Pink Nihon’s: Munechira

Please welcome guest writer Nate Jensen, from PinkNihon.com, who contributes the following article. Earlier this year, Jensen independently published The Japanese-English Guide to Sex, Kink and Naughtiness; perhaps one of the most comprehensive books bridging sexual terms between the Japanese and English languages.

Greetings fellow readers of loneleeplanet!  A few articles ago, the Borat mankini entry generated some interesting buzz. Considering the topic of the article was around risque swimsuits in Japan, readers might also find the Japanese word munechira of interest.

What is munechira?

Munechira (むねチラ, 胸チラ), pronounced “moo neh cheeh lah”, is a portmanteau blending two words: ‘mune’ and ‘chira’. It is a voyeuristic term that means an unexpected teasing flash of the breast. It can be an accidental glimpse or an intentional display. Either way, the very subjective nature of the cause makes it difficult for onlookers to feign disgust or joy at the occasion.

The term munechira is one of those interesting Japanese words, like the word bukkake, which uniquely expresses particular concept that is sexual in nature with risque connotations.

One point to note is that munechira may or may not include exposure of the nipples.  More often than not, munechira is the momentary exposure and glance of a female’s extra rack space but not including the areolas.

‘Mune’ is the Japanese word for ‘breast(s)’ and ‘chira’ is derived from the onomatopoeic adverb chiratto or chirarito which describes an unexpected or “whoops!” sort of glimpse. ‘Chira‘ is a popular blend word also used in panchira (a quick peek at a woman’s panties) and burachira (a quick peek or the exposure of a woman’s bra).

All three words munechira, panchira and burachira are a type of chirarizumu word family.

Chirarism (pronounced “cheeh lah lih zoo mooh”) is a somewhat abstract Japanese noun which describes titillating voyeuristic incidents.  As with other Japanese nouns, this can imply singularity or plurality.  The easiest translation for chirarism might be that it is as “whoops! there it is!” moments or situations.

Chirarism = A “whoops! there it is!” moment or situation.

Samurai Swords and Showa Sexiness

The word “chirarism” (chirarizumu) appears to have been coined sometime during the post-War years in the Showa Era.  According to different sources, including Wikipedia and チラリズム.com, in the early career of actress and performer Mitsuyo Asaka (浅香光代) , Asaka performed a particular sword dance routine that involved exposing more thigh flesh than was typically regarded as socially acceptable during those days.  A newspaper journalist coined a phrase to describe the scandalous dance performance using the word chirarism (chirarizumu); a combination of chirari (the quickness of an unexpected glimpse) with the English suffix “-ism”.

A quick check of Kodansha’s Illustrated Encyclopedia of Japan as well as the Kojien 4th Edition yields no results for chirarism.  Munechira was also without results.  Even if these authority texts on Japanese culture might not include such entries, its still safe to say that chirarism is alive and well in Japan.

Mainstream Japanese news (NHK, Mainichi Shimbun, and such) will often cover incidents where overly enthusiastic males are arrested by authorities after going overboard to capture sneak photographs of the more fleshy areas of unsuspecting females.  There are countless photo collections on Web sites and blogs that attest to this trend.

Should you be considering grabbing your digital camera and heading out the door to begin taking your own photo collection of chirari photo shots, safe advice would be: don’t do it. Japanese news tabloids generate enough content, there really isn’t any reason to try and create your own.

From SuperBowl to Summertime Fun

Although not Japanese in origin, probably the most universal example (or epitome) of munechira, is the mammarable (pun intended) Janet Jackson wardrobe malfunction during the 2004 Super Bowl halftime show when Justin Timberlake accidentally (supposedly) indecently exposed Janet’s right breast – munechira!

Japan is certainly not immune to such unexpected glimpses of female celebrity real estate. The case could be made that munechira is even more frequent in Japan.  A paparazzi’s heaven, so-to-speak.  The weekly rags so popular with the salarymen in Japan are known for regularly sharing surprise shots of some unsuspecting actress or celebrity with her headlights reflecting a little more light than usual.  Certainly one way to keep readership and circulation numbers up!

Publishers provide a non-stop flow and mind-boggling amount of publications graced with photos of fleshy glimpses.

While the above magazine examples show presumably accidental exposure mishaps, there are also plenty of cases where publishers have gone the extra mile to recreate munechira shots.  Here is an excerpt of a 7 page article in SPA! magazine discussing the thrill of chirarism during hot summer days:

In fact, the likelihood of seeing some sort of munechira in the weekly news tabloids is so great, it is probably reasonable to venture a guess the magazines with such content are going to have higher circulation than those without.

Cyberspace and Beyond

There are plenty of sites out there that are only a Google search away for any of you oppai seijin (messengers from the planet of breast lovers) out there in cyberspace.

For the more health oriented readers in Japan, a walk to a local convenience store’s magazine rack also allows for ample research.  Some convenience stores do not allow tachiyomi (reading while standing at the magazine rack), but most places are generally tolerant.

If you are feeling really adventurous and live in one of Japan’s larger cities, you can even wander to the major train stations where people often set up little tables of magazines and manga salvaged from trash bins.  For those enjoying Japan on a limited budget, these recycled periodicals are often much cheaper than at the convenience store.  Of course, nobody knows where these collected magazines have been before.  Proceed at your own risk.

Exploring the Japanese world of chirarism – Could one say it is a cultural experience?  I’m not sure.  Is it a way to study the language?  Perhaps.  A popular pastime?  Apparently.

If you enjoyed this article and want to further enlighten your Japanese language and cultural studies don’t forget to check out Nate’s book The Japanese-English Guide to Sex, Kink and Naughtiness. It contains an exhaustive collection of over 500 sexy, kinky and naughty words and descriptions not found in ordinary dictionaries or language guides.

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