Everyone imposes fheir own interprftafion on fhe sn

Everyone imposes fheir own interprftafion on fhe sn-ralled Harajuku girls. Despite
their recent rise to fame,, who are the real girls behind the Hollj'wood obsession?
I3Y lEMILY KUI3O
apanese pop culture bas
always (omtnanded a cultisb
Inllowing—its aninir/manga,
video games, Pokemon, and
Hello Kitty are enjoyed all over the
world. But now, Amerieans have also
diseovered something else that
intrigues them—the Harajuku girls.
The Harajuku girls, done up in
bizarre outfits and makeup, bang out in
Tokyo's fashionable Harajuku disfrict.
Previously little ktiown niilside of
Japan, they rose to fame when fhe lead
singer of Ska/punk band "Mo Doubt,"
Gwen Stelani. featured them in her
reeent solo debut all)iirn: Love. Angel.
Music. Baby. A fashion ieon who is
often seen in kooky outfits, trademark
36 I Japan Inc Magazine
platinum blond hair and engine-red
lipstick, Stefani claims these adolescent
girls as the muses for ber entire album,
as well as for ber own fasbion line,
L.A.M.B. Tbe singer's video from ber
first single "'Wbat Ya Waiting For?" is
sbot witb a distinct Japancsy flair,,
supplenif^nfed by lour blat k-liquid eyelined, pig-tailed, and cberry-lipped
"Harajuku girls" prancing around in
clothes by Vivian Westwood. In a recent
Marie Claire interview, Stefani says tbe
idea of using Japanese girls as backup
dancers came to her in a dream. These
so-called Harajuku girls appear
throughout the alhtim. even in songs
that have no apparent relation to them.
The album also includes a song titled in
ilie girls' honor, in which Stefani
professes, "Harajuku girls, you got the
wicked style-1 like the way that you
are—1 am your biggest fan, oh."
As if video appearanees were not
enough. Stefani also has Harajuku girls
trailing after her for appearances in
promotional and red carpet events.
During interviews, the entourage sit
behitid the singer with studied
disaffection, and alter their facial
expressions and shift around
periodieally, although always seemingly
on (ue. When asked about them during
an Interview on MTV, she replied, ""Can
you even see them? I mean, are they
even there?" claiming they are a
figment of her imagination. Rumor has
it tbat Stefani's posse are under
contractual obligation to converse only
in .lapanese in public, thus adding Io
their foreign allure, although in real lilr
they are plain-Jane American girls who
speak perfect English.
Bystanders argue vigorously on
Internet message boyr-dt- whether
Stefani's adoration ofthe girls is super
cool or an atrocious art of cultural
hijacking. Although some love the
concept, others feel (hat the singer is
exploiting a suheulture l)y packaging
the girls a la Hollywood and marketing
them to the mainstream. In fact, various
web sites/blugs bave .-priing up tbat
dedicate tbemselves to tbe discussion of
tbese lour faux harajuku girls, named
Angel, Love, Music, and Baby after her
album title. In one blog, tbe autbor bas
taken up tbis controversy as a cause by
selling h rG4 ("Free tbe Gwenibana
Four") T-sbirts and mugs in order to
rescue "tbe pseudo harajuku girls"
trom "serving an unspecified term in
the custody ol pop singer Gwen
Stefani." "For freedomi" the blogger
c bants.
.'\ltb<iugh such websites are ohviously
tongLii-aiid-( lirek (surely the girls are
well-paid for their odd job), there is no
doubt that Stefani's new album and
sutiscijuenf puljlicity stunts bave
puslicd tbe previously obs( ure
Harajuku fasbion into the forefront of
American pop culture. Wben asked
Summer'05 I 37
IN A SCCIIETY THAT liXT
SURPRISING TI-lyXT Tl-ll: I
WHICH INCCRPCRATIiJ
ALLURING-APPIEALS TO (
abouf tbis recent trend, Rachel Dodes,
a 27-year-old journalist and a New York
native says: ""Harajuku girls? They are
so hot here! 1 think a gaggle of
Japanese girls is the next Louis Vuitton
handhag—the ultimate accessory."
Harajuku girls, like sushi restaurants,
have become anotber cool Japanese
cultural export and yet anotber additiiiti
to the image of "Japan Conl", But who
aiH' tbe real Harajuku girls, the true
girls tbat inspired an American pop
singer to exalt them to the point of
obsession?
l i a r i i j u k u as a l'a,«bi(m Mecca
I
^ ^ k efore tbe Olympic Games
^ ^ V came to Tokyo, Harajuku
^ ^ was little more than a quief
^ ^ residential neigbhorbood.
only just recovered from the destmc'tion
of Wc»rld Uar II. It came into its own.
liovvever. in 1964, after the govemment
(•(invertcit a stret( h along Omotesando
into an Olympic Village for the athletes.
The games brougbt a slew of foreign
visitors, wbich stamped the once-sleepy
town with a cool, modern image.
Harajuku remains I HK district of
fashion.
Although the word Harajuku has only
38 I Japan Inc Magazine
spelled fashion for Westerners in reeent
years, it bas. in fact, been a trendsetter
for over 30 years.
ln tbe 1970s, fad cultures bere
exuberated a more rebellious streak.
Tbe original place of congregation was
inside Harajuku s Yoyogi Park, where
up unlil the early 80s hip youngsters
called the Takenozoku on Sundays
engaged in sue h delinquent bebaviors
as smoking cigarettes, greasing tbeir
hair, and dancing. They symbolized
youfti decadence and rehellion {even
doc umented hy an NHK program). In
the mid-1980s, however, dancing,
eigarette-tciuting youngsters gave way to
the "hando-zoku," amateur hands who
gathered to showcase tbeir talent.
Ycjyogi Park became an expo of street
bands from all over tbe c:ountry and was
tbe birlbplace ol some of tbe most
popular hands in Japan.
Harajukn TI
nara|uku
M
arajuku remains a meeca
for tbe young and fashion
conscious. Its nature,
however, has taken a furn
for the innocuous. For example, to the
left of Harajuku Station lies Tokyo's
answer to the avenue of the Champs-
Elysees, the wide tree-lined
Omotesando-dori. home to very adult
and mostly high-end hrands such as
Gucci, Armani, and Burberry. It also
sports Japan's largest Louis Vuitton
store. In front of which begin queues
that wind down several streets
whenever a new handbag or limited
edition item is launcbed. Venturing into
tbe side streets of Omotesando,
bcjwever, you find the equally famous
Takeshita-dori. a narrow road only 440
meters long. This "dori," or street, is a
breeding ground for young fashion and
particularly attuned to the capricious
nature of trends, testified by tbe furious
pace in which new shops replace old
ones. On weekends and holidays, the
road is packed with tourists, loeais, and
fashion-conseious youngsters alike,
making it cliffic:uit at times to stroll in a
straight line.
As for the bando-zoku. In 2003
residents wbo were fed uji witb the
noise and general iiiayhfiri < rac ked
down on the Sunday jams in Yoyogi
Park. This was not enough to slop
Harajuku from being a sbowcase town,
however. Ibe young people today bave
moved just outside tbe park, onto
Jingubasbi bridge, near tbe station at
)LS I=IEMALIE YOUTH, IT IS NOT
MILOSOPHY 01= GOSURORIO
TI-IIE INNOCIENT AND TI-IIE
lERTAIN OLDIER MIEN.
llu' entrance of Meiji Slirinc. Although
hands occasionally play on Jingiihashi,
today the hridjic mainly serves as the
meeting place lor lite •"Harajuku girls."
(This particular area is no longer
officially Harajuku, since it was
changerl to Jingu-Mae. hut locals still
reier to the vicinity of the hridge hy its
old name.) Unlike the wannahes in
Hollywood, these girls are the real
thing, easily spotted hy their eye-
popping, over-the-top clothes. They
dress in Halloween-like costumes, don
outrageous makeup, and hang around
on Sundays, nol doing much hesides
socializing with their equally outrageously elad peers and occasionally
posing for the in<Tedulotis tourists or
photojournalists. Sonn^ ofthe girls live
hours away, hut take the train in every
week just to he seen.
"It makes me leel free," says Kuren,
who makes her own rosupiire (costume
play) outfits. On most days, the girls
wear school uniforms, and only on
Sundays when they come here do they
hlatantly express their style and
personahty. ,\lthough initially
hewildering. the fashions, yoti find,
follow guidelines, and almost all tlie
girls place themselves in a certain
genre. There are (gasp!) rules, despite
the superficial craziness.
A well-documented style amongst
these young girls is Gothie Lolita, or
Goth Loli igosurori). It has the look of a
gothie Victorian bahy-doll—combining
the look of Lolita fashion (deliberate
cuteness and contrived innocence), with
certain gothie styles. According to
Wikipidea, this parti( ular look emerged
as a yc)uth subcuhure around
1997-1998 and became a weilestahhshed genre in Japanese
deparliiieiit stores circa 2001.
There are variations of the Gothic
Lolita look. One is the more feminine
"Classic Lolita" (more traditional,
girlish clothing), and the most eommon
is called "Klegant Gothie Lolita" (KGL).
The L(JL style is well known among
fans of bijuaru kei (visual style) hands, a
lorm of Japanese rock music in which
Summer "05 | 39
musicians perlorm in elahoratc
costumes. The physical pecuharities of
the EGL look were popularized hy
Mana, the cross-dressing leader of the
now disbanded Malice Mizer group. He
coined the term EGL and Elegant
Gothic Aristocrat (RGA. for nu'n wbo
like to dress up in the Victorian style),
which he used to describe tbe fashion
of his own lahel, Moi-meme-Moitie.
The standard ''dress code" is usually
short (ahove tbe knee), pnl'ty atid iaty.
worn with knee-high tights or fishnet
stockings. Glassic Lolitas, on tbe other
hand, prefer longer dresses with more
fetninine designs and do not shy away
from carrying stuffed animals or
wearing straw bats and bonnets. EGAs
usually wear lots of hlaek, red, and
white. They sometimes carry small
props in the shape of coffins, hats, and
crucifixes. A not-yet-doeumented genre
of the Gothic look is called "punk
goth." As the name suggests, this style
is more [)unk and less rule hound
(many wear pants instead of skirts).
In a society that extols female youth,
it is not snr[»risitig that the philosophy
of gosurori—wbi( b tncorporates the
innocent and the alluring (or angel and
devil in one body, in direct .lapanese
40 I Japan Inc Magazine
translation)—is app^'aling to ccrtaiti
older men. 'it's totally sick, seeing
these old tiien hanging around yoting
girls and taking pictures of them," says
Rivena Ridikir, a pretty 24-year-old
hlond from Germany and a sellconfessed manga enthusiast who studies
Japanese at Sophia LIniversity. "These
guys ohviously have a letisb or
something."
Rivena and her American friend
Jamie are two ol a handltil ol lorcigncrs
in outre outfits (which tbey elaim is
everyday wear). When asked what
hrought them to Jiiigtibashi bridge.
Rivena replied, "1 am just here to look
around myself, and to take some
pictures. I love their styles. 1 tbink they
are wonderful—and I bate how the West
is now taking this totally underground
thing and tnaking it cotnmercial."
Jatnic adds, "Back home I was one of
the few people who dressed this way, so
sometimes I make tbe clothes myself
and sell them on the Internet."
Altbougb entrepreneurial sotmding,
Jamie was quick to dismiss the
suggestion that she is an\ibing about
husiness: "Oh no. I hate capitahstn and
all of that."
Another genre popular among young
girls is cosupure. a portmanteau of
"costume" and "play. * This
subculture's [)articipants dress as their
favorite characters from manga, anime,
video games, and Japanese pop music
bands. At Harajuku the cosupure girls
usually like tt) imitate ati idol from a
favorite hand, although maid costucnes
are particularly popular amongst manga
fans elsewhere in Tokyo, such as geek
central. Electric Town In Akihabara.
spawning cafes where young waitresses
dressed as maids serve a mostly male
clientele. Kuren, aged 15, sports a
hand-sewn costunii' modeled after the
look of members in "Dir en (^rcy,"
another prominent J-punk Rock hand.
Sbe travels over an hour artd a half
from Saitama to join a friend who
tnakes a three-and-a-half-hour trip
from Nagano by express bus. Although
this is ptircly a rc( reational activity for
most, their dedication indicates the
seriousness with wliich they approach
their Sunday outings.
Two (ioth Loli girls, Higurakiyo and
Kirio, have heen coming to Harajuku
for two years. Like many other girls,
tbey shop at Takeshita-dori houtiques
and then re-arrange the clothes to tbeir
own liking. "My parents have already
given up," says Higurakiyo. who, at age
22, is elearly more mature and
articulate than the yitunger nienil)ers of
the mini-community. "The only thing
they ask is that I don"t hang around otir
neighhorhood dressed like this."
""My parents don't say anything
really," says her 17-year-old
companion, Kirio.
Others are nol so fortunate. "My
|)arents don't know," confesses Tatsu,
ati adorable 15-year-old Tokyo native,
who can t^asily pass for 12 or 13 in a
|)itik anil ubite lat'ey Lolita-style dress,
cotnplete with a white lacey parasol. "I
put my clothes in a hag and 1 change
outside. It's impossible to give up
dressing tbis way because I really love
doing this."
Her plight is not unusual; a cotnnn)n
sight tiear Harajuku Station is a l.olita
or (iotb toting a small luggage bag.
Unlike the Takenozoku in the 70s.
tbese young girls tistially do not bave
any polititai agenda or any sutiversive
Intent.
"I enjoy it. It's just for fun," says Uga,
a cheerful, outgoing goth-jnink girl.
Mekiri agrees. "It's my bobby," she
says as both girls join friends for a
group pboto.
Tbe Revisionist atid tbe Heal
Harajukti
I • u r (I p i 1^ I (Jirls
pend an afternoon at
Harajuku and you observe a
gap hetueen the Hollywood
view of Harajuku girlsrebellious, underground, subversive,
nde-breaking-and what is really going
on in the streets of Tokyo. Harajukti
girls are orderly and bave their own
rules. Their fashion bas its commercial
aspects, with widely rccognizahle
hrands, and fans can pun hase the
styles at on-line or brick-and-tnortar
stores. And although the girls look
drastically different from their typical
peers, within tbeir own SUIK ulture tbey
follow specific fasbion rules and
guidelines.
S
Tru(^ tbey are not your average
teenage delitiijuents by any tneatis—
these girls display themselves in an
orderly fashion and are neither loud
nor distiirl)iiig. The Harajuku girls do
not share Rivena's and Jamie's distaste
for capitalism and mainstream culture;
if you asked their feelings a[)ottt
capitalism, you wotdd Mkely elicit hlatik
stares and giggles. IVorti Jinguhashi
hridge, the average Harajuku girl
prohahly goes home, changes, and eats
dinner with ber family. Sbe will most
likely grow tip to be a perfectly
respectable adult. Fashion is merely a
way for the girls to express themselves
in a conformist society, altbougb in
doing so tbey inadvertently follow
another set of rules.
Although the names of their styles
might differ, one thing all tbe
interviewees had iti cornmon was that
none of them had ever hf;ard of Gwen
Stefani. nor did they have any eliie tbat
tbeir style is being populari/ed al>road.
When told tbat tbey were the
inspiration for a popular singer in the
US, they were visibly exeited. "WV are
very hajipy," the girls stjuealed in
unison, "i think Ameriean women are
attractive, so this type of fasbion would
look good on tbem." added one girl.
The girls I spoke to seemed aloof
from a distance, but were, in fact nice,
pfilite, vivacious teens who enjoy
dressing as tbey do. Everyone imposes
tbeir own interpretation on tbe
Harajuku girls-sees them through their
tinted lenses. Gwen Stefani. like the rest
ol tis. takes in what sbe sees in them
and loves them for it. Pure love or oldfashioned Orientalism? Visit tbe Internet message hoards for the dehate. Jl
Summer "05 | 41