Future Plans

The question some of you might be asking is "where do we go from here?" We opened this site just a month or so ago sourcing products from wherever we can get them in Japan. But we've always had bigger plans than that - we've always said this is only the beginning.

First, we're in talks right now with several Japanese clothing manufacturers, and we hope to have full, new product lines from each of them soon. We'll reveal brand names as the deals are signed.

Maybe more importantly, could this place be the future real-world home of Tokyo Rebel?





Could be... or someplace like it. We'll see. But a physical store in New York City is definitely part of the plan, and we're looking. And when we do find the right space, we'll keep you fully updated on the progress here as we get it ready for opening. Subscribe to our news feed if you want to be kept up to date automatically.

More to come.

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KERA June 2009 - new Angelic Pretty print

The June issue of KERA magazine hit newsstands this week, and for the second time this year it features KERA regular Nana Kitade on the cover.



But what some of you have been waiting for is the new Angelic Pretty print, which they're calling "Lovely Lady and Rose Garden". It's available in blue, pink and black, and in one-piece, jumper skirt and skirt varieties. Complete with matching accessories.

(Click through for a larger version.)

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Gothic & Lolita Bible No. 5

Last week, Tokyopop released the fifth English volume of the long-running Japanese "mook" (magazine/book) known as the Gothic & Lolita bible. This edition is based on No. 28 of the Japanese series, which was released almost exactly a year ago - always one of the downsides of waiting for the US translation.

This is "the wedding issue" and it focuses, of course, on gothic and Lolita-style weddings. From the proper dress to the makeup and even the cakes, you'll find all you need to plan a full on _gosurori_ event. There are new sewing patterns from Angelic Pretty, street snaps from Paris, Los Angeles and Harajuku, and of course, reader-submitted content from the United States - one of the main things that distinguishes the US version from the Japanese.

There's been a little discussion in the EGL community about this edition's length - at only 96 pages, it's been cut by about 30% compared to previous releases. Is this a sign of things to come, or just a temporary blip caused by a bad economy? Hopefully the latter, as regardless of anything else, western girls interested in these kinds of fashions need English-language publications like this.

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Hangry & Angry Interview at Hello! Online

The personification of h.naoto's brand known as Hangry & Angry made their US debut at SakuraCon a week or so ago, and Hello!Online managed to snag an interview with the girls.

What is Hangry & Angry? It began life as an h.naoto fashion brand, represented by two female cats - one punk, one goth. GASHICON is the brand's illustrator, and he's helped build the label with his artwork. We don't currently stock any Hangry & Angry brand clothes, although we like the brand a lot and we may carry it in the future.

Now, former Morning Musume members Hitomi Yoshizawa and Rika Ishikawa have been enlisted to take on these character roles in real life. They've got a new CD out entitled "Kill Me Kiss Me" that's supposedly actually available in the United States, though good luck finding it. You can hear their music on their MySpace page.

It's not really my cup of tea, and it unsurprisingly sounds a little too "Hello! Project"-ish for my tastes, but then their real purpose is just to wear the clothes and look good doing it. And at that, they're a smashing success.

Don't forget to check out the interview if you'd like to read more.

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Streamlined Checkout

Now taking credit cards via standard checkout!

As some of you may know, when we first launched this site, if you wanted to pay by credit card you were redirected through PayPal. It was a little confusing because PayPal obviously wants you to sign up, and it wasn't completely clear that you didn't have to. You also needed to enter your information twice; once on PayPal and once in our shopping cart system. Well, no more! We have now integrated credit card processing through our standard checkout, so you just need to enter your information once, through our cart system, same as you're probably used to from shopping elsewhere. And it's 100% secure, using a secure server.

We accept Visa, Mastercard, American Express and Discover cards.

If you still want to use PayPal, you can. We still accept it. There's a PayPal button on the cart page, next to the Google Checkout button.

We hope you'll enjoy this added convenience. And we've got more site improvements in the works (and hopefully some major announcements in the coming months).

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About our size description

Hi everyone!

I just wonder if someone is thinking why we often don't say standard sizes like "S", "M", "L" with the products.

Well, from my experience, the size description might not be so reliable because my size is S at one store but M or L at another store depending on which store I buy clothes from. ...

Since we sell multiple brands' clothes, for accuracy, we measure all products. Also, a Japanese "large" is not like an American "large" anyway.

However, we know that sizing from one country to another is an issue, so we're always looking at how we can improve the way we present this info.

If you have any questions please "email us":mailto:info@tokyorebel.com!

We are so happy to hear from you:):):)

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Find us on your favorite social network

You may have noticed these on the homepage:

Yep, you can click on them. Try 'em out! Be our friend on MySpace, be our fan on Facebook, and follow us on Twitter. For now, our Facebook and Twitter will mostly just duplicate our updates here, but we know some people live on those sites (because we do! in our private lives) so this give you a convenient way to keep up with our stock updates and news. The MySpace page might end up having some more stuff on it, including music and videos from Japan that we think are cool. Check it out!

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New stock is here - worth the wait!

You may have noticed this on the homepage:



That's the first of a new round of stock.

We've got a bunch of stuff to post, in all the styles we carry, and both new and used as always. A lot of it is _super_ cute and cool - it's worth waiting for. Just to preview, we've got clothes from Algonquins, Sex Pot Revenge, Angelic Pretty, Black Peace Now, h.naoto and more. We'll be rolling it out onto the site over the next week or two. Subscribe to our "product RSS feed":http://feeds2.feedburner.com/TokyoRebelProducts if you don't want to miss anything!

Also, we'll be visiting Tokyo late next month and hopefully doing some business. No announcements yet, but I hope we'll have some nice surprises for you when we get back.

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