The four call themselves “ojiqun” — a slang term employed by youthful persons that mixes “ojisan”, which means “old men” in Japanese, and “kyun”, indicating “heart-throb”
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Displaying off their awkward moves in shirts, ties and brightly coloured stomach heaters, 4 males in their 50s and 60s have come to be Japan’s newest TikTok feeling.
The group’s mission? To endorse their compact countryside town, whose inhabitants is in decline, through dance routines to pop tunes that supporters phone “lovely”.
Considering that their 1st article in February, the videos, filmed in choice destinations from playgrounds and shrines to municipal buildings, have been viewed more than 16 million situations.
The four connect with on their own “ojiqun” — a slang term used by young folks that mixes “ojisan”, which implies “old gentlemen” in Japanese, and “kyun”, indicating “heart-throb”.
They put on suit trousers, clever shoes and stomach-hotter bands in diverse colors — blue, eco-friendly, yellow and purple — and retain a straight face even when they struggle to stay in time.
One of the customers, 52-calendar year-previous Takumi Shirase, runs an IT company and a gardening company when not on TikTok.
He informed AFP he experienced made ojiqun with 3 close friends to try out and place the rural city of Wake, in western Japan’s Okayama area, back on the map.
“We preferred to come up with some thing that would revitalise our ageing countryside group, which is struggling from inhabitants decline with less and less children,” he mentioned.
Wake currently has close to 14,000 people, and Shirase reported his aged major faculty has closed owing to absence of demand from customers.
A community browsing shopping mall has also disappeared, whilst some annual festivals are no extended held in the town.
But with much more than 34,000 TikTok followers, “we hope to persuade individuals to appear to Wake, possibly as visitors or as new citizens,” Shirase explained.
Ojiqun’s most recent put up, “centipede dance”, displays the four adult males doing a goofy Insanity-model wander in solitary file in entrance of a concrete making to a rendition of “Property of Entertaining”.
Enthusiasts have peppered the responses under just about every movie with heart symbols, contacting them “splendid” and “adorable”.
“I laughed yet again and yet again,” explained one new comment.
“I have a tranquil smile, for the 1st time in a long when,” said an additional.