Ladies, I want you to meet the older 日本男児 (Nihon danji, Japanese male). 彼は評判が悪い (Kare wa hyōban ga warui, he has a bad reputation) but not necessarily (必ずしも kanarazushimo) in the way you think.
He's not the sexy libertine you can't introduce to your mom. It's more that he's so trustworthy as to be invisible, a nonentity of reliable boringness in glasses and a dark suit. He is the 年くった (toshikutta, "one who has eaten the years") Japanese male, and he needs our support and understanding.
It doesn't help that the younger, savvier Nihon danji are now appearing in lists of the world's hottest men. (Only a few years ago, a survey pegged the attractiveness of Japanese men as somewhere down in the 100s compared to their international peers.) These may be self-obsessed shopaholics with beauty products crowding their bathroom shelves, but so what? The number of イケメン (ikemen, gorgeously handsome guys) across the archipelago has soared, making this an unprecedentedly wonderful time for the Japanese woman to be alive and dating, or just 指をくわえて見ている (yubi o kuwaete miteiru, passively staring and sucking at one's finger).
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