ギャランドゥ - The Gyarando

Hi Blog,

One of the running jokes in Japan that I always found funny, but never really got (that's kind of like laughing because everyone else is) is the Gyarando. (aka. ギャランドゥ)

For a country where chest hair is generally a fairly limited prospect there's a joke that a man with a hairy chest has a 'Gyarando.' I never knew where it came from. In fact, I always thought it was a "Gyaran + Do" As in a nice 'hair-do,' that was also known as a 'Gyaran.'

Anyway, I found out some months back that like many slang and jokey expressions in Japanese, this one was rooted in pop culture-- this time it's a 1983 hit pop song by Saijou Hideki (西城 秀樹) called, you guessed it: 「ギャランドゥ」. And thanks to the wonderful time travelling scientists over at YouTube, you can watch a video artifact of it right now. On your computer.

Oh! But first, here's a riddle you can ponder while you watch this video: why does Gyarando refer to chest hair in the first place? Apparently, it's because Saijou Hideki is prancing about with a billowing open shirt, proudly showing off his bare chest-- only, he has no chest hair (as far as I can tell). See for yourself:



Next time you're in Japan, you'll never have to pretend that you know what the whole 'Gyarando' joke is all about. Laugh freely. Go on.

Update! The "Pretty Person" has posted this comment and I find it so educational -- especially the 'boomerang' bit -- that I want to include it in the post. Thanks 'Bijindesu!' (Btw, did you find my posting via YouTube?)

"You are only half right. Galando is is not chest hair, it is the hair on the lower belly.
Hideki wwas wearing speedo when he was on some idol swimming competition shows. His lower belly hair showed up above the speedo, looked like the extension of pubic hair. It was embarrassing for girls to mention it directly. So a singer said on her radio talk show to ask guys with Galando to come for some event. That started the word Galando meanig lower belly hair. Galando is a word created by the song lyricist, made up of "Gal and Do"

Also, Speedo is called "boomerang" in Japan because Hideki wore speedo while he was promoting his hit single "boomerang"

Here's the vid, minus the speedo...


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