visual culture as national identity: Tokyo youth culture

Japan is known for its bright and bold youth culture. The youth of modern day japan dress in all different clothing styles that fall under different sub genres which usually relate to the wearers personal tastes eg. music and film preferences. The people who dress within these genres can identify each other and they will know that that person has similar interests to them. The different styles are influenced by different things such as manga, anime, rock bands, cartoon characters and many other things. Cartoons such as Anime and manga have a huge influence on Japanese youth culture and this is reflected in the fashion and overall appearance of the people that follow it. The people that follow this trend do many things to change their appearance to look more like their favourite characters and even go as far as using special eye tape and contact lenses to make their eyes look bigger. 

… the Japanese youth play a crucial role in forming a separate fashion community and producing the latest styles that express their subcultural affiliation and identity. Youth fashion in Japan—in Tokyo in particular—is geographically and stylistically defined. Subcultures are defined by where they congregate, the music they listen to, the celebrities they worship and idolize, the magazines they read, and, most importantly, the way they dress. [1]

'One of the most controversial strategics for upsetting notions of ethnic homogeneity is by changing the composition of the eyes. For example, the advancement in contact lens technology has enabled anyone to change eye color. Inexpensive, opaque, disposable contact lenses alter eye color completely and allow young people to approximate the unnatural orbs of their favorite manga characters.In addition to color, change may be made to the eye s shape. In the late 1970s I worked in Osaka and developed a strong network of female Japanese friends... In this way I came to learn about one of the beauty secrets of ordinary Japanese women: eyelid tapes and eyelid glues. These were temporary techniques to pull the eyelid up just a little, to give the impression of a deep crease. '[2]

 Harajuku seen in figure 1, is one of the main fashion districts in japan here you can find many shops and boutiques that sell clothing with very unique styles that wouldn't be found on a normal high street. The streets of this district are very bright and colourful. A lot of young people hang around Hrajuku in groups all wearing vary distinctive styles of clothing as seen in figure 2.

'The surrounding streets and alleys are a haven of youth culture and fashion, and a starkcontrast to the Issey Miyake, Yohji Yamamoto and Comme des Garcons styles on   display in the boutique windows of the main boulevard. Harajuku fashion has been described as 'oserterizer’ fashion. The streets are lined with crowded speciality boutiques devoted to anything from temporary tatoos to neo-goth accessories or recycled Elvis or rock 'n' roll fashion.’[3]

(Figure 1) Harajuku street, image taken from: http://es.youinjapan.net/tokyo/harajuku.php   

(Figure 2) Group of girls all wearing the same genre of clothing in Harajuku, photo taken from: http://forum.ladypopular.com/viewtopic.php?f=22&t=45230

Japanese youth culture is closely linked to the idea of consumerism as people will see thier idols wearing particular clothes and hairstyles and they will want to be like that so they will go and buy the latest trends. It could be seen as an extension of merchandising. There are also other fashion genres such as Decora (figure 3) this style involves covering yourself in different brightly coloured things and the more that you are displaying on your body the better. Its like a form of showing off everything that you have bought. 

'Recently, however, the spread of Japanese popular culture in East and Southeast Asia has advanced a stage further. The Japanese and other Asian media industries are systematically and collaboratively promoting a wider range of Japanese popular culture for the routine consumption of youth in various markets in East and Southeast Asia.'[4]

(Figure 3) Girl wearing the Decora style, Photo taken from:
 http://www.japanesestreets.com/reports/2828/20th-harajuku-fashion-walk

Overall I can conclude that there are many different styles and cultures represented through the fashion of the young people in Japan. All of these styles have different names and are inspired by distinctive things that set them apart from the other fashion sub cultures. This has resulted in japan been known for its very vibrant and extravagant youth culture.



[1] Kawamura.Y, Fashioning Japanese Subcultures, p. 4
[2] Mathews.G, White.B, Japan's Changing Generations: Are Young People Creating a New Society?, p. 85
[3] Buckly.S, The Encyclopedia of Contemporary Japanese Culture, p.187
[4] Iwabuchi.K, Recentering Globalization: Popular Culture and Japanese Transnationalism, p.2