Fashion report from Tokyo: The unbearable cuteness of being

Our earliest memories of anything Japanese are not pristinely raked Zen gardens, or impeccably kimonoed geishas, as the elegantly understated art and cultural center would want to be remembered by. Not even mini-skirted dancers doing a ’60s three-graces act for a Caronia nail polish commercial or walastik men with perfectly pomaded Tancho Tique hair during the psychedelic days. It would have to be those tiny twin shobijin fairies in royal Balinese sarongs and crowns coming out of a pumpkin carriage to sing Mosura Ya to the beat of ceremonial drums from their South Pacific island empire, summoning Mothra, the winged guardian of their ancient civilization, to save them from a world where "people have forgotten kindness and whose spirits fall to ruin." (They were kidnapped by scientists and were made into a nightclub act in the city.) You don’t know how mesmerized we were by that scene every time they played the movie Mothra on TV and what a joy it was to hear the song again recently on an Internet website! They were the cutest things. And of course, they were Japanese!

The minute you land in Tokyo, kawaii, or cuteness, is ready to assault you. It’s everywhere, from the immigration officer’s pen with a bouncing mini coiled Pokemon cover to Hello Kitty cellphone charms and bag tags dangling merrily away in unison as children and office girls march past the subway turnstiles. Even the police force has a mascot!

Kawaii is becoming Japan’s global image and a prime export, overshadowing its more serious products like electronics and cars. Just look at all the Japanese or knock-off kawaii gewgaws, video games and gadgets flooding the malls and tiangges. It’s a fashion element that has invaded even the hallowed halls of luxury brands like Louis Vuitton, where Japanese artist Murakami’s cute illustrations add a giggle to Daimler patterns and LV monograms. In Japan, of course, kawaii is every Nihonjin girl’s raison d’etre, the stuff of her dreams which occupy her waking hours as she shops for them and enjoys wearing or using them. Every self-respecting Shibuya or Harajuku girl will sigh at the sight of the smallest cell phone with the tiniest little things embellishing them. Even regimented school uniforms are made cute with accessories like tiny little bows on their collars or loose socks that have to be glued into place for that precarious, vulnerable look. And to make their boyfriends cuter? They pluck their eyebrows to a pencil-thin arch and varnish their nails blood red!

"It’s the exclamation from the soul of Japan’s younger generation, much like ‘soul’ or La Raza, says Yutaka Onishi, editor of CanCam, the 650,000-circulation magazine responsible for propelling to stardom Japan’s foremost epitome of cuteness, the model-cum-actress Yubi Ebihara – a petite girl, naturally – dressed in lacy pastel dresses which become instant sell-outs after she wears them for a cover. Miss Ebihara, who graces numerous TV ads and billboards, takes her role seriously: "I make it a point never to forget to smile. If someone doesn’t find me cute, I want to know why, because then I’ll work on it to get better at being cute."

And Yuri is no role model for nothing. Every weekend, armies of young girls work hard at being cute in the shopping and nightlife centers of Shibuya, Ikebukuro and Harajuku. Tribes have developed, dictated by certain looks and idiosyncrasies but all striving for that most desirable quality of kawaii-ness. After you are literally caught in the wave of humanity crossing the main intersection of Shibuya, the men in black and office girls in beige turn into nocturnal creatures with the darkest tans, the blondest hair and the whitest eye shadow – all achieved by chemicals and the latest in science.

Welcome the Ganguros (derived from "black face"), actually around since the heyday of rap in the late ’90s but still in Shibuya and Ikebukuro, and evolving thanks to die-hards and arriviste country girls who are just catching on. They are actually an outgrowth of chapatsu, the once rebellious trend of bleaching and dyeing hair to accentuate overtanned skin as a challenge to conventional norms of beauty. Eyeliner is both white and black panda-style, with layers of false eyelashes, platform sandals or boots, and brightly colored outfits – miniskirts, tie-dyed sarongs, hibiscus flower hairpins and lots of rings, necklaces and bracelets. Their cell phones are usually covered with purikura stickers, the ones composed at Foto-me booths with added computer graphics. Ganguro gals are generally known to be easygoing girls who do not study hard in school, do not pursue athletics or traditional artistic goals. The style, claim academicians, may be a form of self-expression in opposition to conservative mores: Overtanning does cause lifelong skin damage, thereby showing an utter disregard for the future.

Kogals (from kokosei or high school student plus gal) are similar to the ganguros but are much more conspicuous in their consumption of signature goods, much like the California Valley Girls, having sun-kissed tans and their own slang terms. Platform boots, miniskirts, copious amounts of makeup, hair coloring (yellow or brown), artificial suntans and designer accessories like Burberry scarves and LV handbags are de rigueur. In school, skirts are pinned very high and socks are baggy up to the knee. Their busy social lives make them the prime customers of new cellphone technology and they spend most of their free time shopping for new party outfits with Daddy’s income.

Perhaps the most kawaii of Tokyo’s tribes are the ubiquitous Lolitas, with a large concentration seen in Harajuku, but spotted everywhere nowadays. Lolitas dress in clothes that are childlike (like pastel pinafores or formless dresses) yet elegant in their attention to detail. Aside from the dress and accessories, the physical posturing is important for this look, so you see Lolitas standing pigeon-toed and scrunched up to seem smaller, making the child fantasy more real. You could even almost hear them making baby talk. Although it can be tempting to compare them to the Nabokov character because of the simultaneous emphasis on childlike innocence and adult-like elegance, their way of dressing has no sexual undertones. Both men and women point out that they do not find Lolita fashion in general to be sexually attractive and Lolitas can in fact be shunned socially and even be dumped by boyfriends because of their adherence to this look.

A substyle of Lolita fashion is the Gothic Lolita. Also harking back to old times, Gothic Lolita is inspired by Victorian clothing, particularly the ones for mourning. The colors are generally black, sometimes black and white, and occasionally with a bit of red. It can be a French maid-meets-Alice in Wonderland fantasy. Knee-length skirts and frills make it girly, but materials like velvet and brocade make it more grown-up and serious. The Gothic notions of the West are not operational, though. There is nothing morbid as a reference, since the look is done with an elegant slant and kawaii is still a major factor in the final ensemble. In fact, this look was exploited in a popular Maid Café, where waitresses don maid outfits and greet customers by squeaking, "Welcome home, master!" Customers spend about $90 a visit for a chance to take photos and play games with the "maids," who are considered extremely kawaii.

Also in the child-fantasy category is Decora, identifiable through the use of toys as accessories to create an aura of playfulness and childhood. The toys are very colorful, blink, and make noise. The clothes are simple, with the aim being to decorate oneself as excessively as possible. Shoes are often oversized and shirts are very tight. Hair is usually pink, blonde or auburn and worn in pigtails or curled. Instead of makeup, they use cute stickers or paint flowers and smiley faces on their cheeks, often adorned with glitter.

British influence marks yet another fashion tribe, particularly with its punk style characterized by leather, studs and shredded tartans – definitely more adult and sexier than the Lolitas. Of course, the original anger that the British punks had is missing here, so instead of glue-sniffing, snarling punks, you see drug-free, polite ones happily posing for tourists.

Military style is also a major force, but it is more of the American variety than that of the Japanese. It’s often incorporated into punk style. Military jackets, epaulets and camouflage prints predominate, but of course chains, jewels, and other accessories are added to soften and enrich the look. In its extreme transmutation, lace embroidery, crinolines and petticoats are added to the military elements.

Wamono is a deconstruction and reinterpretation of traditional Japanese style utilizing kimonos, obi, geta sandals, and other accessories in conjunction with Western clothing. This is an easy style as Japanese clothing is still very much in use, with fabulous weaves of kimonos and obis still being produced and sold everywhere, not to mention vintage ones found in shops and flea markets. As always, the look is tweaked in a girly way or sometimes together with the other styles mentioned.

In fact, a lot of the kawaii "soldiers" at Harajuku juxtaposed so many styles in one outfit, but all with the goal of looking pleasing and cute. Kawaii has actually morphed into many incarnations, with even housewives appropriating the look as erokawa, or cute but sexy. Jun Takahashi of Undercover has taken the international catwalks by storm with his kurai kawai, a dark but cute style. The seeds of all these kawaii transmutations are still among the teenagers in the street "laboratories," many of whom make their own clothes and produce such fresh, bizarre combinations. Their greatest joy is to pose for the camera, a validation of their look as being acceptable and worthy of a photo-op among the largely foreign audience.

Developing practically independent of or as a reaction to mainstream fashion, kawaii fashion could very well be the fashion of tomorrow, says Nobuyoshi Kurita, sociology professor at Musashi University in Tokyo: "Where cute goes determines the future of Japan," he said, adding that Japan’s cute offerings may one day command the respect of luxury goods from Europe. "If it succeeds, Japan’s future will be bright. If it doesn’t, then Japan may disappear."

After having a saccharine overdose from seeing one Lolita too many, we retreated to the more sober Takashimaya department store in Shinjuku, where the scent of familiar cosmetics and perfumes greeted us at the entrance and no one below 30 years old was in sight.

Just as we turned a marble and bronze ormulu corner toward the elevator, lo and behold, what did we see? A mascot! And beside it, the elevator door opened to reveal the mascot’s live version of the Takashimaya elevator girl, also in royal blue but without the blond hair and blue eyes and with a sumptuous corsage pinned on her lapel to signify that, yes, every day is an important occasion – for her to greet you and guide you to every floor’s shopping adventures. Just as she leads you into the elevator, reciting her welcome like the trill of a bird, another girl stands outside in front of the doors to give a final greeting, starting with her welcoming arms wide apart, then ending with the lowest bow as her palms come together in unison with the closing of the doors to send you on your merry shopping way. Is this too much kawaii to bear or what? They were almost like Mothra’s twin shobijin fairies singing a song of love in a world where "people have forgotten kindness and whose spirits fall to ruin." It was definitely a trip back to childhood and the most delightful shopping evening we’ve ever had in a long time!