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13 posts tagged fashion
I bet visitors to Japan are almost always surprised to see many people wearing surgical masks out in public. Just take a walk down any street in Japan all year around and you will see hundreds of people wearing surgical masks. I found it rather annoying at times trying to talk to someone whose face I could barely see! I hated it when my son had to wear one everyday to school after the Great Fukushima Earthquake because the teachers insisted wearing one would “stop the radiation.”
Many wear a surgical mask to protect themselves from illnesses that may be floating around at the time, such as the flu, or to ward off cedar pollen that causes so many across Japan to splutter and sniffle during spring.
The most common reason for the Japanese to wear a surgical mask used to be when they were sick, and being the considerate lot they are, wanted to keep their sickness to themselves. However things are changing and the humble surgical mask has become somehting quite different.
More Japanese people today are wearing surgical masks for cosmetic reasons, say to hide blemishes and pimples or to cover up their face on a bad makeup day, but even more are wearing them as a fashion statement and to appear more alluring to men!
Oh, I know I love a masked woman. Not!
A recent survey of people wearing surgical masks in Shibuya, Tokyo discovered that nearly 30% were wearing them for reasons other than sickness or allergies.
One school girl when asked why she wears a surgical mask said, “Wearing a surgical mask makes me look cuter. It gives me a mystifying appearance because only my eyes are showing.” A clerical assistant said, “It leads guys on, they want to know what my face looks like under the mask.” One high school girl’s reason for wearing a surgical mask was, “I don’t like having to show facial expressions for people. They can’t read my intentions.”
The Japanese have a fear of showing their emotions and the surgical mask has become a fashionable way to hide their intentions and emotions from others.
The above images are from Picomask a company quick to cash in on this growing fashion trend. Available in a huge range of fashionable designs, some even have swappable coloured elastic!
Japanese winter fashion. For the woman who wants to look like Paddington Bear or Sherlock Holmes.
I have trouble understanding some of the latest fashion trends in Japan. Take these designer wellingtons for example. Seriously ladies, are these fashionable? Better suited to the farms me thinks!
Cool stuff for young Japanese guys who like to look hip. This is the usual fashion that young Japanese guys are into.
Fancy snake skin wallets, diamond encrusted G-shock watches, fancy leatherwork wallets with chains and straps, leather tassels for hanging from jeans straps, leather bracelets with metal clasps, leather belts with huge metal buckles, and wallets made from stingray skin are very popular among young Japanese guys.
Japanese young mens wallets tend to be long and large. They are usually made from crocodile skin, leather or snake skin and have all manner of designs from embossing to metal badges. A very popular feature of mens wallets is a long chain used to attach the wallet to jeans loops. These are cheap ones.
Do you like Gosick fashion and subculture? This is an ad for the Gosick novel series by Sakuraba Kazuki. There is a manga and an anime too. The Japanese are very into Gosick fashion and subculture and I see many Japanese Gosick people around.
You know those demo frames in the optometrist with the clear glass? The ones to allow you to decide which ones to buy? Well, here in Japan they have become a fashion trend for young girls who wish to adopt the stereotype of “intelligent people wear glasses.”
Yep, wearing clear glass frames - not actually prescription glasses is a fashion trend!
I snuck this photo of some young girls discussing how, when and where to wear their new “glasses” and how to look “sophisticated.”
Photo taken with an iPhone 3G.
Some very trendy Japanese at Yoyogi park, Shibuya, Tõkyõ
This summers yukata fashions at Seiyu (Walmart).
Photos taken with an iPhone 3G.
This summers yukata fashion designs are, not surprisingly, pretty much like last years with floral designs being prominent. Recently, trinkets and accessories have become more pronounced, while the designs only seem to repeat from previous years with perhaps new shades of colour.
No, he’s not a Christian. The current fad here in Japan is to wear a crucifix as jewellery, sometimes complete with the little dead guy. One can even see crucifix designs on clothing and in anime, hanging from rear vision mirrors, and tattooed on people!
The Japanese have little interest in Christianity- THANKFULLY! - but they will copy anything that is “Western” because supposedly it looks cool. It is rather bizarre to think that a crucifix is firstly a sign of torture and death, and more importantly a sign of Christianity’s oppression and hatred of human intelligence - and here it has become a fashion item!
Miyuki-chan (left), a local of Shibuya, shows her friend Akemi-chan the sights of Shibuya.
I met Miyuki-chan and Akemi-chan while strolling around Harajuku today. Miyuki-chan likes to shop in Takeshita dori in Harajuku and she hangs out at Meiji jingu Mae on some Sundays with other people who also like to dress up in trendy Loli and Goth fashion.
Harajuku, Tokyo. Takeshita dori in Harajuku, the fashion hub of Asia. Asian fashion trends are heavily influenced by the retailers in Takeshita dori. Manufacturers often sell prototypes here to test the market. On the weekends this street teems with the young and hip, looking to buy the latest trendy fashions.
