I’ve heard and seen people into the body modification scene, but I’ve never really heard of the saline inflation fad in Japan until coming across these photographs by Ryoichi ‘Keroppy’ Maeda in Bizarre Magazine.
Saline inflation what? Yeah, fans of body art can now slowly inject a saline solution under their skin to temporarily distort, balloon and mod parts of their bodies for fun. And it’s not just so you can walk around looking like a bagel has been embedded inside your forehead; apparently the experience of inflating oneself is a party in itself:
“Inflation isn’t painful, it’s more of a weird sensation – but it is the act of using the body and seeking another experience. It’s a bit tight. If your head gets really full, you feel a lot of pressure.”
Cool. Sign me up.
So what makes this saline inflation club so big in Japan? Bizarre believes that the Japanese naturally takes a subculture farther and more excessive than any other country. Maybe that’s true, in the sense that breaking away from such a dominant monoculture would require the extreme lifestyle. You can’t just give yourself a pink mohawk; you gotta INJECT YOURSELF WITH SALT WATER!
I’m curious to know if any of our readers have undergone a saline inflation themselves. I’ll be over in the corner recovering from looking at all these photographs. And why is that photographer’s nicknamed after a Sanrio character?
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4 Comments to “Body Modification Hits Japan”
Kikkoman wrote:
Maybe these ppl should pick up the wonderful foresight that is in their cultural tradition. What is going to happen when all that shit is said and done? If I could get one though, I would inject them into my face, so I could have Moye's ADORABLE cheeks ^^;
Posted on 19-Jun-09 at 11:37 am | Permalink
Efren Bose wrote:
oh. my.
Well, at least the good thing about saline (as long as it's the same salt concentration as your blood) is that it doesn't have too many bad longlasting side effects.
If I remember correctly, I think something's similar done for conjoined twins and for other people who need to create more skin for skin grafts and the sort, so at least there's some history of this in the past.
and Moye, it's time for you to do your Asian pose pic!
Posted on 19-Jun-09 at 12:05 pm | Permalink
csc3 wrote:
well, they can do what they want, i suppose. for me, that's just too much body modifications.
Posted on 19-Jun-09 at 12:39 pm | Permalink
Candice Bailey wrote:
I have only ever hitherto heard of saline injections in the context of sexual fetishism- guys injecting it into their scrotum for sexual pleasure. I still have some random Google image burned into my retinas of a man with saline-injected testicles, big as both of my hands spread out wide! I can't say it's something I'm particularly happy to have on memory layaway . . .
But still, body modification folks never cease to amaze me. Their creativity is endless, and that gets props from me. It does look rather cool, actually- not that I'd ever do it!
Posted on 19-Jun-09 at 2:27 pm | Permalink
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