and she continued lavishing presents on him, including a luxury four-wheel-drive car, as well as giving him free reign with the family credit card (until he started blowing 500,000 yen a month on it and she took it off him!). Even after Yamaguchi retired from racing two years ago and has since filled his time only with the occasional part-time job, otherwise living the life of Riley while his wife foots the bill.
"If I say things like, 'I'm living off her,' Yasuko gets really angry, but the reality is our life centers around her. Even though it's probably not the best way to put it, I'm nothing more than her pet," Yamaguchi tells Spa! "Still, I have no idea how much money she has in the bank and there are times when you lose money trading in stocks, too, so I must admit I do get a bit anxious."
Shun Oikawa has no such worries, never raising a sweat on work and comfortable in the knowledge that his real estate saleswoman girlfriend Aki Miyaji will gladly give him cash from the 20 million yen a year she makes.
Oikawa is quite happy to be a kept man, saying that his association with Miyaji has made him more sophisticated.
"I couldn't go out to posh places wearing jeans, so she took me out to a really expensive clothes store and decked me out in gear costing around 500,000 yen. She introduced me to the managers of loads of posh restaurants, so I can get in anywhere," Oikawa says, adding that Miyaji has also showered him with presents like a Mercedes Benz SL500 and pocket money of half-a-million yen a month.
But Oikawa admits there are aspects of his relationship with Miyaji that he doesn't enjoy.
"She thrusts her values on me, telling me things like not to hang around with my no-good buddies," he says. "Still, if I keep the home pretty clean, she'll give me 50,000 yen pocket money before I do go out to meet them."
Despite the kindness lavished on him, Oikawa feels no need to show greater commitment to 35-year-old Miyaji.
"Look, she's taught me a hell of a lot. I did what she told me to, made myself a better person and loads of different women have started coming on to me. She also taught me heaps about business. So much, in fact, that I'm gonna get a buddy and start a real estate mediation service of my own soon," the 31-year-old tells Spa! "But, as for marrying Aki? Not a hope." (By Ryann Connell)
July 24, 2006
posted by Spinsta @ 1:21 AM
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