Online Blog Project japan street fashion

The fashion of the Japanese culture has caught my eyes. It is very unique and different from fashion found in the United States. One reason for this might be because of the mentality of the people in Japan versus the mentality of the people in the United States. There are many fashion types, ranging from lolita, gothic lolita, to harajuku, to cosplay.

See below for some Japanese fashion types at this link:

http://www.japaneselifestyle.com.au/fashion/fashion.html

I have been interested in moving to Japan once I graduate college. The culture captures my attention. The food, the people, the language, and especially the fashion. What draws me most to the fashion is the level of comfort and acceptance to be unique and different. I do not have any statistics quite yet but it is my assumption that there is a high tolerance and acceptance for unique, far-fetched styles in Japan than there is in the United States.

Why is fashion something I adore more in Japan than here in the United States? I like to believe that people can comfortable wear the clothes and designs that they would like to wear without feeling “embarrassed” or “uncomfortable”. Reasons why someone in the United States might feel these emotions is because we have a lower tolerance and acceptance level than that in Japan. There are stereotypes associated with the kind of clothing individuals wear. On a subconcious level, everyone judges and makes an assumption on a person upon their first glance at them, regardless if they want to or not. This is a fact. For example, if you see a man dressed like a vampire you might think he listens to dark metal music, partakes in voodoo ritualistic activities, and so on. If you see a man in a busines suit you might think he is very intelligent, has a good job, is very mature, and so on.

In Japan there is a more wide-varied fashion sense, and I would like to be a part of it. I do not know what style I like the most, but I like being able to be comfortable in whatever I wear, even if it won’t be the typical “mold” that the majority of Americans want to dress.

Here is a video of both male and female popular fashion trends in Japan:

Below is a site that illustrates some cosplay fashion. Click here:

http://www.cosplay.com/

Cosplay is very popular amongst teens in Japan. This is particularly because cosplay means costume play. This is where individuals dress up like characters from manga, anime, movies, etc. This form of popular culture is especially popular amongst the teen and young adult crowd, ages 10-30. At conventions individuals get to leave the real world and temporarily get to dress up and become a character from the fantasy world they love so much.

At these anime conventions individuals all share the same interest in manga, anime, movies, etc. and this enables them to be completely at ease to dress up in a way that would generally be looked down upon. How often do you walk down the street and see a person dressed in leather while wielding a huge sword? In the united states your answer will probably be “never” or “once”. However, in Japan if this same question was asked the answers you would receive would be “all the time” or “pretty frequently”.

What is it about the history of the people that has casued them to accept and embrace the fact that their fashion styles are so diverse and different from the fashion styles in the United States? Possibly it is portrayed through their popular culture in movies, anime, and manga. The first Godzilla movie was released in 1954, Manga grew popular after World War II, and Anime has been popular in Japan ever since 1917. As we look back at the history of Japan’s pop culture as expressed through movies, anime, and manga, it is filled with creative imaginative ideas. The media in Japan has had such a different, unique, creative element to it that the United States does not mirror at the same level. After World War II, the Japanese had many oppressed feeligns about the aftermath that was brought from the dropping of the atomic bomb on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Many of these oppressed feelings have been released and expressed through anime and manga and movies. For example, the movie Grave of the Fireflies shows the stuggle of a little boy and his sister during World War II.

Over time, these creative and expressive ways of art have been evident throughout recent Japanese history, and the younger generations of today have been exposed to these creative elements and have been brought up with them. It is my belief that such exposure to these creative elements have enabled the younger generations and youth of Japan to free themselves from the shackles of the social norms and lets them dress and express themselves as they desire. Since this is a feeling felt by such a large crowd of people, the social norm has integrated this new expressionative fashion style to become part of who the Japanese people are. I wish the United States could be so embracing of this sort of freedom of fashion that the Japanese people have integrated.