Hide the booze and lock up your daughters: Charisma Man is back. The lovable loser who was constantly broke, dateless and swilling rotgut at home is back in Japan, with a pocket full of folding money, a girl on each arm and a chilled glass of first-class sake in his hand.
Who is he, this mystery man, this lothario? Where does he get the dose of kryptonite that transforms him from a pathetic bungler into a suave and debonair man of the world?
Perhaps the origins of Charisma Man can be traced back to the late '80s and early '90s, when emasculated Japanese males known as ashi-kun (guys used for their cars) and meshi-kun (guys who would fork out for fancy meals), and hapless foreign eigo-kun (guys exploited for their English) were supposedly being taken advantage of by women here in Japan. It was around this time that young Western men could be seen in major urban centers strutting about in suits and ties to impress the girls on a night out.