Quote Originally Posted by English Bloke View Post
Not intended as disrepectful, just curious. If this is the case why is it such a matter of interest to the Japanese?
No disrespect taken. For the same reason it's such a matter of interest to anyone else. There's a certain mythology surrounding under-kilt attire (or lack thereof). No doubt, people have heard or read or seen on TV or in a movie SOMETHING about it, and they just want to confirm whether it's true or just urban legend.

Regardless of culture and nationality, (and Judeo-Christian ethics) I suspect that it's much more primal than that, and that it has something to do with naughtiness (not necessarily in the sexual sense). Many children often try to get away with not putting on any underwear, much to the chagrin of their parents... So once we all grow up, those kids who got in trouble with their mothers for running out of the house without putting any on, well they look at the kilted men and get transported back to when they were kids and think, "Gee whiz. Wish I had known about THAT when I was 8!" I suspect that many people envy us and still wish that they could get away with wearing nothing underneath (even though they've long since moved out of mom's house and technically speaking, nothing would prevent them from dressing as they please).

Then in another sense, through mass media we are taught that naughty girls don't wear any underwear... Everyone has flashbacks to Sharon Stone in Basic Instinct. When people ask us what we are (or aren't) wearing, they are probably secretly hoping that we truly ARE going commando, and re-live that "Oh my! Sharon Stone is SO naughty" sort of feeling. And trust me, Basic Instinct made its way to Japan as well.