Japan Airline flight attendant uniforms are being sold to the country's sex industry

[virginjohn]

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/asia/article7047235.ece

For decades, the crisp, no-nonsense outfits have appealed to male Japanese tastes. New Japan Airlines (JAL) uniforms have long been in demand in the local sex industry for customers keen on role-playing fantasies, while rare specimens that have actually been worn are hugely sought after by fetishists and are worth their weight in gold.

Countless shops will sell a very credible imitation for a few thousand yen, but the real thing can fetch a fortune. Historically, says Yu Teramoto, the owner of a specialist costumier in the Akihabara district of Tokyo, real JAL outfits have been virtually impossible for buyers to lay their hands on. However, the post-bankruptcy prospect of huge layoffs at JAL — especially among uniform-wearing air-crew — raises the prospect that former staff will attempt to sell their outfits for a profit.

and:

A spokesperson for JAL described a series of measures that meant that it was “virtually impossible for an individual to hold on to their uniform after they have left their job”. He admitted that a uniform of the sort worn by staff in the business-class lounge had been stolen a few years ago and had appeared on an internet auction site. JAL paid £1,500 for the uniform to keep it off the market.

Mr Teramoto told The Times, however, that there had always been a few that escaped the JAL dragnet and which had found their way into specialist shops. In a notorious incident five years ago, twelve ANA uniforms were stolen during an advertising shoot. Eight were returned after a nationwide amnesty but four are still at large. Mr Teramoto claims to know of one uniform from that famous haul that sold for £11,000.