Bagelheads – Japan’s Take on the Klingon Forehead

For some reason, injecting saline into the forehead is becoming an increasingly popular trend in the land of the rising sun. Bagelheads have been around for years, but they recently caused international controversy after the body modification technique was featured on National Geographic’s Taboo program. Three people underwent the bagelhead procedure in Tokyo, under the supervision of an expert and the watchful eyes of several body modification enthusiasts. They had large needles inserted into their foreheads through which saline slowly dripped forming a kind of reservoir. When enough saline built up under the skin creating a nice bulge, the body mod master simply pressed his thumb on it to give it that coveted bagel shape. For some reason, every one of the three subjects seemed pretty happy to have a deformed head.

 

The bagelhead trend was brought to Japan by body modification photographer Ryoichi “Keroppy” Maeda in 2007, when he set up a team and started doing forehead infusions. He first saw the bizarre practice in 1999, at a body modification show in Toronto. He experienced it himself in 2003, and eventually asked permission from the artist who perfected the technique to bring it to Japan.

For some reason, injecting saline into the forehead is becoming an increasingly popular trend in the land of the rising sun. Bagelheads have been around for years, but they recently caused international controversy after the body modification technique was featured on National Geographic’s Taboo program. Three people underwent the bagelhead procedure in Tokyo, under the supervision of an expert and the watchful eyes of several body modification enthusiasts. They had large needles inserted into their foreheads through which saline slowly dripped forming a kind of reservoir. When enough saline built up under the skin creating a nice bulge, the body mod master simply pressed his thumb on it to give it that coveted bagel shape. For some reason, every one of the three subjects seemed pretty happy to have a deformed head.

Apparently, bagelheads are really popular in Japan these days, and there are even bagelhead parties organized about twice a year. Asked why people resort to such extreme body modification techniques, Ryoichi said it’s because people who are into this kind of stuff are always looking for ways to set themselves apart from the crowd, and because “we all enjoy being freaks for one night”.