"Fundoshi" : Japanese Traditional Underwear Good Luck Charm for J2 Soccer Players

Here's a word rather hard for non-Japanese to pronounce - Fundoshi. That cleared, you are about to read a most enchanting story related to a traditional men's underwear "Fundoshi" or loincloth, equivalent to a pair of briefs in the west. Now, this fundoshi is fast growing popular in Nagasaki, the home of the V-Varen Nagasaki, soccer J-League Division 2 (J2) team.

Five masculine players were handpicked from among its leading players and "displayed" in an eye-catching poster wearing fundoshi with arms crossed, captioned: "Relax Folks, We all Wear Fundoshi".

The J2 season nearing its close, the V-Varen Nagasaki, currently 6th in the league, is going strong winning the first game after the poster was made and has not lost a game since. The way the tide is flowing, chances are the team might make it back to J1.

A fundoshi speciality shop TeRAYA in Nagasaki has an ambitious  model of blue fundoshi "V-Fun" and designed a poster as a sales gimmick to PR the model. The V-Varen Nagasaki's PR staff Jairo Shingae, 30, came up with the idea of collaborating his team with "V-Fun".

Shingae screened five out of the fuskiest, well-tanned, most masculine V-Varen players and had them wear fundoshi for the poster. All five of them, Kai Miki, Yutaro Takahashi, Naoya Ishigami, Yuya Miura and Yosuke Kamigata wore fundoshi for the first time but all "felt comfortable".

The news flew north to Urawa and to Tomoaki Makino of J1 Urawa Reds. Making tweeted, "Say, a cool job Nagasaki!". The casual exchange over fundoshi made news on the net and the V-Varen Nagasaki donated Makino his own fundoshi.

V-Fun almost sold out, the owner Koyuri Kano of TeRAYA comments, "Thanks to that poster, we believe people now see fundoshi in a fresh light - something beautiful, another symbol of Cool Japan".

Now, do the players in the V-Varen Nagasaki really wear fundoshi on and off the play? Regrettably, the answer is NO - not yet.

News Source: Withnews