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Gothic & Lolita Bible in English

Dec 6, 2007
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Japan’s extremely popular Gothic & Lolita Bible will be released in English in the US next year.

In Japan, the quarterly magazine has a circulation of 100,000. Published by the same publisher who brings out KERA, the Gothic & Lolita Bible is just that, THE magazine for Japanese gothic and lolita fashion. At 0.6 inches (1.5 centimers) thick, this magazine is huge and literally loaded with information and photographs. It has played an instrumental role in defining the global look of gothic and lolita fashion.

In the US, the magazine will be published by TOKYOPOP, the company that started an extensive manga publishing program in North America some ten years ago. The company is now expanding worldwide and also works with film, television and digital entertainment.

The February ’08 English edition of the Gothic & Lolita Bible features an extensive guide to Gothic and Lolita fashion, as well as behind-the-scenes interviews with top Lolita fashionistas, including Doll creator Mitsukazu Mihara and J-pop princess Nana Kitade.

Onitsuka Tiger Returns to its Hometown

Nov 16, 2006
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Japanese legendary sports fashion brand Onitsuka Tiger will open a flagship store in Kobe, where the brand was born in 1949, on November 25.

Onitsuka Tiger Kobe is located in the Kyukyoryuchi district where foreign merchants lived when the port of Kobe was first opened in the 1860s. Contrasting with the stone facade, the store interior is a mixture of Japanese classic and modern. The use of paperboards decorated with crafted wood creates a feel of a traditional house with a sophisticated touch.

Like all other stores worldwide, Onitsuka Tiger Kobe will hold a full range of Onitsuka Tiger product lines including footwear, apparel and accessories.

Onitsuka Tiger Kobe is the 11th store in Japan and 19th worldwide. It follows a series of openings that marks the biggest domestic expansion since the first store in Tokyo’s Daikanyama district was opened in 2003. In 2006, including Kobe, a total seven new stores in Japan have been opened.

The upcoming opening in the Japanese harbor town and the recent opening of Onitsuka Tiger Kyoto on October 15 reinforce the brand’s presence in the Kansai region.

Onitsuka Tiger Kyoto can be found along the Takasegawa River in centrally located Sanjoukawaramachi. The B1 floor space of Times Building, designed by the famous Japanese architect Tadao Ando in 1984, offers visitors a view of the small river and the bustling atmosphere in the area.

The traditions of Kyoto and the modern and young vibe in the neighborhood mirror the Onitsuka Tiger tradition of combining heritage and contemporary design.

Store Details

Onitsuka Tiger Kobe
Address: Nihon Building, 79 Banchi Kyoumachi, Chuo-ku, Kobe 650-0034
Telephone: 078-333-0577
Store Hours: 11:00 - 20:00

Onitsuka Tiger Kyoto
Address: Times Building, 92 Nakajima-cho, Sanjo-dori Kawaramachi, Higashi-iru, Nakagyo-ku, Kyoto 604-8004
Telephone: 075-211-8881
Store Hours: 11:00 - 20:00

About the Onitsuka Tiger Brand

In 1949, Kihachiro Onitsuka established Onitsuka Co. Ltd., the forerunner of ASICS. An idealist, he wanted to promote youth health through sports. Regular consultation with sportsmen and their coaches helped him to make the best sports shoes in Japan. Since then Onitsuka Tiger shoes have played a part in most major Marathons and Olympic games.

Onitsuka Tiger footwear production stopped when ASICS was established in 1977 through the merger of Onitsuka Co. Ltd., and two other companies. The company name ASICS came from the acronym of the Latin phrase Anima Sana In Corpore Sano, meaning "a sound mind in a sound body."

In 2001, as a commitment to the lifestyle market, ASICS Corporation launched the Onitsuka Tiger brand as a lifestyle footwear brand. Two years later, Onitsuka Tiger apparel and accessories were released.

The legend from the late 1940s continues today. Based on the original sports shoes, Onitsuka Tiger combines its unique Japanese heritage with contemporary design.

Onitsuka Tiger stores in Japan - in historical order:

1. Onitsuka Tiger Tokyo (Daikanyama) 2003
2. Onitsuka Tiger Ginza 2005
3. Onitsuka Tiger Fukuoka 2005
4. Onitsuka Tiger Osaka (Shinsaibashi) 2005
5. Onitsuka Tiger Roppongi Hills 2006
6. Onitsuka Tiger Sendai 2006
7. Onitsuka Tiger Sapporo 2006
8. Onitsuka Tiger Namba Parks 2006
9. Onitsuka Tiger Shibuya Parco 2006
10. Onitsuka Tiger Kyoto 2006
11. Onitsuka Tiger Kobe 2006

Onitsuka Tiger stores abroad - in historical order:

1. Onitsuka Tiger Myeong-Dong (Seoul) 2004
2. Onitsuka Tiger E-Dae (Seoul) 2004
3. Onitsuka Tiger Kwangbok (Busan) 2004
4. Onitsuka Tiger Galleria Department Apgujung (Seoul) 2004
5. Onitsuka Tiger Paris 2005
6. Onitsuka Tiger London 2005
7. Onitsuka Tiger Sydney 2005
8. Onitsuka Tiger Berlin 2006

Huge Underground Event in Tokyo

Nov 14, 2006
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Theatic x Alamode

One more event you don't want to miss. It takes place on Sunday December 12 at Studio Cube 326 in Tokyo. It is billed as a Japan neo artist event and has an amazingly long list of participants. Just about anybody who means something in Tokyo underground culture participates, and this includes everything from neo japon to sm to gothic lolita.

There are shows, concerts, performances, exhibitions (photography, illustration, fashion) and even booths for fortune tellers and make-up artists. My good friend Takuya Angel is one of the DJ's.

This looks like it is going to be a lot of fun!

More info (in Japanese)
Map to Studio Cube 326

Takuya Angel Events

Nov 14, 2006
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Angel Nite

Japanese designer Takuya Angel is organizing two events that you don't want to miss if your are in Tokyo this month.

The first one takes place on Friday, November 24th at Club Module. It starts at 10:00 p.m. and finishes at 06:00 a.m. Entrance fee is JPY 3,000.

The entertainment consists of several well-known DJ's, including Takuya himself, as well as a floor show and a performance by GoGoDancer. There are also booths for tarot card reading, nail art and make-up. Naturally I will be there to shoot.

You must be 20 or older and will need an ID to prove it.

The second one is a photo shoot of Takuya Angel fans. It takes place between 12:00 p.m. and 6:00 p.m. on Sunday, November 26th in front of the Takuya Angel Shop in Harajuku. If you are the proud owner of Takuya Angel creations, make sure to wear them and have fun with your fellow fans. I will be here as well.

For more info, visit JapaneseStreets.com and click on TRENDS & NEW

Japanese Buttsex

Nov 4, 2006
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America appears to be falling in love with 'Japanese butsex'. The Village Voice this week published its second article about yaoi, manga of boys who fall in love, with other boys. Having lived in Japan for almost a quarter of a century now, the article surprised me.

It immediately focuses on the sexual aspect:

"I know you've all been having fun so far, because there's been a lot of discussion of DICK," the announcer says, with a grin for the crowd. "There's also been some discussion of COCK. But the primary topic of discussion has been about . . . " — he holds the microphone out to the audience.

"BUTT SEX!" shriek almost 2,000 women, rearing up from their chairs.

Only after this enticing introduction, does it start to give an explanation for yaoi:

Japanese comics that tell stories of beautiful young men falling desperately, passionately in love, and often having enthusiastic butt sex. The twist is that the comics are created almost entirely by women artists and writers for an audience that's primarily female, satisfying a craving that few knew existed. Each October, the most dedicated fans pay $60 for a weekend pass and often travel across the country to gather in a pair of bland hotels across from the San Francisco International Airport for "a celebration of male beauty and passion," as the convention's Web site explains it.

The article manages to introduce the phenomenon as a Japan inspired variation on Chippendales.

Bishounen — beautiful boys — climb onto the stage, elaborately costumed as their favorite characters from manga, anime, and literature. If a character doesn't already have queer tendencies, he gets some via a skit or song...

The next three hours are a riot of stripteases, dirty limericks, and S/M skits. A Slytherin — perhaps Draco Malfoy himself, from the Harry Potter books — strips off his schoolboy outfit, down to bright green briefs. "Show us the one-eyed snake!" screams a blowzy woman, but the boy just smiles demurely. A mob of women rushes the stage to slip dollar bills into his waistband, and a girl dressed as the luscious and swishy Captain Jack Sparrow from Pirates of the Caribbean locks lips with the schoolboy, to the most piercing screams yet.

The article completely ignores the strong romantic appeal that bishounen hold to most, if not all, of its readers. Only at the end of the article, it alludes to this appeal, but without being able to shed the sexual focus:

As with most yaoi fans, the girls seem more practiced in fantasizing than in fulfillment. For all the wildness of the auction, and for all the innuendo about what the winners would do with their bishounen, "President Shinra," whose real name is Devon Jacobson, later says that they had a pretty tame night. They went to the dance organized by the convention, "but it was hot and they were playing pretty bad music," he explains. So the group of girls just took some pictures together, snapped a few shots of the boys embracing, and drove around looking for fast food at 6 in the morning.

Maybe bishounen fans in the US are really different. Many Japanese women who read BL (Boy Love) manga tend to be overly romantic. Quite a few of them way to shy to even approach a man, let alone bid for one at an auction.

Yaoi

There is an interesting overlap between readers of BL manga and fans of the all-female Takarazuka Revue, where female fans adore the women who play male roles, the otokoyaku. These fans are heterosexual women harboring impossible fantasies of romantic love. Place a photo of an otokoyaku next to a bishounen manga and the remarkable similarities are immediately self-evident. To the fans it is not about sex. It is about a romantic fantasy, a strong emotional bond and a perfect love.

Originally published at iKjeld.com

Takuya Angel

Oct 21, 2006
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60910-6571

Last month I shot at a Takuya Angel party in Tokyo. Takuya Angel is one of the wildest street fashion brands in Japan. It is neo-japanese (also called 'neo-japonese') at its best.

Takuya Angel is a wonderful mix of old and new, East and West, fake and real. Bright colors combined with somber black. Material like Cupra (Cuprammonium Rayon) combined with cotton twill. Designer Takuya Sawada is not inhibited by what is right and what is wrong and what can and cannot be done. He is 100% self taught and as matter of policy leaves all pattern-making to someone else.

Many of Takuya Angel designs are inspired by clothes that Samurai wore in ancient times. Sawada deliberately uses the Japanese terms: ‘hitatare, haori, hakama, kyahan, geta’. It is quite a departure from the modern Japanese habit to give an English moniker to everything that must appear new. Even if there is a good Japanese word for it.

Sawada never makes these ancient clothes exactly as they were. He adapts the shape to the needs of modern life, and uses modern materials whenever possible: cupra, polyester, gabardine, velvet, fake fur. Often he incorporates parts of antique kimono in his clothes. This means that almost every item is different, because it is impossible to find more than one kimono of exactly the same design. His creations are also inspired by anime and manga.