WTF! This is seriously fucked up. I wonder if the Japanese government can refuse entry to him on the grounds that he incites people to commit sexual assault? What a vile, pathetic piece of work.
blondeintokyosays
He’s not the only white guy in Japan who tries to treat the locals like party favors. All you have to do to see his ilk is walk down the street in Roppongi. These guys are all the same, they are not a new phenomena, and it’s not as though women don’t know what they’re up to. Sure, they giggle and smile as though they are enjoying the flirtation, but he’s so culturally ignorant that he doesn’t realize that what they really think of him. He may think that the smiles mean he’s in, but that is just their outside reaction. They see him for the douchebag that he is, and find it hilarious that a guy is so stupid that he thinks yelling “Pokemon” is going to get him laid. I hear what the women say behind these guys backs in Japanese, and they just make fun of them and milk them for drinks. It’s par for the course in those clubs.
The women who do end up sleeping with these guys aren’t fooled, either. They’re out for a one night stand, or else they wouldn’t be there in the first place. In the end, they both get just what they wanted.
And believe me, this approach won’t work on girls outside of Roppongi night clubs. Most Japanese women have zero interest in or tolerance for Charisma Man.
johnthedrunkardsays
Jeez! And European women in Japan report continuous perving and groping from the locals. The giggling cringe in the face of assaultive behavior tells me that there is some terrible cultural standard at work here.
The most meta-disgusting thing is that this rapey sociopath has what appears to be a FULL AUDIENCE. What generates a body of men so self-loathing, so misogynist, that they would buy this asshole’s line?
RossRsays
Do Japanese women not study martial arts? I would so love this guy to get on the wrong side of a karateka !
Do Japanese women not study martial arts? I would so love this guy to get on the wrong side of a karateka !
1. Women aren’t here to act out your puerile revenge fantasies.
2. “Japanese women” do all kinds of things, but I doubt there’s any one thing that every single last one of them does. Is there any reason to assume they study martial arts, aside from your Orientalist, racist assumptions about what it means to be Japanese?
Way to pile the racism on top of the sexism in one short comment!
RossRsays
Women aren’t here to act out your puerile revenge fantasies.
I was rather hoping they would take action themselves if assaulted. Too many women, no doubt including some Japanese women, were brought up to be “polite”. Personally, I would simply kick the guy very hard in as painful a place as possible.
I do sometimes despair of men learning to treat women decently, let alone as equals. At my age, retribution (not revenge) is the best I can hope for.
blondeintokyosays
Don’t make the mistake of thinking Japanese women are weak or somehow submissive. How a woman would react would depend on her personality. I’ve seen Japanese women yelling at, hitting, kicking, and running chikan (subway gropers) off trains and chasing them down the platform. I saw one woman determinedly hanging onto a guys coat as he hit her about the head and shoulders in an attempt to break her grasp and escape before the transit police could arrive and grab him. So don’t judge Japanese culture by that one video – I find it highly likely that some women DID hit, kick, or yell at him, but he just didn’t publish that footage.
And keep in mind- you can’t judge these girls’ reactions through the lens of your culture. You have to understand that in Japan it’s considered to be immature and shameful to act out in a way that bothers others or otherwise draws attention to yourself in public. It’s considered to be “meiwaku” and is generally scorned. For this reason, you won’t usually see people being loud, confrontational, or causing scenes in public places- they’d be embarrassed or ashamed to draw that kind of attention to themselves. Unfortunately, not calling attention to yourself includes not reacting in a visible way even when something happens, like being groped. This is actually the sort of frozen, stoic reaction that the chikan count on to keep women quiet. They calculatedly choose a woman they think will keep quiet, a woman who won’t want to cause a scene and embarrass herself. They depend on her shame to keep her quiet- sound familiar? It’s really not that different from what happens in the US or other countries. These guys pick on those they perceive as weak, as no doubt this guy did.
(Which by the way, is also why the chikan pick on western women…they assume that they won’t be able to speak Japanese and so won’t be able to report them.)
I also think the girls’ confusion and giggly reaction was at least partly due to that guy being a foreigner. People here really don’t speak English all that well, and these girls likely had no idea what he was saying, what to say to him, or how to deal with him. The general public honestly isn’t used to dealing with foreigners, and this sort of gives foreigners a kind of invisibility cloak and lets them get away with behaviour that a Japanese could never get away with – no one wants to confront the scary foreigner. I’ve seen it happen in all kinds if situations, from being drunk and loud in public, to getting out of speeding tickets. It always irritates me when I see foreigners take advantage of the Japanese tendency to be non-confrontational, but this guy in particular really galls me. It’s abhorrent behaviour and he shouldn’t be allowed to get away with it. I only hope that next time someone has the presence if mind to call the cops, because this would be covered under Japan’s sexual harassment and public nuisance laws. If caught, he’d be arrested and spend at least a month in jail. And I would dearly love for this guy to spend time in a Japanese jail.
sonofrojblakesays
@johnthedrunkard, 8:
What generates a body of men so self-loathing, so misogynist, that they would buy this asshole’s line?
I’m going to take this obviously loaded, prejudiced question literally.
First of all: what primarily generates this man’s audience is a combination of loneliness, social awkwardness, upbringing, societal veneration of relationships and sex as the ne plus ultra of lifestyle choices, and the capitalist idea that you can buy (and sell) anything.
They are not self-loathing, necessarily. They’re self-baffled, and lonely. They’re single and they don’t know why or how they can fix that. They view it as something that can be “fixed”, and along comes a man who tells them yes, he can help them fix it (for just $3,000).
They’re not misogynist (at least, not when they walk in), no more so than any average man from the society they come from. They probably don’t, most of them, get into PUAing because they hate women and are looking for ways to hurt them. They get into it because they can’t get a date, and everything around them tells them that that makes them a loser. And then this douche comes along and promises to make them a WINNER! (for just $3,000).
And he has testimonials from guys who will (accurately) report that as a result of his “training”, they got laid! This is the “how can you turn this down?” tagline.
This is the central thing about the PUA “thing”: it’s NOT primarily focussed on picking up women. It’s primarily focussed on taking money from men. The whole “picking up women” thing is just the lure to get men to part with cash. PUAs are little different, in my view, than homeopathy practitioners. They’ve found a vulnerable group to prey on (single men/people who are ill). They’ve found a line they can spin (I can get you laid/I can heal you). They have vaguely plausible methods that to the uninitiated sound reasonable, and cloak their “technique” in jargon to obfuscate its basic simplicity. And they charge big money and don’t care about people who suffer as a result of what they do. And cognitive dissonance and confirmation bias together mean that there are a substantial number of their clients who will vehemently defend the practitioners as life-changing saints. They are parasites preying on the vulnerable.
They buy his line because his line is the one that works best in the marketplace. A hypothetical “ethical” pickup artist would start by saying “Only approach women in contexts where it’s appropriate and only approach women who aren’t indicating that they’re not open to being approached by, say, wearing headphones or reading a book.” And that guy would make no money and would go out of business because you will have a better hit rate treating women as objects rather than people, and if you’re trying to make money, it’s all about the hit rate. See also cold-calling telesales and door-to-door evangelists. Same principle.
These people make victims of women and men. You see a body of self-loathing misogynists in his audience. I see a roomful of victims, being unwittingly trained to go out and make more victims.
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Marcus Ranum says
Is that an “alpha male”?
Wow, I am glad I’m not one of those.
Blanche Quizno says
WTH is that? WHO is that? Why is he speaking to a group? What’s that group? Why are those men there? WTF??
resident_alien says
Right, I’m off to buy vodka. Lots of it.
Timon of Athens had a point.
ekwhite says
I was literally shocked by this video. I couldn’t believe these men openly assaulting Japanese women.
Ophelia Benson says
This guy is Celebrity Pick Up Artist Julian Blanc. See latest post
http://freethoughtblogs.com/butterfliesandwheels/2014/11/women-are-going-about-their-business/
Rob says
WTF! This is seriously fucked up. I wonder if the Japanese government can refuse entry to him on the grounds that he incites people to commit sexual assault? What a vile, pathetic piece of work.
blondeintokyo says
He’s not the only white guy in Japan who tries to treat the locals like party favors. All you have to do to see his ilk is walk down the street in Roppongi. These guys are all the same, they are not a new phenomena, and it’s not as though women don’t know what they’re up to. Sure, they giggle and smile as though they are enjoying the flirtation, but he’s so culturally ignorant that he doesn’t realize that what they really think of him. He may think that the smiles mean he’s in, but that is just their outside reaction. They see him for the douchebag that he is, and find it hilarious that a guy is so stupid that he thinks yelling “Pokemon” is going to get him laid. I hear what the women say behind these guys backs in Japanese, and they just make fun of them and milk them for drinks. It’s par for the course in those clubs.
The women who do end up sleeping with these guys aren’t fooled, either. They’re out for a one night stand, or else they wouldn’t be there in the first place. In the end, they both get just what they wanted.
And believe me, this approach won’t work on girls outside of Roppongi night clubs. Most Japanese women have zero interest in or tolerance for Charisma Man.
johnthedrunkard says
Jeez! And European women in Japan report continuous perving and groping from the locals. The giggling cringe in the face of assaultive behavior tells me that there is some terrible cultural standard at work here.
The most meta-disgusting thing is that this rapey sociopath has what appears to be a FULL AUDIENCE. What generates a body of men so self-loathing, so misogynist, that they would buy this asshole’s line?
RossR says
Do Japanese women not study martial arts? I would so love this guy to get on the wrong side of a karateka !
SallyStrange says
1. Women aren’t here to act out your puerile revenge fantasies.
2. “Japanese women” do all kinds of things, but I doubt there’s any one thing that every single last one of them does. Is there any reason to assume they study martial arts, aside from your Orientalist, racist assumptions about what it means to be Japanese?
Way to pile the racism on top of the sexism in one short comment!
RossR says
Women aren’t here to act out your puerile revenge fantasies.
I was rather hoping they would take action themselves if assaulted. Too many women, no doubt including some Japanese women, were brought up to be “polite”. Personally, I would simply kick the guy very hard in as painful a place as possible.
I do sometimes despair of men learning to treat women decently, let alone as equals. At my age, retribution (not revenge) is the best I can hope for.
blondeintokyo says
Don’t make the mistake of thinking Japanese women are weak or somehow submissive. How a woman would react would depend on her personality. I’ve seen Japanese women yelling at, hitting, kicking, and running chikan (subway gropers) off trains and chasing them down the platform. I saw one woman determinedly hanging onto a guys coat as he hit her about the head and shoulders in an attempt to break her grasp and escape before the transit police could arrive and grab him. So don’t judge Japanese culture by that one video – I find it highly likely that some women DID hit, kick, or yell at him, but he just didn’t publish that footage.
And keep in mind- you can’t judge these girls’ reactions through the lens of your culture. You have to understand that in Japan it’s considered to be immature and shameful to act out in a way that bothers others or otherwise draws attention to yourself in public. It’s considered to be “meiwaku” and is generally scorned. For this reason, you won’t usually see people being loud, confrontational, or causing scenes in public places- they’d be embarrassed or ashamed to draw that kind of attention to themselves. Unfortunately, not calling attention to yourself includes not reacting in a visible way even when something happens, like being groped. This is actually the sort of frozen, stoic reaction that the chikan count on to keep women quiet. They calculatedly choose a woman they think will keep quiet, a woman who won’t want to cause a scene and embarrass herself. They depend on her shame to keep her quiet- sound familiar? It’s really not that different from what happens in the US or other countries. These guys pick on those they perceive as weak, as no doubt this guy did.
(Which by the way, is also why the chikan pick on western women…they assume that they won’t be able to speak Japanese and so won’t be able to report them.)
I also think the girls’ confusion and giggly reaction was at least partly due to that guy being a foreigner. People here really don’t speak English all that well, and these girls likely had no idea what he was saying, what to say to him, or how to deal with him. The general public honestly isn’t used to dealing with foreigners, and this sort of gives foreigners a kind of invisibility cloak and lets them get away with behaviour that a Japanese could never get away with – no one wants to confront the scary foreigner. I’ve seen it happen in all kinds if situations, from being drunk and loud in public, to getting out of speeding tickets. It always irritates me when I see foreigners take advantage of the Japanese tendency to be non-confrontational, but this guy in particular really galls me. It’s abhorrent behaviour and he shouldn’t be allowed to get away with it. I only hope that next time someone has the presence if mind to call the cops, because this would be covered under Japan’s sexual harassment and public nuisance laws. If caught, he’d be arrested and spend at least a month in jail. And I would dearly love for this guy to spend time in a Japanese jail.
sonofrojblake says
@johnthedrunkard, 8:
I’m going to take this obviously loaded, prejudiced question literally.
First of all: what primarily generates this man’s audience is a combination of loneliness, social awkwardness, upbringing, societal veneration of relationships and sex as the ne plus ultra of lifestyle choices, and the capitalist idea that you can buy (and sell) anything.
They are not self-loathing, necessarily. They’re self-baffled, and lonely. They’re single and they don’t know why or how they can fix that. They view it as something that can be “fixed”, and along comes a man who tells them yes, he can help them fix it (for just $3,000).
They’re not misogynist (at least, not when they walk in), no more so than any average man from the society they come from. They probably don’t, most of them, get into PUAing because they hate women and are looking for ways to hurt them. They get into it because they can’t get a date, and everything around them tells them that that makes them a loser. And then this douche comes along and promises to make them a WINNER! (for just $3,000).
And he has testimonials from guys who will (accurately) report that as a result of his “training”, they got laid! This is the “how can you turn this down?” tagline.
This is the central thing about the PUA “thing”: it’s NOT primarily focussed on picking up women. It’s primarily focussed on taking money from men. The whole “picking up women” thing is just the lure to get men to part with cash. PUAs are little different, in my view, than homeopathy practitioners. They’ve found a vulnerable group to prey on (single men/people who are ill). They’ve found a line they can spin (I can get you laid/I can heal you). They have vaguely plausible methods that to the uninitiated sound reasonable, and cloak their “technique” in jargon to obfuscate its basic simplicity. And they charge big money and don’t care about people who suffer as a result of what they do. And cognitive dissonance and confirmation bias together mean that there are a substantial number of their clients who will vehemently defend the practitioners as life-changing saints. They are parasites preying on the vulnerable.
They buy his line because his line is the one that works best in the marketplace. A hypothetical “ethical” pickup artist would start by saying “Only approach women in contexts where it’s appropriate and only approach women who aren’t indicating that they’re not open to being approached by, say, wearing headphones or reading a book.” And that guy would make no money and would go out of business because you will have a better hit rate treating women as objects rather than people, and if you’re trying to make money, it’s all about the hit rate. See also cold-calling telesales and door-to-door evangelists. Same principle.
These people make victims of women and men. You see a body of self-loathing misogynists in his audience. I see a roomful of victims, being unwittingly trained to go out and make more victims.