Right, so we talked about the Ganguro look, the Japanese fad of the ’90s. The look that replaced it is called the Gothic Lolita style, sometimes called Loli-Goth.

  Teenage girls mostly dress in the Loli-Goth style. The idea of the look is to wear frilly clothes that mimic the look of a Victorian era doll. (Because everyone would like to be an emotionless porcelain doll that collects dust.)

Gothic Lolita has been around for a while, but it first picked up with the entrance of visual bands in Japan. Visual bands are musicians who wear elaborate costumes and almost “act” out their music. To this hour I’m still trying to figure out what that means. Popular visual bands include Malice Mizer and X Japan. These boys weren’t beyond cross dressing, although it sorta defeated the point if you ask me. The Loli-Goth look became more mainstream around 1998.

The Loli-Goth look hit full-blown culture status in 2001 when hordes of stores and boutiques were opened to cater to this teenage group. Baby, The Stars Shine Bright is a good example of these copious stores. Really, you have to applaud the Japanese. They don’t bat an eye at what the teenage group is doing ‘for attention’, they just open up stores to economize on these strange fads.

So what does the Loli-Goth look, look like? Well they usually wear black clothes with white accents. They wear skirts which are usually knee length and have a petticoat to give them more volume. Trim, lace and ribbon are used as accents for the entire outfit. Then they wear over knee stockings or black tights, and black shoes. These shoes usually have one strap and have thick heels. (Not high heels, thick heels. The entire shoe has a heel that can be several inches thick, I can’t imagine trying to walk in those.) Frilly or ruffled blouses are commonly worn on top. Some additions include Alice in wonderland type aprons, lace headpieces, gloves, dolls, teddy bears, parasols and small top hats. Compared to the Ganguro look makeup is used sparingly. The best way to describe this look is to wear clothes that make you look as young as possible. A weird goal, although the clothes are pretty cute.

Why do they dress like this? A combination of two reasons. Again, they like the attention. (This desire fails about 90 percent of the time because all of Japan is so used to the style they no longer respond to the weirdo outfits.) Secondly, they want to dress up and feel elegant, pushing off the pressure of school, sports and clubs. Yeah, so getting a job to fund the insanely expensive clothes doesn’t add to that workload.

And that is the elegant childishness of the Gothic Lolita look! Thanks for dropping by.

Guys you have no idea how long I have wanted to rip into this topic. That’s right, today I’ll be writing about anime. Buwahahah be afraid.

Now I’ll admit, I’m a video game girl so I’m impartial to video gamers, but honestly some anime fans make me want to insert my head in a door frame and slam the door repeatedly. To begin with, DO NOT CAPITALIZE THE WORD anime. Do we say “Hey let’s watch a Movie”?? NO! SO DON’T CAPITALIZE IT!

Okay my pet peeves aside, anime is an animated form of entertainment that is very popular in Japan. It’s basically animated TV shows that are aired on television. Dozens of new shows and new seasons are release yearly. The target audience for a show can vary, but a lot of shows are aimed at the teenager through the twentysomethings crowds. Only a couple shows are selected to be English dubbed every year, but a lot of bilingual fans will translate the shows, insert subtitles and then release them on the Internet.

So you know what anime is, so what are the stories like? To make things more interesting I’ll list for you the bias that an anime fan would have if they believed everything they saw in the shows. (And I did a lot of extensive research on this!) So here we go. If an anime fan believed everything they saw they would think: giant robots freely roam the earth; the world will end in the year 2020; the world already ended in the year 2000; clumsy, stupid girls make the perfect candidates to save the world; in every school in Japan there is at least one magic girl with a five minute transformation scene; changing your clothes in Japan to that of something magical will make everyone think you’re a different person; Japan just happens to be a mega-center for all sorts of human/demon things who want to take over the earth; in every classroom you have the typical stupid girl, smart girl, hott girl and athletic girl; swords/katanas will always beat guns; ninjas, who are supposed to sneak around, will either be faceless or wear bright jumpsuits; normal people can jump in the air and hover for a while before picturesquely falling back to earth without breaking a leg; all high school students in a sport can defy the laws of physics and the most needy/emotionally stunted guy will always get the girl.

Whew. I think I described an aspect of almost every anime. Or at least a great portion of them. That’s all for today, class dismissed!

America has the mob, Japan has ninjas, right? WRONG. Once again I, Japan Fan, plan to inform you about the Japanese mafia, the yakuza.

The yakuza is the term used to describe the organized crime gangs. The Japanese people sometimes refer to them, literately, as “violence groups”. The yakuza take offense to this because it can be applied to any violent criminal. (Because you know…the yakuza aren’t violent or anything. Pft, yeah.) Today the yakuza is one of the largest crime organizations in the world.

Historians believe that the yakuza were first started back in the 17th century. There’s several theories about what group they come from. One of the theories is that they’re from the machi-yokko. Back then the machi-yokko were hailed as heros because they protected the villages from the hatamoto-yokko. (Other historians think that the yukaza were derived from the hatamoto-yokko. Soooo they were either good guys or bad guys in the beginning.)

The yakuza are hard to characterize. Generally the lower yakuza members will wear wind suits. (Weird? Yes. Lame? Yes. I don’t get where this rule came from, and I can’t find any web page that explains why.) A lot of yakuza/yankee activities can be seen in the Japanese movie, Kamikaze Girls. It’s a fabulous comedy that I highly recommend.

Some of the rituals (and I use that term loosely) of the yakuza are: Yubitsume (finger cutting, how traditional) Oyabun (when an underboss would take the punishment of one of his men.) Irezume (tattoos, but the yakuza take it to a whole new level and get full blown pictures injected into their back) and then there’s a sake sharing ritual which seals bonds between two yakuza men, or two yakuza groups.

Well there you go. Hopefully I’ve convinced you not to go run out and join the yakuza, but if you’re determined to join them you had better look good in a wind suit.

Aren’t they gorgeous??

Japan Fan here with another topic that, like toliets, appears to be normal, but is NOT. Today I bring to you, Japanese vending machines.

The first vending machine in Japan was made out of wood and sold stamps and post cards. Japanese vending machines first hit it big when the 100 yen coin came into distribution in 1967.Japanese vending machines are famous for selling whacky and weird things. Run out of eggs? No prob. Run down to the nearest vending machine. Seriously, no joke. There are vending machines that sell: eggs, umbrellas, name card printers, bets for horse races, hot ramen, popcorn, rice, phone recharging stations, cigarettes, fishing bait, toliet paper, (to go with those toilet paper-less new fangled toilets) flowers, subway tickets, flight insurance, fried food, liquor, cameras, film, recycling machines, porn, underwear, bras, ice cream, beetles and dry ice. WHEW.

There have actually been lawsuits over Japanese vending machines. (Some sick guys set up vending machines that supposedly supplied underwear that were used by high school girls. The police tried to arrest them but couldn’t find any law against it so they finally made them shut down the vending machines by saying they had no proof the product was actually at one point used by high school girls, thus lying to their customers.)

Japan actually has so many vending machines it is estimated that there is one vending machine for every 23 people. Keep in mind Japan has over 100 million people. That’s a lot of vending machines.

Well, that’s Japanese vending machines 101! You can find more pictures and even weirder things sold in vending machines if you google “Japanese vending machines” Happy trails!

Okay. So far we’ve talked about toilets, the arts and the language. What’s next? Fashion!!

Today we’ll take a look at the infamous Ganguro style! It was a fashion popular with Japanese girls in the ’90s.

A Ganguro girl would fake bake her way to extremely tan skin year round. (Usually an attractive shade of pumpkin color, and might I add: skin cancer by age 30?) Next they would bleach their hair to a blonde/orange/silver color. (Perfect match with the orange-ish skin.) Some of the girls would buy blue colored contacts, and to finish this eye catching look a Ganguro girl would wear pastel eye shadow, silver pink lipstick and plastic sticky jewels on her face. The amount of make up varied from girl to girl, depending how devote they were to the style. The extremists would wear the make up almost like face paint. (Looking at them you could mistake them as a Broadway actress in costume or some sort of tanned clown.)

In addition to their interesting facial make up, these girls often wore bright colors, platform shoes and a lot of rings and bracelets. They also used a lot of slang and were generally portrayed negatively by the media. (Many Japanese books have the main female character picked on by clownish looking Ganguro girls.)

The Ganguro girls were generally fans of hip hop and attracted attention to themselves (because really who could miss a fake baked clown sitting next to them?) because they thought it was the ultimate way of self expression. They adopted this fashion for the attention. This style is now rarely seen and has been replaced with the “Goth Lolita” look, which we’ll examine later.

This is probably the only picture on the internet where a Japanese girl is not doing the traditional “V” or peace sign pose.

Konnichwa readers! (Good afternoon)

Japan Fan here with another delightful topic about the Japanese culture: toilets. Yes, be alarmed and be afraid; Japanese toilets are weird looking and difficult to operate.

Scary looking huh? I’m not going to go into detail about using these babies, but to answer your question yes, yes you do squat over the toilet as you go. (And we wonder why the Japanese are so athletic.)

One thing to remember is that a lot of the public bathrooms do not have toilet paper. Oh joy. However a common practice in Japan is to have girls standing on street corners promoting a business/product by handing out small packets of tissues. Yep, you get to use those instead of toilet paper, so try to keep some handy at all times.

If you are using the bathroom in a Japanese home you’ll probably see several pairs of slippers inside the bathroom. Yes, you should use those to walk to two feet to the toilet. It’s a Japanese custom/way of culture that I’ll get into later.

However, don’t freak out TOO much about the toilets. Western style toilets are the norm in houses/apartment buildings, and even in the cities a good portion of the bathrooms have both kinds of toilets. (Most of the hotels use western toilets)

BUT be careful when using any toilet in Japan. Japan, the electronic capital of the world, lives up to its name by having electronic toilets that will self-wash and do pretty much anything a maid can do. Be careful when pressing the buttons or you’ll get yourself sprayed with water or cleaner. The directions for the high tech toilets will most likely be in Japanese, so you may want to ask for help if you’re unsure about what button to press. (Better to be safe then sprayed.)

That’s all for today, happy toilet trails!

Hello readers! JapanFan here with another Japanese artistic topic, music!

The Japanese shamisen, or sangen, is a three stringed musical instrument played with a bachi, also called a plectorum in English. (Kind of like a big, BIG guitar pick.) A shamisen is about the same length as a guitar, but it has no frets, and it’s body looks suspiciously similar to a drum. The drum like body is, sad to say, made of cat or dog skin, although in the past they were made of paper. (Japan is probably one of the only countries in the world where you can play your pet.) The strings are generally made of silk or nylon, and the bachies used to be made with ivory and tortoise shell, but now are generally constructed out of wood.

The shamisen can be played alone, with other shamisen, or with an ensemble of traditional Japanese instruments. Both men and women traditionally play the shamisen. Shamisen are used with kabuki, but they are most widely known for their part in Bunraku, a puppet type theater which involves three puppeteers per puppet, and a narrator who is accompanied by a shamisen.

Additionally in the 19th century female players carried on in a concert tradition, and around 1900 blind shamisen players (as well as shamisen players who could see) created a new style of playing. This new style was based on traditional folk tales, but involved a lot of impromptu playing as well as fancy fingerwork. Here’s a Youtube Video of two Shamisen players.

In the 20th century Shamisen were used to play non-traditional music, like blue grass. Yes, yes Japan has also been infected with country music.

That’s a brief blurb about the Shamisen! It is hoped that you will be able to better appreciate this beautiful Japanese instrument. (Even when it was used for country music.)

Hello readers, Japan fan here with another topic about Japan!

So Japan doesn’t have Broadway or Shakespeare, what does it have? It has Kabuki!

Kabuki started in 1603 by a miko, or priestess, named Okuni. She began to perform dances and dramas in dry riverbeds in Kyoto. It became immensely popular and more females began to perform with Okuni. They were cast as both male and female characters. However, soon the women began to attract too much attention, the wrong kind of attention. (Go figure huh?) So women were banned from performing in 1629. (Because of course that was the only way to protect them. Yeah, right.)

Young men took over the roles of Kabuki actors, and they placed an emphasis on drama rather than dance. The young men played both male and female parts. Because their voices were higher pitched they were easily able to carry out both roles. But will wonders never cease!! Soon these handsome young men also began to attract the wrong kinds of attention, and sometimes brawls would break out. So in 1653 the Shogunate ruled that adult males only could act in Kabuki. (I bet that made for some REALLY ugly female leads.)

Because adult males were all of the characters, Kabuki took on more of a sophisticated, comedic style of drama. Eventually this kind of Kabuki died out, especially when onnagata danced onto the secene. Onnagata were men who covered themselves in so much makeup and clothes they could truly fool the audiences into thinking they were female. (That must have taken a lot of makeup.)

Behold, the astonishing transformation from middle aged man to a…beauty?

From 1673-1735 Kabuki thrived. During this period Kabuki was officially stylized and several great Kabuki writers lived, releasing many influential works. Around 1750 Kabuki fell out of favor.

However, just as it survived through husky voiced males pretending to be pretty girls, Kabuki was once again revived around 1868, the time of the Meiji restoration. This time the Kabuki Theaters targeted the upper class, and occasionally a Kabuki drama was performed for the Emperor Meiji.

Kabuki took a hit after World War II when times were tough for all of Japan. But Kabuki is considered to be moderately popular today. There are a handful of large theaters in the major cities, and women have once again been welcomed back into the theater. (After World War II an all female troupe was formed, they are still around today.)

Additionally Kabuki has spread West. Kabuki troupes tour through America and Europe, and in addition to performing Japanese drams they will perform adapted versions of Shakespeare as well! (Imagine Romeo the playboy in a kimono!)

That’s a basic history of the Kabuki Theater! Look forward to more information about Kabuki dramas in upcoming posts!

Population: approximately 127.4 million

Capital: Tokyo

Language: Japanese

Location: Japan is an archipelago of roughly 3,000 islands. It rests on the East side of China and Korea. (I HOPE you know where Japan is.)

Climate: Japan is mostly temperate, but there is a large difference in temperatures between the north and south islands. (Yes, yes, yes, I KNOW the north Island of Hokkaido gets snow!)

History: The famous Japanese imperial court began some time in the 8^th century. In the 700s Japan mostly copied Chinese government and art, but around 794 true Japanese culture began to emerge.

Then came the feudal era, in which Japan was ruled by the warrior class, the samurai. Additionally, Mongols attempted to invade Japan in 1274 and 1281, but they were repelled by gargantuan typhoons both times.

In 1854 Commodore Perry of the US Navy forced Japan to open it’s shores to trade. Shortly after Emperor Meiji ascended to the throne, and was used by a group of world changing men to radically change Japan.

Japan became westernized by these men, who decided to keep Japan alive by adopting the ways of the westerners. It became the most powerful Asian country, and in 1937 invaded China. It continued to attack, eventually joining in World War II, and dragged America in as well by attacking Pearl Harbor on Dec. 7, 1941.

Japan lost to America after two atomic bombs were dropped on its land. American soldiers created a constitution for Japan, which is still in use today. Japan has no real army as part of the post-war agreement, but it has one of the largest economies in the world.

Listen up peeps, Japan Fan here! Today we’ll be discussing the written language of Japan. Now Japan has three (technically four) systems that they use to write: Hirigana, Katakana, and Kanji. (the fourth system is Romanji which is mentioned lower in the post.) They do this because they are evil Japan is all about the mixing of cultures. (You’ll get this further down.)

Hirigana is the first and most basic system. It has 46 basic characters with 46 syllables. There are an additional 23 syllables that can be made using some of the same characters, but instead you add quotations on the right side of the character.

Now the thing about both Hirigana and Katakana is that the characters/symbols used actually represent what would be 2 American letters. For instance the hirigana character ‘ki’ is き, if you add two quotes to the right, like this ぎ it instead represents the letters ‘gi’. Katakana is the same way. Every symbol is a consonance x vowel pattern. Pretty simple and straight forward. Why on earth they couldn’t have just this system, I don’t know.

Katakana has the same idea as Hirigana. 46 characters, 23 additional syllables/sounds that can be made with adding quotes. The exact same sound patterns can be made with Katakana, the only thing is that the characters are different. Why do they have a second writing system that expresses everything the same way? Because Katakana is used to write out all things that aren’t Japanese. For instance, the word ‘computer’, is spelled in katakana. My name would also be spelled in Katakana since I am American. It is noteable that no matter how big of a Japan geek you are, if you are not from Japan YOUR NAME WOULD BE SPELLED IN KATAKANA AS WELL! I don’t care if you have a distant strain of Japanese blood. Not from Japan = written in Katakana.

The final writing system is called Kanji. It actually originated in China, although the Japanese have changed the characters/symbols to suit themselves over time. There are over a hundred thousand kanji symbols because kanji are used to represent things. every item (like dog, or book) adjective (like fun, or pretty) and verb (like to go, to shave, to put on makeup) all have their own Kanji or a combination of Kanji are used to construct the words. Kanji can be extremely simple, consisting of one line, or incredibly difficult with up to as many as 26 strokes/lines. The tricky thing about Kanji symbols is that many of them have up to 4 or more consonance x vowel patterns assigned to them, although they have the same basic meaning. It’s just another way for you to screw up and make a moron out of yourself in Japan.

Here is an example of the same word written in all three writing styles. The word, in English letters, is ‘genki’, and it means to be healthy, or good/fine.

げんき: genki in Hirigana

元気: genki in Kanji symbols

ゲンキ: genki in Katakana (And yes annoying perfectionist, normally genki wouldn’t be written in Katakana. However, for this demonstration I made the exception.)

The final/not really type of writing in Japanese is Romanji. It’s basically writing in Japanese but you use English letters. (Like just writing ‘genki’ instead of using a language system.)

And that’s the ‘basics’ of writing in Japanese. For any poor sucker who wants to know more, good luck.