An estimated 20,000 girls attended the Tokyo Girls Collection, a biannual fashion event organised by Girls’ Walker magazine, on Saturday (Mar 15) at Yoyogi National Stadium.
Contrary to most of the fashion shows which only invite celebrity guests, TGC is opened to public with an affordable fee (¥3,000-10,000; ~USD30-100). [Hat tip to KN]
Make no mistake though, despite the cheap entrance fee, the show is still as glamourous as other top fashion shows, albeit more casual, with participation of top brands & models, and performances by popular artists (TVXQ, Leah Dizon, DJ Ozma etc).
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Seijin no Hi (成人の日; Coming-of-Age Day) is a national holiday in Japan, which falls on the second Monday in January each year (Jan 14 in 2008). The holiday is for young Japanese who reached the legal age of adulthood (20) to celebrate their new status.
A Coming-of-Age ceremony (成人式; Seijin shiki) is normally held in the morning at local city offices where politicians and academicians will give speeches reminding the new adults of their social responsibilities.
The young adults would often visit a shrine after the ceremony to make their wishes before started partying (with plenty of drinks I guess).
Ladies coming-of-age are often seen wearing furisode (a style of kimono) on the day, which makes it a special day for otaku photographers as well…
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Tokyo Stock Exchange (TSE) female workers were dressed up in Kimono in a ceremony to kick start their first trading day in 2008 on Jan 4.
TSE female workers in kimono (Image courtesy of
Xinhuanet)
The traditional Japanese costume didn’t bring much luck though, as the Nikkei 225 index was down 616.37 points on closing… their lowest in one and a half years.
Lingerie maker Triumph International Japan has unveiled the “My Chopsticks Bra” which features a pair of cups that resemble bowls of rice and miso soup, and a set of collapsible chopsticks that tuck into either side. [Pinktentacle].
Japanese model Yuko Ishisda
with My Chopstick Bra
The bra was introduced on November 7 in Tokyo to promote the use of reusable chopsticks instead of the the disposable wooden kind.
Japan is one of the largest users of disposable chopsticks (waribashi) in the world, probably the 2nd largest behind China.
China has recently announced their plan to stop the export of disposable chopsticks to reduce the deforestation. It is estimated that 25 millions trees are cut in China each year just to produce disposable chopsticks.
The good thing is that Japanese youngsters these days are having more awareness on environmental issues… carrying a pair of personal reusable chopsticks are seen as a trendy move.
The lingerie model Yuko Ishida is a chopstick carrier herself. I am not sure if she would want to wear that bra on daily basis though.
Below is a video that shows more details about the bra concept…
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Nytimes featured an article about new clothing designs in Japan that will ease Japan’s growing fears of crime, by camouflaging as vending machines etc.. Fact is the designs seem more like a funny prank rather than any serious anti-crime tactics.
Btw, as Japundit pointed out… it is not something new, but merely a “repackaging of a story that made the rounds on the Internet back in 2005.”
Vending machine camouflage in the Tokyo streets (Image courtesy of
Nytimes)
Believe it or not - Golden Sh!t, or Gold Unchi in Japanese, is a symbol of luck and monetery fortune. So here it is, some lucky sh!t as your cell phone strap…
After the news conference, here comes the real event… the World Cosplay Summit 2007 (WSC2007) in Nagoya Japan!
World Cosplay Summit 2007 (Image courtesy of
Kuanhoong)
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Cosplay fans gathered at a news conference in Tokyo on August 1, ahead of the World Cosplay Summit 2007.
Cosplay fans posed at the news conference (Image courtesy of
Mainichi)
The annual event is moving into its 5th anniversary; the summit will be held in the central Japanese city of Nagoya this weekend.
Cosplay, which originated in Japan, is a combination of the words “costume” and “play”. In cosplay, people dress mainly as characters from Japanese anime, as well as graphic manga novels and video games. [Reuters]
