The husband derides Shibuya as the playground for “horny teenagers from Saitama,” a place where suburban kids pretend to be urban. I love how this clothing store turns juvenile delinquency into a desirable lifestyle that can be purchased and flaunted.
Last week I was waiting for a friend at the Nakano JR station. He was late, but it didn’t matter. That station is one of my favorite people watching spots. At any time of day or night, there are always people waiting at the North Exit for friends to show up. Nakano has none of the desperate fashion extremes of Shibuya or Harajuku (fueled largely by suburban visitors, no doubt), but always a fun mix of mod, retro, regular and unique styles. I like this young guy’s studied indifference to being watched and photographed. Not sure about the 70s shark skin jacket, but I love the over-sized man-bag and boots. Plus the photo includes a bonus salaryman’s back side.
At a large suburban festival, we saw *three* booths involving boy bands. My favorite was the one above which involved a rifle shooting game, with the boy band images as either prizes or encouragements. This older guy looks ready to teach the kids how to shoot to kill. The guy running the game was kind of an ikemen, with his fried hair piled into a glitter sequin watch cap.
Below two booths sold boy band imagery. Interestingly, in Japan, there is no equivalent girl band objects. I guess Japanese (male loving) women are just lucky in that respect. I also suspect that the imagery objectifying women is perhaps too dirty to be shown in public at a festival.
And still more. Plus there was a Korean store full of Korean bands and idols.
Tokyo Moe 