Fashioning Japanese Subcultures

by Yuniya Kawamura

Based on insightful ethnographic fieldwork in Tokyo, is the first theoretical and analytical study on Japan's contemporary youth subcultures and their stylistic expressions. The book covers a range of subcultures including Lolita, Gyaru, Agejo and Mori Girl.

Genres: Fashion, Nonfiction, Japan, Art, Sociology, Anthropology

192 pages, Kindle Edition

First published January 1, 2012

Reviews

[indigomiffy ⋆˚✿˖° · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5
Me lo he leído corriendo porque es para un trabajo :p

[M Jay D M · Rating 1 out of 5]

Kawamura’s book was very disappointing; despite the promise of new fieldwork it is rather essentialist, sloppy and her insights on Japanese subcultural styles are neither new nor thoroughly developed. Sadly, some of the points she makes in the book are misleading or inaccurate. There are a set of good works that examined Japanese youth culture and fashion prior to this book. Yet the book cites almost none of those sources, and instead claiming that it is the “first academic publication” to discuss these styles. As the other reviews rightly say, the book might be good as an introductory guide to some of Japanese subcultural styles, but considering the book as being written and promoted as a “scholarly book,” I would expect, and certainly wish for, more than that.

[Kayla · Rating 4 out of 5]

This sociological description of Japan's youth fashion subcultures is remarkable in its depth, analysis, and readability! I read this book for my anthropology class about Japan - I am currently working on a research project regarding Tokyo's fashion subcultures. This book does a wonderful job of contextualizing street fashion movements, and mentions many topics that relate to fashion, such as high school and university education, "professional housewife," changing family structures and gender roles, Japan's economic boom and following recession, and Cool Japan and the soft power campaign. It acted practically as a review of all prior content from my anthro course! A great resource that's super easy to understand! I would recommend this book to anyone interesting in learning more about Japanese fashion subcultures and street fashion.

I do have to admit, however, that this book is often brief in its descriptions. I had read more in-depth articles about specific topics beforehand, so this resource acted more as a supplementary, summarizing text rather than something that provided the particular details I needed. But I still believe Fashioning Japanese Subcultures is a great resource to use to introduce one's self into the toipc.

[Brimmer Morrison · Rating 4 out of 5]

As a scholar of Japanese subcultures this book is an AMAZING intro to all major fashion subcultures in Japan but it is really a short analysis that sometimes jumps to conclusions that can be argued easily. Great detail in a few of the subcultures, just not as comprehensive as I would like.

[Arnika · Rating 4 out of 5]

Pretty good as a general overview but it doesn’t go hugely in depth about each style. Still, a useful work which makes some good connections to various sociological ideas and issues of the times.

[Catie · Rating 3 out of 5]

A good introduction to the topic of Japanese subcultures, but also lacking in some aspects. The book is much too slim to offer more than a brief look at Japanese subcultures as a whole, and would have benefitted from being longer. It gives an interesting look at how Japanese subcultures have come into existence and developed. However, at some points it didn't seem very well researched, and a handful of parts were almost cringe-worthy (for example, when talking about Lolita fashion, Kawamura at one point uses the word "cosplay" in describing it, when in reality most wearers of the fashion highly object to it being referred to as cosplay). A longer book could have given Kawamura more time to explore these subcultures on a deeper level. It also could have even given her the chance to talk more about subcultures that have played a major role in shaping the subcultural scene of Japan, such as Visual Kei and Decora (both of which were barely mentioned, despite their importance in Japanese subcultural fashion history). It's shorter length can leave the reader wanting to know more, but for a introduction to the topic this book is decent.

[Rebecca · Rating 4 out of 5]

It's more of a general social study on how subcultures come into existence (of course, mostly about Japanese youth fashion - but with a lot of parallels to the punk movement of the 1970s) and move along, than a book that goes into a deep study of each specific subculture. That, however, it does very well.

[Colleen · Rating 3 out of 5]

Great introductory overview of modern-day Japanese subcultures for someone just learning about Japanese fashion. Nice connections to various youth issues and problems to learn more about Japanese culture at large. However, it is rather introductory and doesn't go as deep as some may like.

[fiction.prescription · Rating 1 out of 5]

I thought I'd really enjoy this book, the cover looked really cool, but it didn't seem thoroughly researched. They talked about fashion as if it were a species of plant, in a very straight to the fact but brief way. I found it really boring.

[Meg · Rating 2 out of 5]

a bit slim, more of an introduction to many of the subcultures. Although I did appreciate the focus being more on women/girls as fashion drivers. I wanted... more.