Lots of single people complain about how Valentine’s Day and other holidays are somehow designed to make them feel excluded, but this particular group of Japanese men have taken things even further – every year, they take to the streets to protest against the injustice of it all.
They are called ‘Kakumei-teki himote doumei’, which literally translates to ‘Revolutionary Alliance of Men That Women are Not Attracted To’. Popularly known as ‘Kakuhidou’, the group was founded in 2006, by Katsuhiro Furusawa, after being dumped by his girlfriend. He returned home dejected, and began reading the Communist Manifesto. That’s when he came to realize that being unpopular with girls is an issue of class and a form of discrimination. So on Christmas Eve that year, he stood outside JR Akihabara Station and handed out flyers with the slogan ‘Kurisumasu funsai!’ (‘Crush Christmas!’).
Soon the Kakuhidou support group was created, and since then thousands of Japanese men have joined its ranks to continue the tradition of holding demonstrations against holidays associated with ‘romantic capitalist oppression’ – Valentine’s Day, Christmas, and White Day. Their slogans are usually a combination of Japanese internet culture and classical Marxism.
This year, Kakuhidou members posted a message on their website about their parade against what they call the “blood-soaked conspiracy of Valentine’s Day, driven by the oppressive chocolate capitalists.” The posting also mentioned that in order to create a brighter future, Kakumei-teki himote doumei “call for solidarity among unloved comrades, so that we may demonstrate in resolute opposition to Valentine’s Day and the romantic industrial complex.”
At previous events, leaders of the group have worn t-shirts that read ‘sex is useless’, and yelled slogans such as, “I hope all riyajuus explode.” ‘Riyajuus’ is a Japanese term that refers to people who enjoy real relationships in their offline lives.
Photos via Gadget News
via Spoon&Tamago
