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Do you have a part-time job at a cafe but are somehow also rich? Then you just might be the perfect guy.
It’s a big world out there, and there’s obviously not enough time to date everyone in it. As such, the process of looking for love starts with paring down the worldwide dating pool according to your preferred and desired traits in a romantic partner, which brings us to this photo from Japanese Twitter user @Holy_chorus.
The photo shows a page from a women’s interest magazine, with an illustration of a young man under a heading that proclaims “This is the ultimate young man, who embodies every ideal!”
So let’s take a look at what those ideals are. The list starts off with some physical characteristics.
- Has black hair
- Short hairstyle
- Fair complexion and flat facial features
- At least 175 centimeters tall
- Thin and muscular
- Often wears hooded sweatshirts
- Dresses casually
- Prefers navy blue or white clothing
- Looks like actor/model Kentaro Sakaguchi
- Born and raised in Tokyo
- Spends a lot of time in the Harajuku neighborhood
- Birthday is in August
- Blood type O
- Is the oldest son out of his siblings
- College graduate (or currently in college)
- Member of an athletic club (as opposed to an art club)
- Is a student
- Has a lot of friends
- Has had three prior girlfriends
- Has a lot of money saved up in his bank account
- Currently works part-time at a cafe
- Kind and gentle
- Often says “thank you”
- Wants to get married someday
- Spends his money responsibly
- Limits his per-month clothes purchases to 10,000 yen
- Often rolls up the sleeves of his long-sleeved shirts
- Is always smiling
- Will give you accessories for your birthday present
- Regularly texts/emails/calls you
- When you’re feeling bad, asks “Are you OK?”
- Is a member of the soccer team
- His hobby is watching sports
- Is athletic
- Likes eating meat and meaty dishes
-
Loves cola
-
Is into beetles
-
Watches the variety show "Shabekuri 007" every day
-
Doesn’t smoke
-
Can drink a lot of alcohol
-
Doesn’t wear cologne
- Is good at cooking rice omelets
A lot of the items on the list are immediately understandable, but others are pretty serious head-scratchers, or at least incredibly high hurdles to clear. “Looks like a specific professional model,” for example, is pretty hard to pull off, and then there are the points that seem to be contradicting each other, like “15. College graduate (or currently in college)” and “17. Is a student,” unless maybe that’s a roundabout way of saying the ideal man is one who’s enrolled in a graduate program. Also hard to reconcile are “20. Has a lot of money saved up in his bank account” and “21. Currently works part-time at a cafe,” since even full-time cafe work isn’t particularly lucrative (plus, if you’re working part-time in a cafe and spending up to 10,000 yen a month on new clothes, some would argue that doesn’t mesh with “25. Spends his money responsibly”). Oh, and let’s not forget “37. Is into beetles,” implying that an interest in that particular type of bug, but not necessarily others, is attractive.
Meanwhile, many online commenters, @Holy_chorus included, were fixated on the condescending smirk and haughty expression the man in the illustration has, which they felt are indicative of someone who wouldn’t meet criteria 22, “Kind and gentle.” The saddest comment, though, came from one Twitter user regarding points 12-14, “Birthday is in August,” “Blood type O,” and “Is the oldest son out of his siblings,” which caused him to lament:
“No matter how much effort I make there’s nothing I can do about those three things.”
The silver lining here, though, as with all lists like this, is that the collection of traits is being presented as a hypothetical ideal, and in this case is meant to show the “ultimate” young man. It’s not saying that a man has to check off every item on the list before he can be deemed an acceptable or attractive dating partner, so even if you were born in September, odds are you’ve still got a shot.
Source: Twitter/@Holy_chorus via Hachima Kiko
Read more stories from SoraNews24.
-- Japanese women’s magazine takes the average of 500 desirable guys, comes up with one strange list
-- When do Japanese women have their first kiss? Survey finds gap between different parts of Japan
-- Japanese university students reveal the part-time jobs they’d most like to have
© SoraNews24
36 Comments
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Wallace Fred
Lololololololololololololoololol
Wow
thepersoniamnow
The main point of interest for me here, is that in Japan its normal to state a type for all people, but this would be laughable in the west.
I think even here people will have different types...although linking your type to some celebrity is common.
Black Hair - Quite easily done here
Loves Cola? Now you want your man to like the same unhealthy drink that you do? lol
Cameron
They must have polled girls who frequent Harajuku and Takeshita Doori. They forgot to add the hue of lipstick that the young men there wear these days.
Bintaro
This list has been written by someone who never had a boyfriend, and never will.
zenzen
"Is into beetles"?
The insect, VW Beetles or The Beatles?
Tony G
Fake news. You can be obese, missing half your teeth, severly balding, Hepatitis B positive, and STILL get ANY women as long as you have lots of money.
savethegaijin
What did I just read lol
Like what is this, actually? Is it a fluffy troll piece or are these women actually serious? If you even have to put in 1/3 of the effort required in this list to date a woman you probably shouldn't date them. Aside from 'Kind and Gentle' none of these are actually personality traits and even those two aren't always the BEST traits to have at all times. This list makes run of the mill gold diggers look good. Birthday is in August? LIKES MEATY DISHES? Why? What for? What does that have to do with you at all? Is always smiling? What kind of psychopath is always smiling?
My husband meets like 2/3rds of these randomly and it makes me think he read an article like this 15 years ago and molded himself to fit lol
Boys just be clean, reasonably healthy and responsible, don't be violent, don't be racist or go into heavy debt on ridiculous hobbies and you're good. No wonder men here don't want to date Jesus Christ lol
Serengoza
Sorry, girls. The guy you're looking for is GAY.
kohakuebisu
I actually like these articles because I think they reflect the reality that a lot of Japanese women are judgmental (komakai) and revel in it as if it is normal. The same kind of questionnaire asking men to rate women based on food preferences, clothes spending etc. is rare. Men usually just rank actresses and celebs based on looks or the usual stuff like nice boobs.
My wife has hosted many coffee morning-type gatherings over the years and they often descend into slagfests about husbands. I go to neighbourhood drinking parties myself with the (all-male) festival committee, and light-hearted anecdotes are as far as anyone goes about their wife.
smithinjapan
Just go to show you that there is never someone meant for someone else, much as we may romanticise the opposite. It's all about finding the ideal... compromise. You cannot possibly achieve someone else's "ideal", you can only do your best and try to think about them once in a while instead of yourself.
itsonlyrocknroll
A man I can trust, is honest, and most importantly witty in dealing with life's absurdities, plus a sometime dry sense of humour.
Tokyo-Engr
Geeze - did they poll teenagers? Such a shallow list. It is amazing how undervalued intelligence is
Jonathan Prin
I bet it is a junior-junior high school poll, or Japan is doomed.
Black hair...LOL
Athletic, that is a good trait as it implies good health but I really reslly think the vast majority of ladies go for a rich person...too bad.
u_s__reamer
More proof that the policies of the control-freaks at the Ministry of Education must be having a serious effect on the flagging birthrate if this "bonsai"-brained list is a true indicator of today's young generation.
William77
It is interesting how often many sites put on lights negatives of Japanese men,but let's be frank the sexless nation situation is partly also for what the females in this country expect from a man,no wonder some people ends up sleeping with dolls lol.
JapanFan
Maybe that's why the population is shrinking.
kohakuebisu
The most retweeted response to the original tweet is a hand-drawn picture of an ATM as the ideal man.
nandakandamanda
There used to be a joke about the ideal woman, that she should be short with a flat head so you can rest your beer on it while watching soccer. That really said of course more about the type of man than the woman. I used to wonder what the ideal man might be for a woman, and I even attempted to find something equally rude and equivalent, but here we have it, folks!
Incidentally the answer I came up with for anyone that is interested is that the ideal man stands in the stair cupboard plugged in and charging up ready to perform as requested.
TigersTokyoDome
Waste of time asking women who their ideal man is. They don't know themselves...
Serengoza
@BigYen
Not just you. ; )
TigersTokyoDome
BigYen and Serengoza, if you just happen to wear both navy blue and white, have flat facial features, and have had exactly 3 previous girlfriends - it sounds like you could be the ideal men for these women...
GW
Can I show this to my wife & then ask her to divorce me because I don't meet all the "requirements" LOL!!!!
Serrano
Blood type O
Oh yeah. All those with A, B or AB can take a hike.
Likes eating meat
No soy boys, please.
Can drink a lot of alcohol
Aaam shoori, what jiju shay?
Is good at cooking rice omelets
Not curry rice?
worthless
37. Is into beetles
I do not think that women think dating an entomologist is ideal. However, a man would callously crush an insect that could have been avoided or rescued might lack empathy in general.
Luddite
What a joke.
BackpackingNepal
Money & Sex, That's all. It seems like both are desperately missing on purpose. Well, Can't bother double checking the rubbish list.
In 2005 movie called Desire (Japanese), a young man and a young woman is in true love but a man can't have sex with her because of erectile dysfunction but she also got rich man behind her.
One day, those lovers relax on clear empty beach. A man goes for a swim and a woman keeps smiling. But a man keeps walking to the sea and a woman sees and cries, shouts his name but a man keeps going to the sea.
Scrote
I scored 9 out of 37.
nandakandamanda
Scrote, tsk tsk tsk, no cheating please!