How the loud-and-proud Fab Five were able to find success in a country that lags behind others when it comes to LGBTQ issues.
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Check out these pawsitively epic kitty shirts available on Ameowzon Japan! (Uh, we mean Amazon. Amazon Japan.)
An unusual hair-styling trend known as “haato gata” (heart shape) or “haata appu mori” (heart up-set) has become the talk of the interwebs here in Japan recently.
The curious coiffure, which first sprouted in South Korea, is just what it sounds like: girls carefully style their fringe (or bangs to the rest of you) into the shape of a heart, strike a cute pose and then take a picture.
Sadly, to many of us, that’s not what the finished result it looks like…
“Kimo-kawa“, or kimo-kawaii, is a particularly interesting little Japanese oxymoronic phrase which means “gross-cute“. And it perfectly sums up these totally disgusting stag beetle earrings from wacky retailer Village Vanguard…
It’s no secret that Japanese women go crazy over cute, pretty, stylish things. And a lot of them like their men to be cute, pretty, and stylish, too. Take Usuke Devil, for example. He’s a model, DJ, and style icon who works at a boutique in Harajuku and drives girls wild with his lithe, androgynous beauty. Check out these pics and see for yourself!
If you weren’t raised on a steady diet of Disney movies, then we’ll wager your childhood was lacking a little animated magic. Even now the old classics still hold up, and Disney definitely isn’t just for kids.
But if you’ve ever been left disappointed that those amazing Disney Princess dresses they sell at the Disney Store don’t fit anyone over the age of eight, then fret not! Now adult women (or indeed, men) can dress up in fantastic, whimsically childlike Cinderella dresses courtesy of this collaboration between Disney and lolita style brand Baby The Stars Shine Bright.
There are so many fashion trends in Japan that it’s hard to keep up with them all. In the past you could walk into virtually any bookstore and see a ton of fashion magazines staring back at you, begging to teach you how to dress and why your eyeshadow is all wrong for your skin tone. But print media, especially magazines, has been struggling recently and many of these fashion guides have shut up shop over the past year, never again to inform the public of the latest styles or urge us all to buy crimson deck shoes.
But fear not! Much-loved fashion mag Koakuma Ageha is returning to print and it’s apparently better than ever. From now on, it will be easier than ever to find out what set of nails are “in” and which fake eyelashes are best! So when is the first new issue out?
Men’s fashion is serious business in Japan. Walk past the magazine rack in any bookshop or convenience store, and you’ll see multiple publications filled with photos of the latest clothing, shoes, and accessories to help guys stay well-dressed and projecting a cool, competent image to potential business and dating partners alike.
Except, do clothes make the man, or does the man make the clothes? In search of the answer, one Japanese Twitter user performed a little photo editing experiment, and the results seem to have changed his whole attitude about clothing.
Uniqlo, the hugely popular Japanese chain store that stocks a variety of simple, practical and affordable clothing, has expanded into a world-wide venture, with stores in Singapore, Australia, the United Kingdom, the United States, Germany, France, Russia, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Bangladesh, and, well, you get the picture. In the West in particular, Uniqlo has a pretty cool image thanks to its simple, pared-down designs and celebrity approval (for example, Pharrell Williams designed a range for them in April 2014), so it might surprise some of you to hear that there are people in Japan who tend to be a bit snobby about Uniqlo, looking down on its regular clientele for lacking in fashion sense.
It’s no secret that ladies in Asia have become the masters of makeup in recent years, with shocking before-and-after transformations popping up online pretty much on the reg. In Japan in particular, makeup trends tend to follow a very different format to those in the west, with plenty of tips and tricks designed to highlight features we wouldn’t even consider, such as the angle of an eyelid crease, or the puffiness of eyebags. There’s even makeup that’s designed to make you look a bit ill.
This new makeup palette seems at first glance to be nothing more than a cute product themed around a fairytale character. In actuality, it’s the perfect tool for creating one of the past year’s most unusual trends, “undereye blush”.
Japan isn’t that big geographically, but it’s still divided up into 47 different prefectures. Even though it’ll usually only take you a couple of hours to pass from one into the other (and even less if you’re on the Shinkansen), each has its own unique feel to it. Depending on where you are, people eat different foods, celebrate holidays in different ways, and even like different clothes, as shown by a study that reveals how Japanese women like to dress by prefecture.
As many of you know, Japan maintains a strong sense of uchi and soto, or inside/in-group and outside/out-group. As part of that culture, all people, young and old, are made to change their shoes upon entering most buildings and homes. Students, especially elementary school students, get a special pair of indoor shoes called uwabaki, often called “hallway slippers,” for use while inside the school building. Much like the trendiness of Japanese elementary school backpacks, uwabaki are being seen out on the streets on the feet of fashion-forward women. But are elementary school indoor shoes really that fashionable? You’d be surprised!
Naomi Watanabe, a famous female comedian, has started a fashion brand for plus-sized girls named “PUNYUS”. PUNYUS has been in the spotlight since the brand launched this spring, because it is part of a new trend to focus on chubby girls, and also it is remarkable for a comedian to produce a fashion brand compared to the many slender fashion models that have their own brands.
Mobile suits come in all shapes and sizes, but none are as more recognizable, perhaps, as the original RX-78-2 from Mobile Suit Gundam. Apparently the designers at Reebok thought so too, and are honoring the classic series with a new Gundam x Reebok collaboration.
Anime and manga have been in the global mainstream for a few decades now and like anything else, they have a way of evolving over time. Sometimes, though, the changes are so gradual that we don’t notice it until someone throws it all up in a handy infographic such as this one that surfaced on the internet recently. In it, the creator points out some key differences between female characters in the 1990s and those of the current decade. Let’s see what’s going on in the translation below.
Tired of the same old hairstyles? Twin tails just not rocking your socks any more? Well how about hairdo that could also be used as a weapon or a means of catching your next meal?
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