"Don't you think he's more popular now than back then?" Some women must be thinking that.
The trigger was the YouTube video "Masahiro Higashide's Famous Shop Visit." Just 40 minutes of him drinking at a standing bar.
Yet, on X (Twitter), it's like this:
"Of course he's popular."
"He has humanity and sex appeal."
"He's cool even from a man's perspective."
"His language is beautiful."
I don't think there were voices like this even during his peak as an actor. I got hooked too, and I've lost count of how many times I've watched The Confidence Man JP.
And then, I realized.
This is packed with points that attract women.
And he's definitely not aiming for it.
He's just drinking and talking. Yet, it hits home.
I thought about why.
1: Attitude towards staff
The moment he steps through the curtain, Mr. Higashide greets the staff properly. He naturally strikes up a conversation with an older man nearby.
It's a plain scene, but it already wins you over a bit.
Women watch very closely how a man treats "people other than themselves."
In fact, they watch that more than his attitude toward them.
A man who speaks condescendingly to restaurant staff. A man who gets irritated with taxi drivers. A man who looks down on convenience store clerks.
We see it all.
And that's where we decide if his kindness toward us is the real deal.
Mr. Higashide's attitude toward the staff had no hierarchy. He wasn't arrogant, nor was he fawning. He was just talking to them as a human being.
That alone is quite moving.
2: "Back when I had no money..."
During the video, Mr. Higashide said this:
"When I was a rookie with no money, I'd scrape together coins to pay for drinks."
"It was fun drinking while eating the location bento I brought home as a snack."
He said this while smoking, reflectively.
The reason this works is that he truly owns the period when he wasn't "cool."
Most men either turn stories of their uncool past into jokes or hide them. Mr. Higashide did neither.
It wasn't "It was hard back then, but it was fun."
It was something more... mellow. He wasn't trying to look cool, but he wasn't being self-deprecating either.
You almost never see a man right in the middle of that.
The reason you don't see it is that most men can't handle their own past. They either act tough, hide it, or consume it as a funny story.
No one really savors it.
Mr. Higashide was savoring it.
Women can tell.
3: The Handkerchief
He pulls a handkerchief out of his pocket and wipes his mouth.
That's it.
But women exploded over this.
You might wonder why such a small thing matters, but a handkerchief reflects a man's life.
A man who carries a handkerchief is a man who takes care of himself.
His mother didn't put it there. His girlfriend didn't make him carry it. He prepared it himself.
"Bad boys" don't carry handkerchiefs. They don't have tissues either.
"Pass me that" is something they say about five times a day.
I realized I've only dated men who didn't carry handkerchiefs in the past.
I just noticed it now.
A single handkerchief tells a woman a lot. It's a scary thought.
4: How he gets drunk
Mr. Higashide drank nine chuhai at the standing bar "Banpaiya." Usually, a drunk man gets a bit harsh.
They get clingy, their voice gets loud, they start bragging, or they start lecturing.
Even after nine drinks, Mr. Higashide's attitude toward the staff didn't crumble. His language remained beautiful until the end. He calmly continued stories about encountering brown bears.
A man whose personality doesn't change with alcohol is simply amazing.
Also, he was "enjoying the intoxication himself" and not forcing it on others. He didn't have that attitude of blaming the alcohol, like "I'm drunk, so..."
As someone with him, this is incredibly easy. And the "easier" a man is to be with, the longer you want to stay with him.
By now, some of you have probably realized.
Mr. Higashide is popular not just because he's amazing.
It's because we are starving for men like this.
A man who greets staff properly. A man who can handle his past. A man who carries a handkerchief. A man who doesn't fall apart when drinking.
This isn't about being "high spec." It's not about annual income or looks. It's just a matter of lifestyle and character.
Yet, there are so few men who can do this.
That's why a 40-minute standing bar video resonates so much.
And there's one more thing I want to write.
The reason Mr. Higashide developed those manners is probably that he once lost everything.
His job, his family, his reputationโhe's someone who lost it all. Someone who went into the mountains, hunted for himself, ate for himself, and lived like that for several years.
He has a calmness that only someone like that can have. The face of a person who has stopped trying to prove things to others.
That's probably what we're attracted to.
There are plenty of men trying to "be someone." Men listing titles on SNS and working hard. Men measuring themselves by income or followers.
Men who are serious about their work are cool in their own way.
But women get tired of "men who can't maintain themselves without proving something."
Mr. Higashide doesn't have that. He's just there. He's just drinking.
A man who is perfectly fine being "nobody."
That's probably where we fell for him.
Women who watched Mr. Higashide's video and thought "That's nice" are probably a bit tired of the "feeling of fighting something" within themselves.
The need to be useful, to be recognized, to be proper. That tension has never loosened.
So, when they see someone who is "unraveled," their hearts relax. That's likely what's relaxing in that video.
If you're curious, I want you to think a little bit about how much "time being nobody" you've been able to spend lately.
Oryon
