[Event Report/Essay] Muchi Fes Vol. 7 - What is a Body?

Muchi Fes, a festival themed around 'meatiness' (curviness).
I was debating whether to go because Saya Okada, a gravure idol I met at the Literature Flea Market, was participating and I wanted to talk to her again. It seems to be an event like a trade fair where you can also take cheki (instant photos).

I hesitated when I realized it was an R18 event while buying the ticket, but I gathered my courage and decided to go, thinking it might be a nice change of pace.

As I walked toward the venue, the Cotton Commerce Hall, there were several men with sharp gazes wearing dark clothes loitering around the building.
This is it! It's like some kind of hideout...!

This feeling is similar to when I first went to a live house to see an underground idol.
But back then, I had a reliable ally, my friend A-kun. I wonder if I'll be okay on my own today.

Feeling nervous, I received a black wristband at the reception and became a member of the secret society.
Because it was an R18 event, even elderly men were carefully checked for their age. Thank you to all the staff for your hard work.

For some reason, the Cotton Commerce Hall smelled like tatami mats, reminding me of my relative's grandmother's house I visited during summer vacation long ago.

I was worried it would be incredibly crowded, but it wasn't.
There were people wandering around or standing in the hallways, and I thought, 'It's like the underground passage in Pokémon.' The kind where if you make eye contact, a battle starts.
By the way, at idol venues, the live houses are dark, so the dungeon feeling is even stronger.

Walking around, I suddenly pass by people in swimsuits—a sense of the extraordinary.
The event was divided into floors, and since the building itself wasn't that large, I decided to start from the lower floor.
There were booths with small desks, and it seems many people offer cheki and video recording services alongside selling photo books and videos.

I don't usually have the opportunity to see so many people who aren't wearing proper clothes, so it's a strange feeling.
Watching them, I realize that people's bodies are actually quite diverse.

The female bodies I see in the media are slender, thin, and too beautiful, lacking any sense of daily life. Actresses and models seem like they only shop at Seijo Ishii supermarkets.
When you only see things like that, you start to feel like you shouldn't show your body to others unless it's perfect.

But the bodies of the people I saw at the event were much more varied, and everyone was acting proudly and happily, so it made me feel energized watching them.
Bodies that breathe and live.

Now that AI has developed, perfect faces and perfect bodies can be easily created.
Perhaps that's why parts of ourselves that we think are excessive or lacking might appear as charms to others.

The bodies of people who are proud and not wearing much clothing remind me of nature, like mountains or waterfalls, and for some reason, I feel a sense of solemnity watching them.
I vaguely thought that humans are also part of nature, and then I realized this might be something Kirashi-san taught me.

Kirashi-san was an elder of the Thao tribe in southern Taiwan whom I interacted with during a part-time job in my student days. He has already passed away due to his advanced age. (I wrote about this in the article below↓↓↓)

The Thao people seem to have a way of thinking that all living things are possessions of nature and exist here by the will of nature.
I wonder what Kirashi-san would say if he were here; he would be surprised.
I can't speak the Thao language, so it's hard to explain...

Come to think of it, there was also female body worship in primitive animism. The Jomon period, which never appears on entrance exams even if you study it.

When you have various experiences, you sometimes have a 'bingo' moment where you suddenly realize, 'Oh, this and that were connected!' Like, 'This is what I learned in Shinken Zemi!'
Maybe there is no wasted experience or knowledge in life. I hope that's true.

There were various interesting things for sale, so I wandered around and looked at them.
There were many handmade horns to wear on your head.
I wanted a beautiful transparent horn, but I couldn't buy it because it was over my budget.

There was someone selling 'The right to stare at me for 5 minutes for 1,000 yen' (I think?).

Five minutes is a long time.
Have you ever stared at someone for five minutes in your life? I haven't.
Being stared at is scary and takes courage, so the people being stared at proudly are amazing, and the people staring are also amazing.

Nietzsche is said to have said, 'When you gaze into the abyss, the abyss also gazes into you.'

When we gaze at idols, the idols are also gazing back at us.

As I wandered further, I was suddenly given a photo postcard.
...It's a butt...!!

When a body is framed, it looks like an object. But of course, the owner of the body has a personality.

Did the owner of this butt also sit on the ground and watch ants when she was a child? Were there nights when she couldn't sleep because she was sad?
I want her to sit in the softest places possible and always be healthy and round...
Just as I was thinking about the butt, I looked closely and saw that the person's face was properly printed on the back of the photo.

I bought several stickers at a few booths. (y.chan-san @y_chan_19, Mee-chan-san @moremore1108)
I've liked collecting stickers since I was little. I prefer having many small ones rather than one big one.

After going around, I took a cheki with Saya Okada (X account @okadasaya1).
Saya-san is a talented woman who writes books while doing gravure work, and I get a bright, intelligent impression from her elegant and neat atmosphere.
We talked a little bit about 'Kamikaze Girls' and Shusaku Endo. I'm happy because I feel like we have similar tastes.

Since her outfit was quite revealing, I thought the air conditioning might be strong, so I asked, 'Aren't you cold?' and she smiled and said, 'I'm wearing Meat-Tech, so I'm fine.'
I look forward to seeing you again and to your next work♡

Watching the women at the venue, I felt like I could understand the popularity of 'muchi-muchi' (curviness) and the so-called 'big girl' boom that is talked about in town.
Modern people are all too tired, and maybe they want to be gently wrapped up rather than just healed.
But since that person lives their whole life in that body, I have resistance to using the word 'boom' for a body instead of an object, as it feels too much like consumption.

To consume means to use something to satisfy your various desires. Therefore, consuming a living human being is a sinful thing.
I think people who show disgust toward the 'oshi-katsu' (supporting an idol) boom might be hung up on that point.

If you talked about your lover by saying, 'I liked them before, but I'm kind of bored of them lately,' people would doubt your character, but it's not a problem if it's an idol. That's because it's a relationship involving money.
But since the other person is a living human being, they will get hurt if they are treated poorly, and sometimes hearts move in unexpected directions through mutual interaction. That's where the danger and the fun lie.

Whether it's 'host-crazy' or 'papa-katsu' (sugar dating), relationships involving money are a trending theme in recent years, and I think if you read into them carefully in your own way, you can create very interesting papers and creative works.
Emotions sway in imbalanced relationships. That's where drama is born.

'Tomorrow, I Will Be Someone's Girlfriend' was interesting. I have to read the rest of 'Gachi-Koi Nenchaku-Ju' (Obsessive Love Beast). (Summary of 'Oshi' literature↓↓↓)

In a society where social media has developed, everyone is thinking about 'someone who isn't here' whose real name they don't even know every day.

Even though I don't want to be consumed myself, and I don't want the people I like to be consumed either, I love female idols, so I can't help but feel that having guilt about that is a massive contradiction.
But I think it's better to keep thinking about it without looking away. Probably...

On the way home, a couple walking in front of me were whispering to each other, "That was fun," and "I'm glad we came out of curiosity." Muchi Fes seems like the perfect event for a date.
Wait, is it? I wonder...

Meanwhile, I was thinking about the horns I couldn't buy.
Also, I wanted to see the tug-of-war. Apparently, it was intense.
The separate tickets were sold out, so I want to plan better next time.

For some reason, when I got home, my family's backsides, which I should be used to seeing, felt smaller than usual.
Wasn't there a scene like that in Alice in Wonderland?

Come to think of it, you can never see your own backside head-on with your naked eye in your entire life.
Since we're always sitting on them, maybe we should all take better care of them.

I often think this at idol venues, especially at live shows, but I am truly poor at processing visual information.
Simply put, I start thinking about things and zone out so easily that I feel I lack the ability to just enjoy what's right in front of me.
That's why my event reports always end up losing track of what I'm talking about.

I was in the literature department, and come to think of it, in my very first university class,
"Men are visually dominant -> fetishism tendency; women are tactilely dominant -> masochism tendency" was written in big letters on the blackboard.
I remember thinking, "Wow, I've really come to an intense place..." I think it might have been Ryunosuke Akutagawa's "In a Grove."

Well, I guess tendencies vary from person to person?

I want to use that tag, but is it okay to have Mr. Konishi come all the way to the ends of the earth to collect it? I am always very much in your debt. Maybe I should send a mid-year gift.

Oh well, just use it!

#WhatAreYouTalkingAbout