Zentai members meet in 'liberating' spandex suits
-
From sex to childhood dreams, there are lots of reasons why some people in Japan are wearing tight-fitting head-to-toe spandex body suits, it appears.
The suits envelop the entire body - including the eyes - and are favoured by people who find the anonymity of the outfit liberating, The Japan Times reports. The costumes are called "zentai" - from "zenshintaitsu" - the word for a full body suit.
In Japan, many people "feel unable to find their role in society" and find solace by erasing their outward appearance, says academic Ikuo Daibo. Others, such as 36-year-old teacher Nezumiko, acknowledge a sexual dimension. "I like to touch and stroke others and to be touched and stroked like this," he says. Another member of Tokyo's Zentai Club explains: "I was always fascinated by hero costumes as a child."
The trend is apparently not limited to Japan. The Zentai Project group, whose website is based in Britain, says its members wear the suits "for the amusement of themselves and the public".
Hokkyoku Nigo is part of a small subset in Japan with a fetish for wearing outfits called “zentai” — an abbreviation of “zenshintaitsu”, which means “full body suit” — who say they are seeking liberation by effacing the physical self.
Some meet through Internet forums and through gatherings like the Tokyo Zentai Club, whose ten members get together every other month, just like any other group, to hold barbecues or parties. Unlike any other group, they are covered head-to-toe in skintight Lycra.
“I was always fascinated by hero costumes as a child,” said member Hanaka, 22, who was introduced to the club by her 25-year-old boyfriend, Popo.
“When I was 13 or 14, I even tried to make a full-body suit myself, sewing stockings together. But I stopped, thinking maybe I was doing something weird.
“I was really happy when I finally found out on the Internet that there were people like me out there,” said Hanaka, who always comes to Tokyo Zentai Club events with Popo.
Academic Ikuo Daibo of Tokyo Mirai University said zentai fans seems to be groping for a different way of expressing their own identity.
“In Japan, many people feel lost; they feel unable to find their role in society,” he said.
“They have too many role models and cannot choose which one to follow.”
He said they take solace from the erasing of their outward appearances and say they believe it offers a way for people to get to know others as they are, rather than because of how they look.
“In a way, they are trying to expose their deeper self by hiding their own identity,” said Daibo. “I find it a very interesting way of communication.”
