More than 30 bald men get together every year on February 22 to celebrate their baldness and show off their “skills”. They are members of Japan’s Bald Men Club, which encourages people to “view baldness in a positive manner, to have fun, and to brighten the world with our shiny heads.”
The fun games at their annual championship in the city of Tsuruta include an unusual form of tug-of-war – the opponents have suction caps on their heads connected by a thin string, which they must try to pull off one another’s heads.
A participant, Masatomo Sasaki, who used to feel embarrassed about his lack of hair, told Reuters, “I feel proud. Or maybe I should say, I feel good about being a bald man. And that is thanks to this bald men’s club.”
The Bald Men Club was inaugurated in 1989 and now has more than 65 members from all over the country. “I want all the bald men all over the world to gather here so we can organise a bald men’s Olympic tournament,” said the chairman of the club, Teeijiro Sugo.
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