We're in Tokyo!

Can't say much now, but we're currently in Tokyo on a little business trip. Will post updates as warranted - might have more to tell you guys tomorrow.

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PopMatters on Japanese Goth (the book)

If you haven't seen it, PopMatters has a lengthy critique on Tiffany Godoy's and Ivan Vartanian's recent book Japanese Goth. Neither of us here have read the book yet (though we will!) so it's impossible for us to comment on it directly, but with 200 pages (out of 240) dedicated to photos, it seems like PopMatters' criticism might be almost as long as the text in the book itself! It does also give a pretty detailed rundown of what the book's all about, so if you're at all interested, you might want to check it out. It's not often that we get an English-language account of Japanese goth culture (both Lolita and not).

The two authors' previous background includes Style Deficit Disorder: Harajuku Street Fashion - Tokyo, a title crammed with every Google keyword possible, but nonetheless it's obvious they're no stranger to this stuff. And that's a book with some pretty high praise on Amazon.

If any of you have read Japanese Goth, what did you think?

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New blog!

Welcome to our spiffy new blog. We want to use our store blog not just for announcements and store info, but also to keep you up on street fashion news from Japan and to build a community around our store. We feel that a store like ours needs at least a real blog to help build that community. The old blog was just too limiting, so we've upgraded to Blogger. (I know, some of you are probably screaming "Wordpress!" at us right now, but trust us - we've got our reasons!)

We know those of you who read our RSS feed might have just seen a bunch of "new" old posts show up in your readers. Sorry about that; no way around it if we wanted to move all of our posts over here. FeedBurner thinks all of those posts were written today.

Like the store itself, we'll be making additions and alterations to this blog over time. And we'll try to update frequently. Keep checking back!

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Heads up - shipping freeze coming!

Just wanted to give you all a quick heads up that we'll be holding all orders placed after next week until we return from Japan.  You can still place an order (which will effectively reserve any item you're interested in), but shipping will take a bit longer than usual.  We'll place a more prominent announcement on the site to remind you later in the month.

Get your orders in soon if you want to avoid the extra wait!

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Women's Wear Daily on Japanese Goth

Some of you may have seen this, but the current issue of Women's Wear Daily has a long article about Japanese goth fashion and its influence on western designers. (The fashions in the image to the left, for example, are most definitely not Japanese.) The article starts by talking about these western designers (including stalwarts like Givenchy) before moving onto the influencers - Japanese designers like h.NAOTO and Mana (Moi-même-Moitié).

It's clear that neither Women's Wear Daily nor some of the western designers quite get the whole thing, but you can't fault them for trying, at least. They even print some of the choicest answers that you can tell were exasperated comments from people being asked what they consider really stupid questions. It's actually pretty funny to read Valerie Steele of the Fashion Institute of Technology say, "No, no, no! A million times no!" to the assertion that goth's popularity is due to the bad economy.

And of course the article makes the cardinal sin of lumping gothic and Gothic Lolita into the same bucket. People, they are not the same! But of course, you guys all know that.

Still, it seems Japanese gothic (and Gothic Lolita) fashions are marching more towards the mainstream in this country. We just wonder why anyone would bother buying western stuff "inspired by" Japanese fashions when you could just buy the real thing.

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X JAPAN and h.NAOTO

X JAPAN 18th concert, X JAPAN WORLD TOUR Live in TOKYO ～ Ko-geki zokkouchu ～ 18th night ～SPECIAL, was held at the BUDOKAN on May 2nd and 3rd, the day of and day after the anniversary of guitarist HIDE’s death.


Image credit: Natalie

This is SUGIZO’s first live with X JAPAN after they officially announced him as X JAPAN member.

According to S-inc blog and Natalie news, there was a fashion show which mixed Japanese and Goth taste with the music of VIOLET UK.

「VIOLET UK」 and 「h.NAOTO」 were shown on the big screen.

Yoshiki was wearing h.NAOTO's clothes on stage as well.


Image credit: S-inc blog

Read the S-inc blog for more info and photos of the clothes. Or check out this long concert report in English.




I wish I was in Japan yesterday...

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New shipment!

We've gotten probably our last shipment before our Japan trip later this month, and we'll be rolling the products out over the next couple weeks. For now, just a tease!

















Brands: h.Naoto, Algonquins, Angelic Pretty, Peace Now, Metamorphose temps de fille, and more. That's by no means everything, but just a taste. Keep checking back to see more and order!

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