Pop Culture... The Fashion Scene

Although widely covered in books, magazines, and plenty of photography books, The Japanese fashion scene is something worth delving into over and over again. Since fashion trends and fads change faster than the seasons, there is always something to look at and critique. In fact, the next Tokyo Fashion Week is coming up this month from March 23rd to the 29th, where new textures, fabrics, and styles will be announced to Japan and the rest of the world.


It isn't enough to look at the wacky styles that come out of Harajuku and call it a day. There are plenty of interesting things going on in Japanese fashion that are not quite as noticeable as a bright pink Lolita dress, or the dark blacks, blues, and purples of the gothic lolita style. I have found that even the stores that carry these different styles wear what they sell themselves. Like the above picture shows, this store in Hep5 mall (in Umeda) had a definite Indian theme to is. Scarfs were draped from the walls, which were adorned with the same types of images and much of the clothing was modeled off of how saris look on a human form or designs and colors inspired by them. Much of the jewelry even had an Indian flair to it.


Another very popular style among young people (especially in the Kansai region, according to the following link) is the African/Jamaican/hiphop influenced style of clothing and appearance. Hip hop, r&b, and rap music have seen a large increase in popularity within the United States and with this, much of the musical pop culture sent over from the US includes this type of music and style. As Mica Powers states on the site Kansai Scene (link above),

"Mention the name of literary great Junichiro Tanizaki to any young Japanese person and the chances are they will have only the vaguest notion of who you are talking about. Mention Beyonce or Bob Marley and they are right with you. Take a walk down pretty well any street in the Kansai and you see the local kids are dressed in the latest hip hop gear or in shirts display-ing Jamaican great Bob Marley, all the while listening to the latest hip hop music from America and Jamaica."

"The imitation of certain elements of Black culture is present in Japan because it is popular in the American media at the current time.” While this is definitely the case, and it is very logical that people in one foreign country use the media of another country to get up-to-date fashion clues, she also says, “However, I am not sure if the Japanese have a true understanding of what these images represent and their impact and role in Western society as a dominant subculture...I think the imitations of rap music are amusing, as most of the 'rap' here is based on love, whereas a lot of American rap is born out of strife, discrimination, etc." (Kansai Scene Magainzine).

Related Article: BBC News Japan Grows Its Own Hip Hop