Your Japanese word of the week is...

"poi". You use it by attaching it to the end of any adjective to create a word that means "like (adjective)". For example, if you're walking around in dress, you're rather "woman-poi". If you're fanning yourself with a flourescent pink hand fan, it's a bit "gay-poi". A girl dressed like Avril Lavigne is a bit "punk-poi". And in around Tokyo, you often see the first two "pois" a bit often. Men with purple plaid pants and green shirts that say "Lovin the best of the environment is the sweetest uniform for life!!". Or styling themselves in the faint reflection of the train window. Of course, they're not ALL like that. I would say under 10% of men are like that. So just low enough that you know they're the rarity but just enough that you can't get away from it.
But, like everything else in Japan, there's a time and/or a place for it. Example- I went back to Akihabara to look for some items a friend wanted me to get. You will never ever see any of the above mentioned men loitering around the multitude of anime/comic shops, electronics shops, and model toy shops. Instead, as you might expect, you see lots of guys with t-shirts tucked into their jeans, very large glasses perched atop oily noses, and a rather "always looking at the floor" lack of confidence. And BO- a few of them tend to smell like they only left their room to buy another comic to peruse.

I say this because I've been here a little over and month now and one thing to realize about Japan is that it is incredibly image conscious. Like, super duper you-just-wouldn't-believe-how-dressing-apprioriately-will-solve-all-your-problems image conscious. Those anime lovers may not be dressing like that on purpose, but believe me, talking the talk is sometimes more important than walking the walk.

If you're going painting, you will get all decked out in painter's coveralls and a bandana and buy some fancy paint brushes even if you only intend to show up and sit around. If you're going to a soccer match you will not only have the right clothes to play in, but the right kind of sports wear to travel to and from the field. Everyone has to be able to see what you're doing without you ever having to say a single thing.

The worst, however, is when you see a Japanese girl on a date with some foreigner (and white guys are usually the worst). As Richard so knowingly pointed out, the girl is on the date because she's bored of "regular" Japanese guys and it's a great chance to practice her English (that, apparently, is a huge deal). The guy is on the date because he's a guy. But the girl, being Japanese, will get all dressed up according to whatever lifestyle she has in an effort to look her best. The white guy will be in shorts and a t-shirt, sandals, be unshaved, and usually have some kind of dirty ponytail going on. Think average American scrub and you get the picture.

The Japanese call it "dasai", (yes, you get two words this week =P ) which is when you're not dressed appriopriately, either for the occassion or on a whole. White foreigners tend to be very dasai.

And thus, in a very round-about way, explains both why the Japanese have such eccentric styles and why dressing the part is so crucial. You have to look the part to play the part, and if you lead an eccentric life then eccentric style broadcasts to the world that you indeed do live that life.