yes, you may

Well, being a parent, I certainly wouldn't want Zack going "daddy, where's that lady's willy gone?" in the middle of town.

I think you got it nailed, but nailed in the wrong side of the board. More public nudity = less care. But a lot of people view nudity (well, boobies and flaps at the least) as things involved in tender, loving, bedtime activities. Seeing boobs around town would indeed be great, but once I got used to it, how long til I see the missus as just another set of norks?

Take the humble gynocologist. Day in, day out, he's looking at - and sometimes putting stuff inside - ladies muffs. Coming home after a hard day's work, I'd say the last thing on his mind would be a fish supper.

I agree that being nude is being natural, but then again so is taking a dump and eating meat. What would happen if a random guy killed and ate your dog and then curled one out on your doorstep?

That said, the treatment of the second guy was downright uncalled for. Sure, bundle him to the ground, cuff him, and take him away - at the very worst. But goddamn, there's no need for tazers. That's just overkill.

Like Chef says. There's a time and a place for everything. And its called "college". :D
 

I'm a pretty open person and love running around my house naked but I personally think clothing is nessisary. I don't want to see people naked casually because the whole lot of us are ugly. Most breast look better secured in a bra. I don't want to know if you are circumcised until I'm putting your penis in my mouth. I just think there are things better left to the imagination. At the same time I'm not sure it should be more the a social stigma, a crime punishable by a slap on the wrist and some embarrassment.

And I have met a nudist before in a none nudist place and it was very uncomfortable to me even though it was totally none sexual. Although I have run into the opposite, an exhibistionist wanking in his car and that also really upset me.
 

Yes being naked isn't necessarily sexual and we Americans in particular need to work on our prudishness, sex/violence hypocrisy etc etc. But still, sitting on the subway, staring at some guy's junk at eye level? No thanks, really. Any who is this Blokeyman? Had me laughing out loud...and cringing.
 

I'm in Salena's boat, Blokeymon ia great. Even Indigo Daisy can crack a good one.

It's a shame this has happened to Tsuyoshi, especially since he was merely taking part in two favourite activities of Japan - getting naked in public and drinking your face off. He just happened to do it in the park instead of the onsen.
 

As I mentioned above, I'm not imagining a dream world where nobody wears clothing ever again. I can think of dozens of situations where clothing should be worn for basic sanitary reasons. But in the case of Tsuyoshi and the "wizard," they were simply outdoors and not wearing clothing. They were essentially arrested for something they didn't do (get dressed).

I also think back to the days when it wasn't "appropriate" to have bare legs or midriffs in public. Flash forward to today and those are positively normal, even in a formal society like Japan. We have always drawn an imaginary line on our own bodies and decided what was fit for public display and what wasn't. I want to keep pushing that line until it's gone.

PS: Salena, Blokeymon is the webmaster of a forum I visit.

PPS: Thanks to everyone for the amusing and passionate responses thus far. I haven't gotten much feedback lately and I was starting to feel lonely.
 

Glad I made a good impression with some of your other readers. Always pays to make a good first impression. :D

I can see where you're coming from, totally - there ISN'T anything wrong with being naked. Hell, I'm sure most men do what I do after a hard day's work - get home, kick off the shoes, strip down to your shorts, grab a drink and watch a bit of "America's Dumbest Home Video Accidents In High Speed Chases VIII".

But thats in the confines of your own home, and I think the problem here, especially so in this guys case, is that he was not so much disobeying the law (which he was, but I digress), but he was forcing his nakedness onto those people who may have been in the local vicinity - something they may not have wanted.

By refusing to get dressed, he wasn't so much fighting for his own rights, but he was continuing to (potentially) upset the local populace in a manner that many would have deemed inappropriate and some even offensive.

As I said before, there is a time and a place for everything, and laws like this one are there for a very valid reason - to protect the majority.

But as with all famous people, its made all the more worse/widespread because of the fame, and depending on what the law is like in Japan, he'll either get off scott free and his public profile will increase, or his punishment will be harsher than Mr Joe Public would get, to make an example of him and send a warning to everyone else.

Sucks to be a celebrity.
 

Here's my issue with the "forcing nudity on others" argument: there are a lot of really ugly people in the world, either naturally or disfigured due to an accident - people with really disgusting or disturbing wounds, appendages or birthmarks that are at least (if not more so) unpleasant to look at as a penis. Should they be obliged to cover themselves with a sheet so I don't have to look at them?

The idea that naked genitals or bare breasts are somehow uniquely unfit for public view has been programmed into us, because we all grew up in a clothed society. I've seen shit on people's scalps or noses that makes a penis look like work of art.
 

How did I not read this post earlier?

I agree with a lot of whats said and while I feel the mystery of nudity being removed could help remove some elements of relationships. No mystery would lead to less temptation, which may help. It would be sad to loose the this of course but then again nudity is overrated as eroticism. Usually the naked form is not the most sexual thing.

Think about high school if there were no clothes though? I had enough trouble with my young over sized form without it being exposed to the world. Imagine EVERYBODY knowing that you balls hadn't dropped? KNOWING that you fancy that girl.

There is nothing wrong with nudity, per say. It doesn't bother me at all, but we have our rules to make everybody comfy, not just me.

Also I want my celebrities to be held to a higher standard. I would prefer they were punished more for things than getting a free pass. Finally an element of Japanese celeb culture I agree with.
 

As much as I think running around naked is cool. I have reasons agianst it. Some already mentioned.
Mainly have you seen the weather in Ireland? You'd be lucky to have parts left to show off if you went out nude.
 

As allways (at least untill I catch up with the last few months of the archive) I get in late with a comment.

One big fallacy in you peoples arguments. You equate what happens at a music festival with what happens in your neighbourhood and weigh both on the same standard. This is wrong. I cannot say this with any certainty of course, but I am rather positive that the 'wizard' fellow would not be pulling the same stunt at the local shopping mall or at the train station. No, he did it at a music festival, a place that in our common narrative is known for venturing beyond the established boundaries of what is taboo. He did no harm and it was quite clear from the cat-calls and jeers that a majority of the people around him was not bothered by his nakedness. I am not arguing that we should from one day to another embrace public nakedness at all locations, 2000 years of Judeo-Christian morality will not be easily undone (and with regards to Japan, it was the westernization of the Meiji restoration that made public nakedness a taboo, so score one for the middle eastern morality there.)

Having said all that, I will say that I am not surprised things went down as they did, as I read stories of US-cops resorting to force at the drop of a hat almost daily curtesy of the gaitator (I am not myself a libetarian, but the site also does good coverage of stuff I as a radical progressive find interesting.)

I'll leave you with an article about the annual Naked Race at danish Roskilde Festival (with pictures) do a google translate or bablefish if you wanna read the article or find a friendly dane to translate it for you, as the article is unavailabvle in English.) It might interest you to know that while we have dedicated nudist beaches here in Denmark, you can swim in the buff at any beach and more and more public swimmingpools allow for topless bathing as well.

I don't know how our being the first to legalise porn fits in with that though ;)
 

Of course, Rune, it's not something that we can just change with a speech or a new law. But I look at other countries' attitudes towards nudity and I see them as evidence that we have no excuse to be so uptight. Japan in particular, because they are really keen on disrobing in all kinds of situations that I would never dare do myself.