# What is this guy wearing and why? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Tags:** fashion-clothing\ **Created:** [February 7, 2019, 6:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-this-guy-wearing-and-why/829127 "2019-02-07T18:17:55Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![furryman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/furryman/32/99_2.png) [@furryman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/furryman)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2019, 6:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-this-guy-wearing-and-why/829127/1 "2019-02-07T18:17:55Z")
The guy on the left. Link to “webtoon” page. > **[The Greatest Wolf of My Life - Kim Byung-gwan/Ran - Webtoons - Lezhin Comics](https://www.lezhinus.com/en/comic/good_wolf)** > > Eunbyul lives alone in a studio apartment, works a dead-end job at a convenience store, and has no romantic prospects to speak of. But everything takes a turn when she... ---
**Author:** ![Folly](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/folly/32/3219_2.png) [@Folly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Folly)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2019, 6:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-this-guy-wearing-and-why/829127/2 "2019-02-07T18:22:20Z")
Fur-collared cloak or cape. ---
**Author:** ![Darren\_Garrison](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/darren_garrison/32/92_2.png) [@Darren\_Garrison](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darren_Garrison)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2019, 6:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-this-guy-wearing-and-why/829127/3 "2019-02-07T18:30:44Z")
You mean [the mask](https://www.google.com/search?q=Japan+face+masks&oq=Japan+face+masks&gs_l=mobile-heirloom-serp.12..0l2j0i22i30l3.1419.9859.0.12765.17.14.0.3.3.2.937.8023.1j0j2j0j1j6j4.14.0....0...1c.1.34.mobile-heirloom-serp..8.9.2216.USrqAIRi3Js)? ---
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2019, 6:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-this-guy-wearing-and-why/829127/4 "2019-02-07T18:35:01Z")
A fur-lined cloak, dark Lennon glasses, and a face mask pulled down around his chin, it looks like. Oh, yeah. And a wristwatch. ---
**Author:** ![gregorio](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/fbc32d/32.png) [@gregorio](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gregorio)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2019, 6:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-this-guy-wearing-and-why/829127/5 "2019-02-07T18:37:20Z")
> [@furryman](#): > > The guy on the left. > Link to “webtoon” page. > [The Greatest Wolf of My Life - Kim Byung-gwan/Ran - Webtoons - Lezhin Comics](https://www.lezhin.com/en/comic/good_wolf) A wristwatch. To tell the time and signify social status. ---
**Author:** ![Folly](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/folly/32/3219_2.png) [@Folly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Folly)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2019, 6:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-this-guy-wearing-and-why/829127/6 "2019-02-07T18:41:37Z")
> [@Darren\_Garrison](#): > > You mean [the mask](https://www.google.com/search?q=Japan+face+masks&oq=Japan+face+masks&gs_l=mobile-heirloom-serp.12..0l2j0i22i30l3.1419.9859.0.12765.17.14.0.3.3.2.937.8023.1j0j2j0j1j6j4.14.0....0...1c.1.34.mobile-heirloom-serp..8.9.2216.USrqAIRi3Js)? Oh yeah. That’s probably more what he meant… ---
**Author:** ![Darren\_Garrison](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/darren_garrison/32/92_2.png) [@Darren\_Garrison](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darren_Garrison)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2019, 6:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-this-guy-wearing-and-why/829127/7 "2019-02-07T18:42:57Z")
Also, apparently one of his fingers is highly radioactive. ---
**Author:** ![Rough\_Draft](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/76d3ee/32.png) [@Rough\_Draft](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rough_Draft)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2019, 9:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-this-guy-wearing-and-why/829127/8 "2019-02-07T21:01:38Z")
Man, I hate that style of drawing. Is there a name for it, or is it just “generic manga”? ---
**Author:** ![Darren\_Garrison](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/darren_garrison/32/92_2.png) [@Darren\_Garrison](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darren_Garrison)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2019, 9:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-this-guy-wearing-and-why/829127/9 "2019-02-07T21:15:00Z")
> [@Rough\_Draft](#): > > Man, I hate that style of drawing. Is there a name for it, or is it just “generic manga”? [Webtoon](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Webtoon). Pretty significantly different in appearance and layout than “generic manga.” ---
**Author:** ![Lucas\_Jackson](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lucas_jackson/32/303_2.png) [@Lucas\_Jackson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lucas_Jackson)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2019, 9:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-this-guy-wearing-and-why/829127/10 "2019-02-07T21:23:30Z")
> [@gregorio](#): > > A wristwatch. > > To tell the time and signify social status. Plus, he’s cool. ---
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2019, 9:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-this-guy-wearing-and-why/829127/11 "2019-02-07T21:40:35Z")
Anyone who wears a cloak or a cape is either a pimp or a divorce lawyer. Or a superhero. ---
**Author:** ![furryman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/furryman/32/99_2.png) [@furryman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/furryman)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2019, 5:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-this-guy-wearing-and-why/829127/12 "2019-02-08T17:56:28Z")
A “high fashion” mask kind of makes sense, considering how many residents of Tokyo wear masks because of air pollution. ---
**Author:** ![Darren\_Garrison](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/darren_garrison/32/92_2.png) [@Darren\_Garrison](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darren_Garrison)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2019, 6:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-this-guy-wearing-and-why/829127/13 "2019-02-08T18:15:59Z")
> [@furryman](#): > > A “high fashion” mask kind of makes sense, considering how many residents of Tokyo wear masks because of air pollution. I don’t see any reason to think that it is anything more than an ordinary mask. (Although–being black–[it would be unacceptable in some schools in Japan](https://soranews24.com/2019/01/05/japanese-school-bans-non-white-masks-for-students-teacher-cant-believe-dumb-waste-of-time/).) The simple answer is that isn’t really an odd thing to see in Asia, and since the description of the comic says that he is a famous person who doesn’t want to be recognized, it is convenient to have–doesn’t need to be anything more complicated than that. ---
**Author:** ![BigT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bigt/32/12044_2.png) [@BigT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigT)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2019, 3:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-this-guy-wearing-and-why/829127/14 "2019-02-09T03:17:28Z")
They don’t wear masks for air pollution. They wear them whenever they are sick to avoid spreading germs. And so those also became the masks for when you don’t want to be recognized. Tokyo is flipping gorgeous, not a smog filled place. Some people I know moved there aftee vacationing there, and almost no one is in a mask. ---
**Author:** ![Baka](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/848f3c/32.png) [@Baka](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baka)\ **Post date:** [February 10, 2019, 9:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-this-guy-wearing-and-why/829127/15 "2019-02-10T09:48:06Z")
> [@furryman](#): > > A “high fashion” mask kind of makes sense, considering how many residents of Tokyo wear masks because of air pollution. People wear masks mainly if they themselves are sick so as to prevent spreading the sickness to others. Sometimes if there is an outbreak like influenza a school will mandate everyone to wear a mask. No one wears a mask because of pollution. It’s not a problem in Tokyo or anywhere else in Japan (nuclear excluded). Women will sometimes wear a mask if they don’t feel like putting make up on. I have no idea why anyone wears a mask whilst driving in the car by themselves. But it’s ubiquitous here in Japan. ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [February 10, 2019, 9:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-this-guy-wearing-and-why/829127/16 "2019-02-10T21:26:24Z")
> [@terentii](#): > > Anyone who wears a cloak or a cape is either a pimp or a divorce lawyer. Or a superhero. Why can’t he be all three, like the late Chief Justice Earl Warren? ---
**Author:** ![xnylder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/x/bbce88/32.png) [@xnylder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/xnylder)\ **Post date:** [February 14, 2019, 6:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-this-guy-wearing-and-why/829127/17 "2019-02-14T18:39:34Z")
Black face masks like the one that character is wearing are currently very popular in South Korea, and K-pop stars have increased their popularity in Japan as well. ([Kotaku article](https://kotaku.com/how-k-pop-revived-black-sickness-masks-in-japan-1832388054)) ---
**Author:** ![furryman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/furryman/32/99_2.png) [@furryman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/furryman)\ **Post date:** [February 14, 2019, 9:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-this-guy-wearing-and-why/829127/18 "2019-02-14T21:47:17Z")
> [@xnylder](#): > > Black face masks like the one that character is wearing are currently very popular in South Korea, and K-pop stars have increased their popularity in Japan as well. ([Kotaku article](https://kotaku.com/how-k-pop-revived-black-sickness-masks-in-japan-1832388054)) Aha! This is probably the real reason: he represents a meme of Kpop stars wearing black masks. ---
**Author:** ![Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba9def/32.png) [@Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Just_Asking_Questions)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2019, 2:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-this-guy-wearing-and-why/829127/19 "2019-02-15T14:52:50Z")
> [@Darren\_Garrison](#): > > You mean [the mask](https://www.google.com/search?q=Japan+face+masks&oq=Japan+face+masks&gs_l=mobile-heirloom-serp.12..0l2j0i22i30l3.1419.9859.0.12765.17.14.0.3.3.2.937.8023.1j0j2j0j1j6j4.14.0....0...1c.1.34.mobile-heirloom-serp..8.9.2216.USrqAIRi3Js)? Huh. I thought that was a weirdly-trimmed beard. I hope masks don’t become a thing in the US. ---
**Author:** ![DesertDog](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/desertdog/32/11503_2.png) [@DesertDog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DesertDog)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2019, 5:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-this-guy-wearing-and-why/829127/20 "2019-02-15T17:23:22Z")
> [@BigT](#): > > They don’t wear masks for air pollution. They wear them whenever they are sick to avoid spreading germs. And so those also became the masks for when you don’t want to be recognized. Allegedly, the habit started a hundred years ago during the Spanish Flu pandemic and carries on to this day. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-this-guy-wearing-and-why/829127.md?page=2)