A 15-year-old Japanese boy has been getting a lot of attention in his country and in neighboring South Korea for his unusually feminine looks and voice.
Idegami Baku’s meteoric rise to fame occurred late last month, when he became a finalist in Japan’s popular talent contest JUNON Super Boy. Organized by famous entertainment magazine JUNON, the Super Boy competition has been offering attractive boys aged between 13 and 28 the chance to fulfil their dreams of becoming singers, actors and television stars for the past 28 years. Baku didn’t win the competition, but if the online attention he’s been getting for the past couple of weeks is any indication, his future success in the entertainment business is guaranteed. But while his talent may have gotten him into the finals of JUNON Super Boy, people can’t stop talking about his looks. You see, Idegami looks more like a young girl than a boy, and he even sounds like one.
Photo: Twitter/@i_baku2020
Photos of the androgynous 15-year-old have been doing the rounds on social media, both in Japan and South Korea, leaving people with their mouths open after reading that the person depicted in them is actually male. Some have gone as far as commenting that Idegami looks more feminine than most girls. Looking at these photos, can you really blame them?
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The boy’s effeminate looks caused such a heated debate online that he even took to Twitter to confirm that he was indeed male, writing “I am a man” next to some of his most popular photos.
ノーセットヘア
島にはついてませんが、島根にはかえってきました✈
ただいま島根🕺🏼🕺🏼今日21時からshowroom配信… https://t.co/RuUVYygtwT #CHEERZforJUNON pic.twitter.com/UGeAqlcPZ1
— 井手上漠 ▷第31回ジュノンボーイコンテストファイナリスト (@i_baku2020) 27 November 2018
I haven’t been able to find much information about Idegami Baku, other than he actually won a special award during this year’s JUNON Super Boy contest, and that he’s a fan of volleyball. What I can say is that after checking out his old Twitter account I can tell you that he has always had feminine features, so his current look is most likely not the result of plastic surgery.
今年のDDセルフプロデュース賞は井手上漠君。自分自身を理解し大切にしてそれを存分にステージで発揮出来ていた人を基準にしています。壇上でも言いましたが井手上君の歌声は会場の雰囲気が変わるぐらい聴き入ってしまう素敵な歌声でした。きっと彼にしか出来ない事です。本当におめでとう御座います! pic.twitter.com/lh6pepu8wi
— ぜあらる。 (@z_koara) 25 November 2018
We’ve featured other effeminate men in the past, like Andrey Nagorny, who last year one a lingerie contest for women, or Eli Diaghilev, a young Kazakh male model who earlier this year reached the final of a women’s beauty contest, but they all used makeup to enhance their feminine features, while Idegami Baku’s looks seem to be all natural.
おひさひさです🙈
最近寒いからもうニベアないと駄目ですね笑
みなさんも風邪ひからんように気をつけてくださいね😚 pic.twitter.com/6pX2Dkk94b— 井手上漠 ▷第31回ジュノンボーイコンテストファイナリスト (@i_baku2020) 21 November 2018
Oh, and just listen to him sing. Can you tell it’s a boy’s voice?
漠ちゃんまじで可愛い
※これ、男です pic.twitter.com/Nzxcb5ItoP
— #Yuta (@yuta_201816) 23 June 2018
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Sources: Men’s Hack, Tonboeye, Insight