The Mystifying and Powerful World of Japanese Fashion

Pictured: Himeji Castle, courtesy of Fuji Film

by: Korbin Newlyn



Many would say that fashion is an expression of the culture and soul, hence every nation has a unique reflection of its own history as well as traditions in one way or another.

Japanese fashion is no exception to this sentiment. This article will go into a few details of how it has changed throughout the years while always remaining intact in its traditions.

The Past and the Present

One of the most traditional and common Japanese fashion outfits is the Kimono; it is still worn today in more modern designs, it was also embraced by the Western nations because of its sensuality as well as elegance.

Throughout the years Japanese fashion saw very few changes but throughout the years the Kimono was a dominant part of the classic collection and consistently a part of their lives in one form or another. Another kind of Kimono is the Furisode which is worn by young women in their twenties; in Japan the age to legally drink and smoke is twenty and in order to celebrate the parent frequently offer their daughters a Furisode.

Then the Houmongi takes the stage. This is another kind of Kimono that is worn by married women and similar to the Furisode the parents will give their daughter one when she is married.

The formal Kimono is known as Tomesode and is typically worn by married women to social functions such as marriages. Additional variations include the Mofuku which is the funeral Kimono for Japanese fashion and the Uchikake is the wedding Kimono.

Last but certainly not least the Obi is the oldest form of the Japanese fashion as they are no longer in production today and rarely will you find someone wearing this type even in Japan.

Modern Japanese fashion generally has several categories in addition to some that are not related to clothes. The Japanese fashion known as the Kogal is translated in Japan to people who enjoy displaying their higher income by wearing expensive jewelry or clothes.

The Gangoro Japanese fashion is designed for those people who began changing their hair color and then you have the Lolita as the Gothic Lolita Japanese fashion, which is being represented by the innocent and sweet dressed (Lolita) all the way to the other extreme type referred to as punk fashion, which is known as Gothic Lolitas.

The Eternal Fashion

The world of classic fashion is eternal throughout the world and Japanese fashion has their Kimonos to prove it. The use of colors also plays a large part in the world of Japanese fashion as well as their culture as it is directly correlated to the event. Fashion not only reflects and defines an era and a place in time but also the character and personality of the person who is wearing it.


About The Author
Listen to Korbin Newlyn as he shares his insights as an expert author and an avid writer in the field of fashion. If you would like to learn more go to http://www.efashioninfo.com/ and at http://www.efashioninfo.com/fashion-youth/teen-fashion/

Learn Japanese Easily - All It Took Was A Movie...

by: Suzanne and Paul Brown



My quest to learn how to speak Japanese began with the Anime movies, Spirited Away and Princess Mononoke, by the renowned Japanese director Hayao Miyazaki. These amazing movies were the catalyst that propelled my interest in the Japanese culture and hence, my desire to learn Japanese fast but in the most proficient way possible.

I was determined to learn a language that most of my fellow North Americans either have no interest in or find it too challenging. Why? Japanese not only sounds significantly different from English but the Japanese letters, (Hiragana) that represent the sounds that make up the Japanese language and is central to the Japanese writing system, are very different. Because of this, I was even hesitant to learn basic Japanese but I put my fears aside and proceeded to find the best way to learn Japanese. After weeks of researching the Internet and networking by word of mouth, I found an amazing course that teaches you to speak Japanese online. So, here's a brief overview of this course to help you in your goal to learn Japanese easily.

First, there is a 31-lesson Interactive Audio Course that covers everything that you need to know to learn Japanese quickly and to become part of a Japanese community. Second, their software: the vocabulary software is a word building game designed to help you learn about 1000 Japanese words and to cover 20 different topics. You can also use this game indefinitely because it allows you to add your own images. The audio software will help you overcome the most difficult aspect of learning Japanese and that is the comprehension. The Hiragana Software learning game helps you to easily recognize and memorize the Hiragana character set used in the Japanese writing and pronunciation system. Third, there are the Grammar Newsletter Series that provides you with 31 illustrated Grammar Lessons and examples. These are invaluable cultural informational tools with explanations of written Japanese and of popular Japanese grammar. The visual tools of this series are unique to this product and their value is priceless enabling you to learn Japanese easily.

Finally, there is also access to a Learner's Forum and Support system that is staffed with fellow students, natives and Japanese teachers. This provides you with extra free resources to further assist you on your quest to learn to speak fluent Japanese.

I am pleased to say that I am able to watch Miyazaki’s movies in their original Japanese and I look forward to visiting Japan one day. Thank you, Hayao Miyazaki for opening up the door for me to experience, acknowledge and respect the Japanese culture.



About The Author
Suzanne and Paul Brown

We are passionate about languages and life-long learning. To find out more information on Japanese you can visit, http://www.learnbasic-japanese.blogspot.com or http://www.speakjapanese-online.blogspot.com

Japanese Film Series to be Shown in Brattle, USA

The Brattle Film Foundation (BFF), the non-profit organization that
programs and operates the Brattle Theatre, is thrilled to announce
their new film series, No Borders, No Limits: Nikkatsu Action & 60s
Japan, running from Friday, April 18th through Thursday, April 24th,
2008.

The label said it all: "Nikkatsu akushon!" Nikkatsu was a Japanese
film studio that had been around since the silent days and akushon
meant "action," written in the katakana syllabary for foreign words.
During their peak in the late 1950s and 1960s, Nikkatsu Action films
evoked a cinematic world neither foreign nor Japanese. It was a mix
of the two, where Japanese tough guys had the swagger, moves, and
even the long legs of Hollywood movie heroes. It was a place where
the Tokyo streets, Yokohama docks, and Hokkaido hills took on an
exciting, exotic aura, as though they were stand-ins for Manhattan,
Marseilles, or even the American West. Where one guy with guts,
smarts, and a pair of quick fists could beat a whole gang of baddies.
One of the most famous progeny of the Nikkatsu Action moment is the
idiosyncratic and colorful director Seijun Suzuki whose bizarre
yakuza tales Branded To Kill and Tokyo Drifter have made him a cult
hero in the US.

In a celebration of these rare and overlooked gems of international B-
movie-making, curators Outcast Cinema have put together a series that
runs the gamut from strange, New Wave-ish youth films to yakuza
epics, and even includes a real Eastern-Western! Eschewing the more
well known Suzuki, Outcast has assembled an exemplary and exciting
batch of films from some of the most outrageous directors and stars
that you've never heard of!

As a complement to the special prints from Nikkatsu, the Brattle is
presenting a brief selection of other films being produced in Japan
in the 1960s… because what would a Japanese action series be without
a Tokyo-terrorizing monster and a samurai or two? Or three?

The lineup features five of the best and most bizarre movies from the
infamous Nikkatsu studio, none of which are available on video in the
US:

A COLT IS MY PASSPORT (1967) A noir-ish thriller, where a hit man and
his buddy whack a prominent gang boss. Deadly complications ensue!

PLAINS WANDERER (1960) Akira Kobayashi plays a traveler on Japan's
back roads with most of the accoutrements of a Western hero – from a
horse to fringes, to a guitar and even a trusty bullwhip.

RED HANDKERCHIEF (1964) Kind of like a Japanese C.S.I. episode, a
disgraced former detective revisits a years-old case to resolve his
doubts about not only his own actions, but the true motives of his
former partner.

VELVET HUSTLER (aka LIKE A SHOOTING STAR) (1967) Velvet Hustler stars
Tesuya Watari as Goro, a Tokyo hitman who likes his women like he
likes his cars: fast and dangerous. Lookout!

THE WARPED ONES (1960) A frantic, black-and-white portrait of youth
culture gone wild. Two ex-cons and their prostitute friend go
completely off the deep end in this stylistic and amoral high-point
of 60s cinema.

DVD SCREENERS W/ENGLISH SUBTITLES ARE AVAILABLE BY REQUEST

The series also includes these other Japanese classics:

BLACK ROSE MANSION (1969) A wealthy playboy installs songbird "Black
Rose" in his elegant private men's club to bolster business - but he
gets more than he bargains for… A feverishly perverse, campy and
baroque freak-out.

DEATH BY HANGING (1968) A bleakly black comedy; a criminal is
sentenced to be hanged but mysteriously survives and, as the guards
and officials present soon find out, has lost all memory of his
crime, trial and eventual fate. Not on video!

HIGH AND LOW (1963) Akira Kurosawa, the seminal Japanese director,
takes us from the spacious hillside apartment of a hotshot Tokyo
businessman, to the lower depths of the city in this neo-noir
thriller.

MOTHRA (1961) Sort of a trippy version of King Kong, featuring a pair
of foot high singing divas whose song is a telepathic call for help
to their island goddess, the gigantic moth creature, MOTHRA.

THREE OUTLAW SAMURAI (1964) A wandering samurai is swayed into
helping some starving farmers who have kidnapped a local lord's
daughter in protest over unfair taxes. In the process, much blood is,
of course, shed.

WOMAN IN THE DUNES (1964) A disquieting examination of power and
sexuality fueled by stunning visual imagery. An entomologist stays
overnight in a small town, only to awaken the next morning to find
himself trapped by encroaching sand dunes. An essential big-screen
experience.

NO BORDERS, NO LIMITS will kick off at the Brattle Theatre on
Friday, April 18th, and continue until Thursday, April 24th. The
Brattle Theatre is located at 40 Brattle Street, in the heart of
Harvard Square. Tickets are $9.50, $7.50 for students and $6.50 for
seniors.

To learn more about NO BORDERS, NO LIMITS, visit the official Brattle
website at http://www.brattlef ilm.org, email info@brattlefilm. org or
call the Brattle Film Foundation office at (617) 876-8021.

Donate to a Worthy Cause in the Philippines

You can donate English books that you have read and are just lying around your home, or you can donate money if you`d like to this school in Zamboanga, on the island of Mindanao. They require English books
and a monetary donation is always appreciated.

Most Filippinos can read and speak English and have studied it from the first grade, so English books are always appreciated.

Donations accepted thru:

Child Development Foundation Inc.
Bethany Child Development Center
Brillantes Compound, Governor Ramos
Zamboanga City, Philippines 7000

Bank of the Philippine Islands
BPI Peso Act. #2121-0108-47 or
BPI US Dollar Act. # 2124-0138-39
Bank Access # BOPIPHMM
Zamboanga City Branch
Philippines

Reasonably Priced International School in Kanagawa

by Clarence Collins

For all you foreigners looking to get your children a good education but can`t
afford the Yokohama International school, have a look here:

http://www.globalindian.org.sg/Default.aspx?alias=www.globalindian.org.sg/jp-yok\
ohama

We went and checked out the open house at the main school in Tokyo today, and it
seems like a very good school at a reasonable price.

The thing is, there doesn`t seem to be enough interest to open the Yokohama
school yet.

My thinking is, get some other foreigners to express interest in this so they
are able to fill the classes and we can all send our kids to get a good
education without taking out a second or third mortgage to pay for it.

Check it out if you have kids, call the school and ask about it... the more we
get in Yokohama that want this, the better chance they will open up.

Clarence Collins

Japanese McDonald`s Tasty Morsels

These McDonald`s delicacies are available in Japan.
Check the video out here.

JAPANESE DOLLS: Boy's Day Festival in Japan

by: Helen Vanderberg

Who wouldn’t be fascinated by the concept of having a whole
festival dedicated to dolls? Dolls are shown in Girl’s Day and Boy’
s Day festivals in Japan, and cherished over the generations. Boy’s
Day dolls can consist of anything from a healthy-looking Sumo
wrestler to a samurai warrior or his armor.

The dolls are usually set up in a hierarchal arrangement in the
family home, meant to show, perhaps, the emperor and empress,
courtiers, handmaidens, and warriors in a social hierarchy in a way
a child can understand. The same approach may ring true with the
carp-shaped banners ranged according to size either on a pole
outside the house. The big fish is daddy, next size down is mother,
the next smallest is elder son or daughter. In the countryside, on a
rope across a river, the fish banners represent the villagers.
Everything has a hidden meaning.

Beside the obvious link with Japanese doll festivals, collecting
dolls has a much deeper psychological basis. It is believed that
ancient Japanese samurai warriors tied cloth mascot dolls underneath
their clothing before going into a particularly ferocious fight.

Whether this is true or not, try this experiment. Walk through the
Cairo Museum in Egypt, turn right, and just beyond where the yellow
flowers were found, still colorful after 2500 years in a pyramid
tomb, you’ll come on the figure of a scribe. He’s almost life-
size, seated cross-legged, and as you swing around the corner his
quartz eyes stare out at you across the centuries, and your heart
turns over with a jolt of recognition.

Further north in Istanbul, touring the museum on Topkapi grounds
above the Bosphorus, you come across the statue of Sappho and the
same sense of recognition hits you. This woman lived. And loved, and
wrote amazing poetry. A human response across the centuries since
Ancient Greece.

Dolls give you this leap of recognition, albeit on a much smaller
scale, and you don’t have to be a rabid doll collector to account
for it. Perhaps it is the human miniature that grabs our
imagination. To find out more about a broad range of Japanese dolls,
go to : http://www.welcome.city.yokohama.jp/eng/doll/4010.html.

To explore these connections further brings us up against questions
of identity. Is it the samurai spirit residing in the young boy’s
heart that needs nourishing? To make a connection with a samurai
doll go to www.boonsby.com.

About The Author


Helen Vanderberg is a novelist, technical writer, copywriter, and an
art appreciator enchanted with things strange or foreign. This
article may be reproduced, provided the author's name and
boonsby.com are included in the reproduction.

hevanderberg@boonsby.com