« The Kent Girls Have Hit the Town | Main | Japan, So Narrowly Defined »
May 14, 2007
Zino: Because We Needed Another Leon
 | For all those dirty old Japanese men who are sick of seeing that human chunk of Italian ham Girolamo Panzetta on the cover of their beloved Leon, the brand new magazine Zino gives you 73-year old journalist Tahara Soichiro slouching on a rooftop, drinking the bubbly, wearing a dozen different shades of off-white. The guy oozes sex the way that most men ooze ooze. This Ole Granddad is so over-sexed that he doesn't even bother to look at the hot white woman in the bikini standing right in front of him. Either that or he was photoshopped into the setting. |
Zino comes to us from Kishida Ichiro - the media maverick and lothario who helmed Leon until he was asked to leave last year. Generally speaking, the content in Zino seems to be identical to Leon - high-end gear for sketchy old guys. Lots of reptile skin and huge watches. Opposed to the self-imposed racial segregation of Leon, however, Zino actually uses a few Japanese men as models, adhering to the widely-held belief that dudes are dudes as long as they have stubble.
Readers may not be screaming out for two rival versions of the same magazine, but apparently advertisers cannot resist the idea of a magazine targeted towards single and lecherous rich men who spend their Sosekis on luxury items instead of on wives and the results of their procreation.
And if you are thinking, hey, Zino is just "fronting," check out the inside-cover ad: Hermès, baby. You can't even afford to talk to guys who work in the Hermès stock warehouses.
Zino's motto is "リッチを誇るな、センスで光れ！" - "Don't be proud of being rich, dazzle 'em with your good sense." Nobody embodies these words better than Mr. Tahara Soichiro - that guy is as hot as the goddamn sun.
Posted by marxy at May 14, 2007 6:48 PM
Trackback Pings
TrackBack URL for this entry:
http://www.pliink.com/mt/mt-tb.cgi/267
Comments
I LOVE IT
last month cover was perfect too !
Posted by: Digiki at May 14, 2007 9:47 PM
Ha,
Yeah I noticed a couple promotional stands for this at bookstore entrances just outside Ginza just after you mentioned Leon in Clast.
Was wondering what the relationship was. I kinda thought it was weird that the first issue's cover made him look rather short... but then, I have no familiarity with the fellow.
Hilarious cover this time, though.
Posted by: Joseph K at May 15, 2007 2:19 AM
What's so good about the cover is that I didn't even notice the ass cheek he's trying so hard to not gawk at.
I don't think there's another man alive who can pull that shot (and those clothes) off better.
Posted by: shiny floor occupant at May 15, 2007 2:57 AM
At first I thought the name of the mag was "Wino."
Posted by: Brown at May 15, 2007 9:19 AM
Give it a few years.
Posted by: marxy at May 15, 2007 10:34 AM
Please enjoy the remarkably ad-laden website as well.
Posted by: Joseph at May 17, 2007 1:12 AM
looks like they dressed up a homeless guy and stuck a drink in his hand.
that or a drunk, japanese peter falk.
Posted by: michael at May 20, 2007 5:38 PM
I have been reading your stuff for a few months now and had to comment: Rich, lecherous guys are spending Yukichis, not Sosekis!!
Posted by: kuromimi at May 23, 2007 3:56 PM
They are spending a LOT of Sosekis.
Posted by: marxy at May 24, 2007 9:07 AM