In an excellent example of why I love Japan so much, I read an article in the paper today about a 'school boy' cafe in Tokyo. It's based off 'boy-boy' manga, which centres around homosexual relationships, and is apparently very popular with women. The key to most of this manga seems to be that the men are drawn to be extremely feminine, and this is apparently how the waiters in the cafe are supposed to act. Women who go there can pretend to be 'benefactors' of the 'school boys', who are actually school clothes clad waiters. Bizarre? Definitely, but no more so than other side of the equation, where young geeky men go to gawk at beautiful waitresses dressed up in various manga costumes.

The idea of these kinds of cafes are pretty much totally 'out there', and I would never expect to see these things in most Western countries. I do have to admit, it does make me worry a little. I also read in the paper today about a guy who randomly stabbed about nine people, killing two of them. He apparently had two mobile phones and sent messages to himself between the two phones like 'I'm a god' and so on. I wonder how much events like this are linked to the Japanese 'pop' culture. It is often said in the west that Japan seems somewhat unstable. People literally live two lives - subdued and subservient by work/in public, crazy and wild in free time/in private.

Still, I can't really question it, I suppose. People have been like this for ever in Japan, and who am I to say that the Japanese lifestyle is any less stable than the Western one? I'm naturally biased because I grew up in the Western one. The only thing I'll definitely say is that the Japanese people I've met who have lived overseas have come back a lot different to Australians I've met who have lived in Japan.