Older People with Dyed Hair, Cute vs. Macho

Although now that we look at it, these aren't the greatest pictures in the world (darned camera-phone), but this businessman and this lady do indeed have purple hair:

We've actually seen many older Japanese with purple, or green, or blue dyed hair. Not quite sure what that is all about. But given the conservative veneer of Japanese society (of course contradicted by and often juxtaposed against the very un-conservative fashion sense of some of the younger generation), its pretty interesting.

While we are at it, here is another cultural observation for you -

We have previously blogged about the culture of cute in Japan. One interesting corollary is that there doesn't seem to be a male machoness type thing over here. Men are just as likely as women to have plush animals or cute cell phone straps dangling from their keitai. And it's perfectly fine. This is actually a pretty big difference from back home.