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What is currently considered cool or trendy in Japan right now?

Tokis-Phoenix

先輩
23 Sep 2005
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Just a curiosity thread, but i have heard that Japan's fashion is always changing (like most other countries in the world), and that there are often many different trends or fashions going on or popping up at the same time (also like most other countries in the world).
So i was wondering, what things are currently considered cool/trendy right now wether they be clothes, gadgets, types of food etc does anyone know :) :? ?
 
It's really hard to say, because different types of Japanse youth like different things. The best way to find out is to read the style-guides, and even better than that is to take a trip to any Tokyo areas like Shinjuku, Shibuya, and see who is actually wearing what...

I don't believe that there is one single minded entity where it comes to Japanese 'style' or trend... There are definitely visible trends, if they are in the style guides & in the streets, than you can be sure that the trend is still at least a bit healthy.
 
As far as fashion goes, right now the group look seems to be over the knee long black socks with either short skirts (which never seem to go out of fashion here), or short short shorts.

When I say group fashion, I mean the most easily identifiable, because you see at least 50 girls a day in almost identical gear.
 
How about those weird sweater type things that only come half the way down your back?

How about those big huge cover half your face sunglasses. I think Ayu made those popular...
 
2 things come to mind

Keeping foreigner's outta Japan.
Keeping everything Japanese.
Your future is deep in doubt.
 
Last winter all the up-to-date-with-fashion girls had these boots with these two little fuzzy balls hanging off of them, I know it sounds like I'm saying something lewd but it was a for real fashion trend I picked up last winter, the funny thing about that was in Jan/feb in America I saw Japanese girls wearing them in my city and I almost wanted to say like "that is so 2005."
I was just there in March/april and nothing really stood out as a trend, that's what I like about Japan, even if there is a supreme trend they all won't be the same, they mix it up and like the boots with the little cat-toy like balls on them last year, sure I saw about 200 girls wearing them but the rest of their outfits were not even close to being the same.

Cecil Mcbee still seems to be going on strong. When I first went to Japan in 2001 just about every single girl had a black Cecil Mcbee shopping bag and they keep opening new stores and lines.

I just bought a woman's Cecil Mcbee rhinestone necklace and two Cecil Mcbee pen/notebook sets (all for myself, yes I'm going to wear the necklace too,) for about $135 , you could say I'm obsessed.


Josh
 
ELECTRIC JAPAN said:
Keeping foreigner's outta Japan.
Keeping everything Japanese.
Your future is deep in doubt.
This sort of trend you are on now, of telling people how little foreigners belong in Japan anoys me even more than your ad hoc missives about your bizzare sexual personae.

...Anyways, really Japan actually makes it pretty simple to see what trends are going on. If you can order them online, pick up a copy of any of the magazines like Cub or Cutie (for the young fake-Japanese-punk set), or Knuckle, Men's Knuckle, Egg & Men's Egg (for the trance/eurotrance para para dancing, overly tanned set), Popeye (for the rich set), Boon, Street Jack, Samurai, Street-interiors... etc.

Japanese youth follow what are in the magazines amazingly well, right down to the very detail. You'll see people wearing the exact model of a tshirt, rather than simply the brand... and if you see the clothes in the magazine, and you see them in the streets, its a close as you can get to a fad.

But what is a trend in YOUR OWN country? I think it's a little difficult to simply say what is and isnt popular in any country, let alone Japan, where trends come and go so quickly, but with style guides you're actually given the answer, if you care to look. Japanese magazines have VERY LITTLE in the way of actual articles or interviews, and really, no opinions whatsoever... most of it is just one big extended advertisement, what's left--- the remainder is basically telling you what is 'cool', for now... Enough said.
 
yukio_michael said:
Japanese magazines have VERY LITTLE in the way of actual articles or interviews, and really, no opinions whatsoever... most of it is just one big extended advertisement, what's left--- the remainder is basically telling you what is 'cool', for now... Enough said.

Yeah it's kind of amazing, I'll go over to a girls house and she'll have like ten different magazines she just bought in Japan but in America it seems like fashion magazine/any type of idol magazines have very limited audiences. Japan seems, and I say seems because I don't know what it's audience is in numbers, it seems like they are seen more aswell as it seems Japanese magazines are much more structured, you want a magazine all about Apple Computers, there you go, you want a magazine all about skateboarding in Tokyo and fashion, there you go, etc.etc.

That's one thing I've always loved about Japan, if they are going to do something they are going to perfect it. Their magazines are a perfect example.


Josh
 
I love Japanese style...
America has caught a slight breeze of the harajuku girl style. I know a friend of mine from Japan told me the JRock syle has gotten really big! It's a sort of combonation of punk and goth...

Here's a few pics from a JRock magazine called Cure:







^The model in the second pic is from the JRock band Ayabie. :)
 
Myaku said:
I love Japanese style...
America has caught a slight breeze of the harajuku girl style. I know a friend of mine from Japan told me the JRock syle has gotten really big! It's a sort of combonation of punk and goth...

Here's a few pics from a JRock magazine called Cure:







^The model in the second pic is from the JRock band Ayabie. :)



Japan takes the best from all over the world and makes it her own.

That's why I live in America.

Josh
 
Myaku said:
I love Japanese style... America has caught a slight breeze of the harajuku girl style.
Whenever I hear "Japanese style" and "Harajuku girl" in the same sentence I cringe a little bit. By the way, what does 'boku wa kimi no vanilla' mean, to you?

Myaku said:
I know a friend of mine from Japan told me the JRock syle has gotten really big! It's a sort of combonation of punk and goth...
I don't think it has, but, people will still argue about this with me... I think it's pretty marginalized in fact, so I don't know where people are getting that it's gotten 'really big'.

I'll also point out a new street fashion magazine/book "Clips", It's advertised on the Samurai Magazine website, but I can't find any other information about it anywhere, except for a club in Fukuoka that has the same name, that I don't think is related.
 
yukio_michael said:
Whenever I hear "Japanese style" and "Harajuku girl" in the same sentence I cringe a little bit. By the way, what does 'boku wa kimi no vanilla' mean, to you?
I know... I cringe too... I am just stating what I have observed here in the states! lol! 'Japanese style' and 'Harajuku girls' are two different things entirely. LOL!

Oh! I am quoting from the Gackt song, Vanilla... The lyrics are actually written as 'boku wa... kimi no... Vanilla' The song is about...well...sex! And the lyrics translate as "I am your Vanilla." LOL!! 😊

I don't think it has, but, people will still argue about this with me... I think it's pretty marginalized in fact, so I don't know where people are getting that it's gotten 'really big'.

This is true... And I am only going by what one person told me. I think what's happening there is that JRock music/style is so huge in other places in the world that people just assume it's big in Japan. :)
 
Myaku said:
I think what's happening there is that JRock music/style is so huge in other places in the world that people just assume it's big in Japan. :)
See everyone?! The world is ruining Japan! It's all "going down the drain" and a person had wrote "they cringed" when they heard it and there is a reason for that, to cringe is a form of insecurity or when something is not right or when something gives you a bad/odd feeling. The bad/odd feeling is that the world is catching on to what many of us have known for years and soon our likes will be with the likes of the rest of the world,, the Japanese we have been taught will be in the world much like Spanish is in America, "What?! you don't know how to speak Japanese??!" people will say in the future.
I don't know if anyone else has noticed but go online, go to google, wherever you'd like, any search engiene and for me, though you don't have to:

Try doing image searches or web searches to try and find photos of Shibuya, Tokyo anytime between 1992 - 1995 . Then do the exact same thing but this time do a search for photos of Shibuya, Tokyo from the years 2003 - 2006.
You will find thousands more by doing the search from 2003 - 2006 and some might feel that this is because digital cameras have been brought down in price and/or they are on the market, if you feel that way then do a websearch for the amount of people posted stories, blogs or websites were from 92 - 95 and then the ones from 03 - 06 and it'll be the same thing.
Now with that you can say , "Well internet hasen't really boomed until late 90s" etc. or "Nobody would keep a website online from 92 - 95 to present day about a story to Japan." But I personally was on the internet around 93ish to present day and the reason why I started my website in 1999 - 2000 was because nobody, not a single person was talking about going to Japan and now?
The entire world is talking about Japan.

Lost in Translation, Fast and the furious 3, television, fashion, when I was a kid people used to make fun of Japanese fashion, in the 90s everyone told me "If you go to Japan they are all dressed like they are still in the 80s" and now look at it, "Harajuku girls" , Outkast singing "I ain't never cheated on a __tch except for that one time in Japan." The world is going to Japan.

Over 500 Americans are dying to go to Japan today.
Tomorrow the same thing.
And they will all return home to tell their friends about their trip
and that will start a chain reaction of their friends going
and then their friends' friends will go
and then their friends' friends' friends will go
and the next thing you know, what you know, will be what everyone else knows. Japan will not be "our little secret" any longer.


That's my profit, see?

Josh
 
I think perhaps you're right, that Japan has experienced an increase in interest, but I also think that the issues you raised yourself (huge increase use of digital cameras, rise of the internet in recent years) are actually more significant than you suggest, and almost entirely account for the difference in the number of images for the two periods you mentioned.
 
Stinger said:
I think perhaps you're right, that Japan has experienced an increase in interest, but I also think that the issues you raised yourself (huge increase use of digital cameras, rise of the internet in recent years) are actually more significant than you suggest, and almost entirely account for the difference in the number of images for the two periods you mentioned.


When I went to Japan in 2001 the only foreigners there were business men, corp people and english teachers and now especially 2005 and 2006 the streets are filled with foreigner youth on a mission to hook up with as many Japanese girls as possible and that increase is going to be the increase which will ruin Japan.

What have I started? What will I end?

Josh
 
I haven't been posting here long, but could I be forgiven for thinking you rate yourself rather too highly? From reading your comments elsewhere online it would appear that you're really just another one of those people who you're pointing the finger at. Believe me, foreigners did occasionally have sex with Japanese women before you invented it.
 
ghettocities said:
When I went to Japan in 2001 the only foreigners there were business men, corp people and english teachers and now especially 2005 and 2006 the streets are filled with foreigner youth on a mission to hook up with as many Japanese girls as possible and that increase is going to be the increase which will ruin Japan.
What have I started? What will I end?
Josh


Wow...you were the first foreigner to go to Japan and it didn't happen until 2001?? Where the hell did I go then in 1980, 1993, 1995, 1999, and 2000??? I could have sworn it was Japan. Where the hell has Mike Cash been living all of those years?
 
CC1 said:
Wow...you were the first foreigner to go to Japan and it didn't happen until 2001?? Where the hell did I go then in 1980, 1993, 1995, 1999, and 2000??? I could have sworn it was Japan. Where the hell has Mike Cash been living all of those years?

Japan from the Driver's Seat

You guys post proof of yourselves doing what I'm doing and I'll start saying I wasen't the first person to be doing what i'm doing.

Josh


*** I don't want JREF to get sued by a truck driver's photo being on their forum so I removed it! It's copyrighted 1999, clam chowder!
 
Last edited:
ghettocities said:
You guys post proof of yourselves doing what I'm doing and I'll start saying I wasen't the first person to be doing what i'm doing.
Josh

Let's see...what do you want for proof? You weren't the first kid to skateboard since that's been around since the 70's.

womanizing? Please...the US military has been here since the 40's.

Being a total jerk? You may have found your calling there!

Bottom line, you came here at what 17? 18? Whatever you think you were so great at couldn't have lasted more than say 3-4 minutes!

You are quite good at tooting your own horn I must say...I haven't seen any of your conquests come on here to pump you up!
 
Myaku said:
I know... I cringe too... I am just stating what I have observed here in the states! lol! 'Japanese style' and 'Harajuku girls' are two different things entirely. LOL!
When I really think of Japanese style now, I think of either what Knuckle terms as "new outlaw fashion", or a mixture of skate, street & 'urban' fashion popular in the magazines Samurai, Boon, & Street Jack... I think that Japan has a very unique and interesting sub-culture that is practioned by young people, what people outside of Japan now call 'Harajuku style', but it's more of a weekend thing... if you will...

Myaku said:
Oh! I am quoting from the Gackt song, Vanilla... The lyrics are actually written as 'boku wa... kimi no... Vanilla'[...] And the lyrics translate as "I am your Vanilla."
Vanilla would be banira in Japanese, and I don't know why desu (da) is left off--- but okay.

Myaku said:
This is true... And I am only going by what one person told me. I think what's happening there is that JRock music/style is so huge in other places in the world that people just assume it's big in Japan. :)
When you can pick up several different magazines that all crossover each other with different styles, and then say one or two single magazines devoted to visual style, who's own style doesn't cross over at all into the other magazines, you can see basically how the subculture exists in society.

I think that what you say is true--- basically, it works now with drifting, I think people naturally want to assume that this new thing that they are into is a dark & cool subculture of Japan, and by mild association, they are part of that subculture.
 
yukio_michael said:
When I really think of Japanese style now, I think of either what Knuckle terms as "new outlaw fashion", or a mixture of skate, street & 'urban' fashion popular in the magazines Samurai, Boon, & Street Jack... I think that Japan has a very unique and interesting sub-culture that is practioned by young people, what people outside of Japan now call 'Harajuku style', but it's more of a weekend thing... if you will...

Yes. That's what my Japanese friend told me too! It's a weekend thing, or an "after school" thing. So it's not as big as many think... People don't walk around all the time in the Harajuku clothes. lol

Vanilla would be banira in Japanese, and I don't know why desu (da) is left off--- but okay.
Okay I see! I don't speak Japanese, obviously! 😊 Maybe Gackt was trying to make a statement of some kind? ((What kind of statement I don't know.))


I think that what you say is true--- basically, it works now with drifting, I think people naturally want to assume that this new thing that they are into is a dark & cool subculture of Japan, and by mild association, they are part of that subculture.

This is true! It's also funny how things like drifting, or the "street style" in Japan are not 'new.' It's been there for years, it's just that no one has noticed it until a Hollywood movie is made about it. Interesting!
 
I never thought I would be defending Gackt, but lyrical grammar takes a lot of artistic license with language, so I wouldn't be too harsh with the Japanese grammar gestapo. It's also likely that vanilla was written with the English spelling because the lyrics were in romaji, and "vanilla" in English would be more readily understood than "banira."


ghettocities said:
So he is even balder and moremorbidly obeast? Ha.
Josh

Congratulations on your graduation from trolling to flaming. Allow me to take up the torch for a second, but I'm going to be honest. You are despicable. You have no inkling on what's going on outside the bubble of ego and undeserved sense of accomplishment that you've built up around yourself. I suppose you're just taking solipsism to the next narcissistic level, because not only have you convinced yourself that the world doesn't exist beyond the edge of your nose, but that you have some kind of lasting affect on it! You are truly delusional.

You think that you are some kind of original. You're a dime-a-dozen gaijin man-****. You are preceeded and succeeded by many more just like you, without ever knowing that some kid from Oregon did the same thing as them. People like yourself are a black eye for foreigners who go to Japan with legitimate reasons; ultimately nothing more than a nuisance, like a fly to be swatted at and forgotten once it leaves. The mark you leave on Japan will be negligible at best.
 
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