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| Mr Babe: Japan launches style magazine for the larger man | Mr Babe: Japan launches style magazine for the larger man |
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| Like many men his size, Norihito Kurashina dreads shopping for clothes. “The skinny jeans trend has done me no favours at all,” the 52-year-old magazine editor says, the lower buttons of his shirt straining a little as he shifts in his seat. “It’s really difficult to find anything that fits properly, so I often end up with clothes that I can just about squeeze into.” | Like many men his size, Norihito Kurashina dreads shopping for clothes. “The skinny jeans trend has done me no favours at all,” the 52-year-old magazine editor says, the lower buttons of his shirt straining a little as he shifts in his seat. “It’s really difficult to find anything that fits properly, so I often end up with clothes that I can just about squeeze into.” |
| At five feet seven inches in height, and weighing just over 13 stone (82kg), Kurashina is hardly sumo wrestler material. But this year, after more than a decade as editor-in-chief-of Men’s Knuckle – a magazine aimed at young, and wafer thin, men working in Tokyo’s huge host club scene – the 52-year-old is on a mission on behalf of all Japanese men who share his portly proportions. | At five feet seven inches in height, and weighing just over 13 stone (82kg), Kurashina is hardly sumo wrestler material. But this year, after more than a decade as editor-in-chief-of Men’s Knuckle – a magazine aimed at young, and wafer thin, men working in Tokyo’s huge host club scene – the 52-year-old is on a mission on behalf of all Japanese men who share his portly proportions. |
| Related: The Okinawa diet – could it help you live to 100? | Related: The Okinawa diet – could it help you live to 100? |
| The first issue of Mr Babe – Japan’s first magazine “by chubby men, for chubby men” – went on sale in October, aimed at a readership Kurashina believes has been ignored by the country’s fashion and lifestyle industry. | The first issue of Mr Babe – Japan’s first magazine “by chubby men, for chubby men” – went on sale in October, aimed at a readership Kurashina believes has been ignored by the country’s fashion and lifestyle industry. |
| Featuring Jack Black on the cover and “stocky” amateur models inside, Kurashina’s magazine offers tips on fashion and grooming, dating and, yes, diet and exercise. | Featuring Jack Black on the cover and “stocky” amateur models inside, Kurashina’s magazine offers tips on fashion and grooming, dating and, yes, diet and exercise. |
| “I kept asking myself why there were so few fashionable clothes for people like me,” he said. “There are plenty of clothes for slim men, and specialist shops for unusually tall men, but practically nothing for podgy men. | “I kept asking myself why there were so few fashionable clothes for people like me,” he said. “There are plenty of clothes for slim men, and specialist shops for unusually tall men, but practically nothing for podgy men. |
| “You could say that Japan is behind the times, but I think it’s more accurate to say that clothes manufacturers here have simply never given bigger men a second thought. There is something wrong with the idea that you can only be cool and attractive if you’re thin.” | “You could say that Japan is behind the times, but I think it’s more accurate to say that clothes manufacturers here have simply never given bigger men a second thought. There is something wrong with the idea that you can only be cool and attractive if you’re thin.” |
| Aimed primarily at men in their 30s and 40s, the first issue of Mr Babe had sold over half of its 50,000 print run – considered a healthy number in Japan’s declining magazine industry – within a few weeks of publication. | Aimed primarily at men in their 30s and 40s, the first issue of Mr Babe had sold over half of its 50,000 print run – considered a healthy number in Japan’s declining magazine industry – within a few weeks of publication. |
| While the country’s publishing industry was quicker to respond to demand for fashion and lifestyle advice for “plus-size” women, with the 2013 launch of the magazine La Farfa, statistics show that, in fact, the obesity rate among Japanese women has been falling for the past decade. | While the country’s publishing industry was quicker to respond to demand for fashion and lifestyle advice for “plus-size” women, with the 2013 launch of the magazine La Farfa, statistics show that, in fact, the obesity rate among Japanese women has been falling for the past decade. |
| By contrast, a 2013 survey by the health and welfare ministry found that almost a third of Japanese men had a body mass index (BMI) of 25 or above, at which a person is considered overweight. | By contrast, a 2013 survey by the health and welfare ministry found that almost a third of Japanese men had a body mass index (BMI) of 25 or above, at which a person is considered overweight. |
| “Just imagine how many people that represents, and how many more men like that there will be in the future,” said Kurashina. | “Just imagine how many people that represents, and how many more men like that there will be in the future,” said Kurashina. |
| With Japan confronting long-term depopulation and a persistently low birthrate, he regards his magazine as more than just a novelty for a niche readership. By giving larger men the confidence to date – and perhaps to marry and start families – he believes he is on a mission to arrest Japan’s looming demographic implosion. | With Japan confronting long-term depopulation and a persistently low birthrate, he regards his magazine as more than just a novelty for a niche readership. By giving larger men the confidence to date – and perhaps to marry and start families – he believes he is on a mission to arrest Japan’s looming demographic implosion. |
| Kurashina is happy to describe himself as “pocchari” (chubby), but recoils at the uncharitable overtones of “debu”, a Japanese word best translated as “fatso”. He said: “Debu has lots of negative connotations. You’ll find it in the magazine, but only in quotation marks. I prefer to think of our readers as stylish, larger men, not fat men.” | Kurashina is happy to describe himself as “pocchari” (chubby), but recoils at the uncharitable overtones of “debu”, a Japanese word best translated as “fatso”. He said: “Debu has lots of negative connotations. You’ll find it in the magazine, but only in quotation marks. I prefer to think of our readers as stylish, larger men, not fat men.” |
| While it broaches the subject of overeating, Mr Babe is mercifully free of advice on weight loss. “We don’t shy away from health issues, but we’d never dream of telling people to lose weight,” Kurashina said. “It’s about enjoying life just as you are … but that doesn’t mean you have to avoid exercise or not keep an eye on what you eat.” | While it broaches the subject of overeating, Mr Babe is mercifully free of advice on weight loss. “We don’t shy away from health issues, but we’d never dream of telling people to lose weight,” Kurashina said. “It’s about enjoying life just as you are … but that doesn’t mean you have to avoid exercise or not keep an eye on what you eat.” |
| Kurashina believes Mr Babe is the first step towards redressing the balance in favour of men who are unfairly blamed for sagging around the middle as they approach middle age. “When was the last time you saw a big guy modelling clothes for high street retailers? It’s easy to come to the conclusion that we’re being discriminated against. | Kurashina believes Mr Babe is the first step towards redressing the balance in favour of men who are unfairly blamed for sagging around the middle as they approach middle age. “When was the last time you saw a big guy modelling clothes for high street retailers? It’s easy to come to the conclusion that we’re being discriminated against. |
| “The problem is that men in their 30s and 40s are busier at work than at other points in their career. They spend all day at work, they go drinking in the evening to relieve stress, and do the same again the next day. They don’t have time to go to the gym ... it’s no wonder they put on weight.” | “The problem is that men in their 30s and 40s are busier at work than at other points in their career. They spend all day at work, they go drinking in the evening to relieve stress, and do the same again the next day. They don’t have time to go to the gym ... it’s no wonder they put on weight.” |
| The second issue of Mr Babe will broach another subject that can turn clothes shopping expeditions into the stuff of nightmares: what to wear during the relentlessly hot and humid summer months. Solving that and other conundrums facing bigger Japanese men is no longer just a job, he said. “It’s become my life’s work.” |