Neil Duckett

Nampa, nanpa, or girl hunting, is Japan’s most visible courtship ritual. The most famous form of Nampa is “suto-nan” (street Nampa). Every weekend, across urban Japan, young men (”nanpashi”) and on the odd occasion early 30`s Gaijin (me) hang around busy streets or shopping arcades, trying to pick up passing girls … just kidding  about me doing it, my Japanese isn`t good enough yet! Sometimes the girl does the hard work - this is known as “gyaku Nampa” (reverse Nampa) - but it’s much less common.

A lazy stroll down Kabukicho anytime from lunch time onwards will see many a rooster parading himself, complete with a full blow wave hair-do and usually couppled with a Louis Vuitton Man Bag, it truly is a sight to behold.

I had a few Friends from Australia here a few weeks back and one was lucky enough to get a photo with a few of the boys in question.

Approaches vary from the clichéd “Ocha demo shinai?” (”Won’t you have tea with me?”) which really is the shittiest of tactics and is usually met with a sigh from those within earshot, to more sophisticated tactics, but it’s generally pretty obvious what the guy is really after. For serious nanpashi, the aim is to get the young lady into a karaoke bar for a few songs then ultimately into a love hotel by the end of the night, but a (genuine) cell phone number is a decent consolation.

In the past some female Friends have offered some advice on this very important topic but for the good material It`s always good to run this stuff past the guys at work to make sure you`re on the right track. The lads from work are always keen to give a few alternatives to the “Chya no mahenka?“ (Will you have Coffee with me) with something along the lines of “Kare wa imasu ka? (Do you have a Boyfriend?) … if the answer is yes,  “Kare to wakareru yotei wa arimasu ka?“ (Do you plan to leave him soon?) and depending on that answer you may be game enough to say “Kimu ni kare ga ite mo kamawanai no de mazu wa deto shitekure masen ka? (I don`t mind if you have a Boyfriend so please have a date with me). Having said all that i`ve never made it past “Kare wa imasu ka? to which the lass in question has replied with a favourable  response “Kare wa imasen“ meaning no rooster in tow. 

Some more history on the art of Nampa

The word “Nampa” was used in the Meiji period to refer to young men who spent too much time around women. Literally meaning “soft group” as opposed to the more self-disciplined hard group, it carried a derogatory nuance which survives today. Since then, Nampa has come to replace the loan phrase “garu hanto” to refer to skirt chasing.

Men have pursued women in this way for as long as there have been men and women, but the tenacity with which these Japanese guys hunt their targets seems incongruous in such a reserved culture. However, Japan’s severest social anxiety is usually reserved for the people close to them: family, colleagues, and neighbours. Approaching a stranger who they are unlikely to see again, though terrifying for many men, might not seem as daunting as asking a classmate or co-worker out on a date.

As you’d expect, the most famous spots for Nampa are in the busiest areas of Japan’s biggest cities. Tokyo’s Shibuya is infamous, while Ebisubashi in Osaka has been locally renamed “hikkake bashi” (”pick-up bridge”).

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