Clean Panties and Dirty Pantyhose

Posted on December 6, 2007 by little lora

When uninitiated people think of Japan they generally think of the centuries old history and rich culture however these things have nothing to do with the daily experience of life in Tokyo. Well my life anyway. Having lived in a guest house in Maruyamacho, the 'dirty' part of ShibuyaOne of Tokyo's 23 wards and a center of business, fashion, and nightlife. I have seen and heard a lot of things. Being a young, blonde, white woman in Tokyo you can get yourself into some very strange situations, very easily. It's not that I purposely go out of my way to get into these situations I guess I'm just a general freak magnet.

While living in the 'dirty' part of Shibuya last time I regularly walked through pink town to get to the station in the morning. One such morning I was approached by a reasonably normal looking Japanese man who wanted to inquire about the purchase of my dirty pantyhose. Being from a relatively small Australian city my first thought was that he genuinely needed a pair of pantyhose, for example to use as some kind of tie or something. (I had seen such a thing done on a candid camera style show) Oh how naive I was back then!

While following me to the station he filled me in on his freaky little secret. After living in Paris for 5 years he developed a foot fetish. He assured me that he didn't want to wear them or anything, just have them for a good sniff. As if that makes him some how less of a freak, I mean yes wearing them would be really weird but sniffing the sweaty, hot, summer foot smell of them is perfectly fine.

Apparently according to my freaky, little friend there used to be vending machines in Shibuya where you could purchase such items. However 'they' and I'm not sure who 'they' are have cracked down and so he is now forced to appeal to kind hearted gaijinJapanese word meaning "outsider" commonly used to describe foreigners. Considered somewhat impolite. ladies if he wants to indulge.

You might be wondering what the going rate for a pair of used pantyhose might be? Well, this was about 2 years ago now but see through, beige nylons command a hefty 5000 yen while opaque, black tights sell for a lesser amount of 3000 yen. They also must be worn for several hours, preferable in a hotter, sweatier climate. My friend was also interested in negotiating a deal that would involve him licking my toes and feet, yeah right I want my feet to end up in plastic bags in your freezer!

Having moved away from the seedy areas of Shibuya this time around I thought I was less likely to have these kind of unusual experiences. Not so! Last weekend I was relieved of several pairs of my finest underwear, welcome back! The panties in question went missing from the communal laundry under my apartment building. Of course there is a chance that it was a fellow gaijin on the hunt for a party of frilly knickers but something tells me it's more likely to have been a passing pervert in the form of a Japanese salary man. No offense of course.

The thing I don't really understand is that they were stolen from the dryer and therefore clean. It's just like stealing them from a shop. Only in Japan can you lose a wallet full of cash and get it back untouched yet have to keep your underwear under lock and key. Having turned down an offer of 5000 yen for the pantyhose I'm a little bit annoyed that someone is prancing around their apartment in my undies for free!

Upon telling the horrified, male staff member at the rental agency I was informed that a police report would be filed on my behalf. The hunt for the missing panties continues!