Western Pop Culture and Street Fashion of Japanese Youth

NB: We do not resell your papers. Upon ordering, we do an original paper exclusively for you.

NB: All your data is kept safe from the public.

Table of Contents

Introduction
Research
Design and Methods
Analysis
Limitations and Implications for Further Studies
Conclusion
Works Cited

Introduction

The research question for this study is as follows: to what extent Western pop culture influences the street fashion of Japanese youth in the 21st century?

Pop culture has a huge influence on the masses. With the emergence and development of telecommunications, the flows of information have sped up immensely, which made cultural trends possible to cross the borders of countries. The rise of the Internet and mobile technologies in the 21st century substantially increased the capacity of cultural notions to penetrate other countries’ societies. Not only do such artifacts become known in other nations, but they also become natural and even dominant. Sometimes large countries that produce lots of media content willingly or unwillingly apply pressure on other countries’ national traditions, trends, tastes, and many more things.

Many discoveries can be made about those issues through clothes and style. Especially it is true about the youth, as they seem to be on the verge of many new tendencies that are soon revealed through clothing. Japan itself has been the major producer and exporter of national peculiarities to the Western youth through items of pop culture such as anime. Across Europe and the US, there is quite a lot of merchandise that feature t-shirts, dresses, footwear, and headwear with heroes of popular anime series and films. Given that fact, it becomes even more interesting to discover how much Western culture influences Japanese teenagers’ fashion in the 21st century and where that influence originates.

Research

The Key Concepts

The research of the topic needs to be preceded by the explanation of the key subjects and notions used in the current paper. Among such issues are Western pop culture and street fashion. Also, “youth” as a broad term should be specified. Pop culture is short for popular culture. It includes all the cultural aspects that surround preferences, tastes, fashion, music, food, and many other things. If approached broadly, culture is everything created by humans in the course of their lives and lives of their predecessors and everything that will be created by their successors.

Popularity, in this case, is what attracts mass attention and invokes acceptance. As juxtaposed to exclusive culture, it encompasses everything that concerns the highly educated or otherwise privileged public (Malinowska and Lebek 32). Pop culture should also be distinguished from the culture created by different social strata and movements like hippies, punks, goths, hipsters, and other sub-cultures. All these movements produce their own information field, create for themselves and consume what they create. The defining characteristic of pop or non-pop culture would, therefore, be the number of people that associate themselves with certain beliefs, values, or items of culture. Various movements and sub-cultures form a unique imprint that is soaked up by a popular culture that in its turn creates a general image of the representatives of such social phenomena.

In the modern world, mass media often defines and transmits popular culture. Again, the word “mass” implies the quantitative principle of identification. Nonetheless, among scientists, there is no certainty about the specific number of followers that are needed for a phenomenon to be considered a part of popular culture. Theoretically, we can define the criteria for popular culture using geographical principles. Then we need to assume that there are different levels of popular culture limited to a certain locality, like a city, region or nation. Thus, Western culture would be a culture that is familiar to the citizens of countries that are generally distinguished from non-Western such as Arab, African, and Asian countries. The question of the origin of a cultural notion is also important. A phenomenon that is related to Western culture also implies that it is invented in the US or European countries.

Street fashion as a term also needs to be defined properly in the course of the present study. Podlasov and O’Halloran identify street fashion as “commercial fashions with a hard urban edge to them” (73). As it becomes apparent from this description, street fashion is equaled to urban fashion and apparently juxtaposed to rural fashion meaning that geographical principle is also dominant here.

Under the current research, “youth” will serve as an umbrella term for a range of notions including “teenager,” “adolescent,” “young adult.” According to Merriam-Webster Dictionary, youth is defined as the time between “childhood and maturity” (“Definition of Youth.”). These linguistic terms do not specify the exact age range, and the research does not require it. Above that, physical age as a determinant of the development of the human body can be quite a misleading factor when changes in behavior or social factors are evaluated. In relation to fashion, there seems to be no clear guideline what a teen or an adult should wear. However, some patterns in style unique to children, youth, and adults can be identified. Thus, roughage borders can include a population from 15 to 25 years old.

Design and Methods

The impact of Western pop culture on Japanese youth fashion in the 21st century can be evaluated in different dimensions. The influence of the cultural phenomenon in the social sphere can be defined through the evaluation of the recognition of new trends in youth fashion in various Japanese age groups such as adults, youth themselves. The analysis of statistical data would be preferable. The cultural influence could be assessed by observing the shift that diverts the youth from wearing non-Western style clothes as compared to Western-style.

There is also an economic side to the issue. The supply and demand for fashion influenced by popular Western motifs and associated with Western pop culture items could reveal particular economic trends in Japan. Moreover, there can also be political implications in the process of Westernization of Japanese youth fashion. Should such implications be found, the impact of the Western culture could be assessed in a more well-round manner. The identification of cultural, social, economic and political sides of the impact could provide a multifaceted assessment. History of interaction between the two cultures could also provide valuable insight into the underlying processes, their roots, and shed some light upon the impact of Western civilization on Japanese youth fashion. To facilitate such assessment, there is a need to conduct a systematic review of the existing literature devoted to the issues of Japanese youth street fashion.

The History of the Onset of the Western Pop-Culture on Japanese Fashion

Japan for long remained closed for any international relations. Only in the mid-19th century, Western ships were allowed to enter the ports of the islands. Until then fashion had been strictly traditional, both among children, youth, and adults. Kimono in its variations was the only available style of clothing. Kimono is a cloth robe with long sleeves that was made from silk, satin, and cotton. Today kimono is worn primarily by women on special formal occasions. Men are less prone to wearing it, sometimes excluding the older generation. There were also social class-specific kimonos that were distinguished by the type of cloth and elements of design. Since the mid-19th century, there has been a steady trend towards Westernization in fashion. That can partly be explained by the abundance and variety of styles and colors, which traditional clothes could not provide.

The onset of the Western popular trends in fashion was mostly associated with adults, as the youth was under the strong influence of their parents. The culture of respecting parents and the elders together with the great general value of the family relationship dictated the all-around control of parents for the views of the youth including their outfit. At the beginning of the 20th century, Western fashion already dominated the masses as suits were the primary clothing choice for most of the working population (Podlasov and O’Halloran 74).

In the 1960s, jeans became popular among all ages. The trends for emancipation among youth became evident in the 1970s and the first street looks appeared in the form of a wild mixture of Japanese and Western popular culture motifs. As Podlasov and O’Halloran note, Western clothes in Japanese culture were not attributed to any particular class (74). For example, a cylinder was not considered a typically high-status part of a person’s wardrobe. The desire to experiment adherent to the younger generation and the overall shift from strict traditionalism in the second half of the 20th century have become the catalysts of the development of the urban style for the Japanese youth.

The main driver of Japanese youth fashion is girls. Females invented most of the numerous styles including gyaru, bōsōzoku, kuroi niji, and others. The emancipation and the strive for underlining their stylish appeal inspired by Western fashion journals led to the creation of a still popular gyaru style in the 1970s (Jiratanatiteenun 293). The word gyaru is an English word ‘girl’ pronounced with a Japanese accent. It features fake nails, long fake eyelashes, bright make-up, and other attributes of glamorous girls that young Japanese ladies see in glossy magazines. Another female fashion trend was kogal invented in the 1990s. It was basically a modification of Japanese high school uniforms with shorter skirts, loose socks, and scarves. To the present day, the popularity of this style has declined.

The economic side of the Impact on Japanese Youth Street Fashion

One of the primary drivers in the sphere of youth fashion was the textile industry. Since the beginning of the trading relationships with the US and Great Britain, the demand for Western clothes grew proportionately to the fascination with Western pop culture. Foreign trade alone could not satisfy the domestic market with Western-style clothes, so the Japanese textile industry had to conform to the emerging trends to stay competitive. Above that, Western fashion magazines, and shops selling various accessories started to emerge in geometrical progression (Mathews and White 89). In the aspiration to monetize the new trend for Westernization of youth fashion, Japanese manufacturers started producing and selling attributes of Western pop culture. Stores, where young adults can buy millions of style and clothing items multiply steadily. Today, most of the popular Western brands like Gucci, Nike, Adidas, Dolce & Gabbana, and others have retail outlets in Japan. However, the fastest-growing market for fashion attributes is online shops like Amazon (Jiratanatiteenun 297).

The business gradually establishes its influence in the sphere of fashion orienting customers more and more on the Western culture. The onset of series and movies from Hollywood opened a new niche in the form of selling various merchandise with heroes of those series and films. Popular characters of American blockbusters and Marvel comic books such as Thor, Hulk, Iron Man, and others now reside on the t-shirts and sweatshirts of male teenagers. Due to the economic upsurge that began in the 1980s the purchasing power of youth increased, which allowed them to experiment and be witnesses to a whirlwind of styles that exist simultaneously.

Political Side of the Impact on Japanese Youth Street Fashion

Fashion could be a good transmitter of values of another culture, which could potentially serve the political interests of other countries. Creating a mass of young people that dress, look, and eventually uphold the values of the ‘invading’ culture can help make allies in lobbying foreign interests. However, the political influence on Japan does not seem to be noticeable. Historically, when Japanese ports were first opened to foreigners, this may have been the concern of the Americans to fill the country with its goods and force their culture to assimilate with theirs (Rosenberg 183).

When the 21st century is concerned, Western pop culture as propaganda of better possibilities could have an adverse effect on the loyalty of Japanese youth to their motherland and threaten the country with brain drain. However, there is little or no evidence to the fact that this was the intention. In fact, Podlasov and O’Halloran argue that the digital age has opened all the borders and the process of cultural exchange goes almost non-stop regardless of the political motives of any nation (71).

Popular Japanese Street Fashion Styles among Youth in the 21st Century

There are a plethora of different styles for young women in Japan. One of them is Neo-Visual Kei that emerged after 2007. It originated from Visual Key that copies the style of Western glam rock and cyberpunk musicians. It features dark-colored clothes, complex hairstyles, bright and acidic colors, and sometimes even elements of rococo costumes. Among older adults, such style is often considered unacceptable, but it is nonetheless widely spread.

Another popular style is Fairy Kei. It is inspired by the US TV shows such as My Little Pony for kids that are also popular among teenagers and young adults in Japan. The style creates a childish look that corresponds with the Kawaii or cuteness fashion that is generally considered sweet and eye-pleasing among both sexes (Jiratanatiteenun 294). This style is quite popular in the lower border of the age range.

One of the most recent and popular trends in Japanese street fashion among youth is Lolita. It includes a range of sub-styles like Gothic Lolita, Classic Lolita or Sweet Lolita. The first features a Victorian-style dress with knee-high boots, bonnets, and a generally darker palette of all pieces and accessories. The second is more widespread and typically consists of only Victorian dress in various colors. The third is a Kawaii version of the previous one. The origin of those styles is believed to be found in Alice in Wonderland and the Addams Family. In contrast to the above-mentioned styles, Lolita became quite acceptable and common to the extent that even mature adults sometimes tend to follow it.

Mori girl is another style that emerged rather recently in Japan but has already become popular. This style usually features a neutral-colored dress with a flowery design. It draws its inspiration from the fairytales about Little Red Riding Hood, the image of a simple girl from the countryside.

Despite the spread of those styles, according to the statistics gathered by Jiratanatiteenun in 2006-2011, there is a steady trend for simple and informal casual style that does not indicate adherence to any of the named fashion styles (295). The percentage of casual style followers has risen from 36% to 47.5%. The second most popular style, according to the questionnaire results, was Lolita with 14.5%. The present-day youth seems to have forgotten about the traditional kimono wearing it rarely and only in exclusive cases.

The Sources of Western Pop Culture Influence

One of the first and most significant sources of influence is the foreign trade between Japan and Western countries. The abundance of Western clothes, makeup, and accessories of popular brands oriented on youth draws the attention of the young buyers. The internet recently became the top source of information about Western pop culture including top celebrities, their life, and their style. If in the 19th century it may have taken about half a year to know what new trends were there in America and Europe, now all the latest news are one click away. Above that, the Internet has become a major trading platform that allows buying goods directly from Western countries further exaggerating the scale of their cultures’ popularity. Another source of inspiration for Japanese youth culture is a high school uniform that is designed after the American ‘Ivy league’ style and mandatory for students to wear (Monden 2).

Media is also one of the major powers that push Japanese youth to accept, assimilate and promote Western popular culture. Movies, books, series, and music, and games fascinated thousands of young people across Japan and to imitate their heroes or idols and included distinctive attributes of the heroes’ style in their outfits. Characters from computer games primarily made in the US and Western Europe also often become sources of inspiration for both male and female, young adults. It is noteworthy to mention that despite the leading role of the internet in the last decade, fashion magazines not only did not lose popularity among the young but also increased their value (Jiratanatiteenun 295).

Analysis

The gathered data about the emergence of Western influence on Japanese fashion traditions suggest that the influence that the Western people have been establishing in Japan through trade in the second half of the 19th century led to a major change in clothing traditions in the country, especially among youth. Western popular culture poured into the country that suddenly opened its gates to the free market. Japanese traders and manufacturers apparently realized that the influence of the American and European culture is too great to compete with it. Above that, the demand for Western fashion was fairly high. Therefore, they decided to switch from creating and selling traditional goods and started producing Western goods. This has only sped up the process of Westernization.

The economic boom in the 1980s raised the family incomes, which gave the youth the ability to buy more items of clothing and experiment with them creating unique styles some of which are still popular. As a result of the collision with Western pop culture, the creative spirit of the Japanese youth seems to have created something new instead of just copying like before. The abundance of styles gave them the possibility to become unique and conform to one of the subcultures. Since Japanese society is highly collectivist and the norms of society and family traditions can be extremely strict, Western popular culture that propagated individuality and freedom seems to have found fertile soil in the country’s youth. By accepting this foreign culture and implementing it in fashion, they not only voiced their protest but also underlined their identity. Almost every fashion style, however, does have a reference to one or another Western cultural phenomenon.

American and European music bands, movies, series, video games, the Internet, popular designer brands, fashion magazines, and trade have become the sources, from which the Japanese draw their inspiration. The rise of the Internet as the major source of cultural phenomena influx in the last years seems to be unsurprising. Interestingly, fashion journals did not lose their popularity among youth as it happens with all printed sources like many newspapers, whose audience now uses the internet to obtain information.

The reason for this is probably the popularity of manga or comic books in Japan, which can apparently keep the youth interested in printed sources. Another discovery that provokes thoughts is that there is rising popularity of casual looks as compared to other more distinctive fashion styles. This evidence may suggest that the social tension between the generations has decreased and the demand for individuality has been majorly satisfied. Another reason for this could be that the Japanese fashion market in the 21st century allows so much variety in terms of style, that there is no need to go over the edge in creating something out of the ordinary to be unique. However, new youth street fashion trends like Neo-Visual Kei and Gothic Lolita continue to emerge, which marks the continuous interest in Western pop culture and stresses its apparent influence on Japanese youth.

There seems to be no evidence that 21st-century young adults will show interest in traditional fashion. This may indicate that the new generation demonstrates a lack of interest in their history or at least not to such an extent as to start practicing it. This evidence may also be a natural course of historical society development. In the history of Western culture, there were several fashion trends like Victorian or Elizabethan, but there is also no desire among the general population to return to their roots and put on goffers.

Therefore, it may be assumed that the influx of fashion trends from the west helped Japanese youth culture advance and reach maturity. On the other hand, the country’s youth fashion may have lost its unique traditional flavor that only partly resides in the modern movements. Japanese street fashion seems to be quite unique in the ability of its carriers to resist ‘plagiarizing’ the Western pop culture but reform it, assimilate the experience and create something entirely new and amazingly original.

Limitations and Implications for Further Studies

There is a need to further research the topic of Westernization on Japanese youth culture because it opens the possibilities to understand more about Japanese society and the place of young people in it. Fashion is only one of the dimensions of this country’s culture, but it allows to partly assess the impact that it has on the whole nation. The research has found that there has formed a gap between Japanese traditions and new waves of the other nation’s culture that the youth actively popularizes. There is also no evidence on whether or not Japanese young adults consider wearing their traditional clothes again. The investigation into the topic of traditional and modern (Western popular) fashion in Japan in the eyes of the youth could provide valuable information on the possible cultural damage done.

The possible limitations of this study include the absence of statistical data on the number of young Japanese, who prefer Western culture as more suitable for their needs. This would have helped back the assumption that the shift towards Western pop culture in clothing style was partly invoked by the desire to rebel against strict social norms. Another limitation is that newer statistical data could not be found.

Conclusion

All things considered, the study assessed the impact of Western pop culture on the street fashion of Japanese youth in the 21st century. The main concepts that include pop culture, street fashion, and youth were properly defined and discussed. The research was designed to assess the impact of Western pop culture on Japanese street fashion from multiple sides including historical, cultural, social, economic and political. The methods used in the current study included statistical analysis and systematic review. In the course of the research, main historical events and concepts in the onset of the influence of Western civilization on Japanese fashion were identified.

They include trade agreements with the US in the second half of the 19th century, gradual emancipation of the Japanese youth in the 1970s, and the invention of new styles in street fashion. The Economic side of the issue revealed that Japanese traders facilitated the shift from traditional to modern, Western-oriented style of attire. The social dimension identified the gap between the generations that can be seen through the ideas of the elder and the younger on street fashion. The investigation of the possible political influence on the youth through fashion did not yield enough proof for the assumption to be confirmed. The main trends in Japanese youth street fashion are as follows: Neo-Visual Kei, Fairy Kei, Lolita, Mori girl, and casual style. The most popular street fashion trend was casual style, which could indicate the variety of choices to be unique without the need to run to extremes.

Among the sources of Western culture’s influence are the following items: The Internet and the digital media, printed magazines, foreign trade, and learning traditions. The Internet became the most effective data-transmitting tool for the youth. It was also identified that there is no decline in printed sources that is probably due to the habit of reading manga. All in all, the research could help further narrow down the scope and focus on the problems of the identified generation gap related to the views on fashion.

Works Cited

“Definition of Youth.”Merriam Webster Dictionary, n.d. Web.

Jiratanatiteenun, Aliyaapon, et al. The Transformation of Japanese Street Fashion between 2006 and 2011. Advances in Applied Sociology, vol. 2, no. 4, 2012, pp. 292-302.

Malinowska, Anna, and Karolina Lebek. Materiality and Popular Culture: The Popular Life of Things. Routledge, 2016.

Mathews, Gordon, and Bruce White. Japan’s Changing Generations: Are Young People Creating a New Society? Routledge, 2012.

Monden, Masafumi. Japanese Fashion Cultures: Dress and Gender in Contemporary Japan. Bloomsbury Publishing, 2014.

Podlasov, Alexey and Kay O’Halloran. “Japanese Street Fashion for Young People: A Multimodal Digital Humanities Approach for Identifying Sociocultural Patterns and Trends.” Critical Multimodal Studies of Popular Discourse, edited by Emilia Djonov and Sumin Zhao, Routledge, 2014, pp. 71-90.

Rosenberg, Emily. Spreading the American Dream: American Economic and Cultural Expansion, 1890-1945. Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2011.

Click Here To Order Now!