If there is one thing that you can say about the Japanese with a full concensus is that they do have a sense of fashion, and a very unique sense of fashion it is. I am not a fashion fan myself, but even I was curious to see what I will find on the streets of Tokyo, what visual delights await me.

The Tokyo fashion legend started as part of the rebellion against the non-fashion of the salary men lifestyle, with the uniformed suits and hairstyle, with the famous robotic mass indoctrination to fit in and be the same as everybody else at all cost.

As a response, as a counter action to this lifestyle, the youth started being more and more flamboyant and crazy just to show they can, to show they don’t belong to the game, and if in other places the punk movement  was the part of the almost homeless and the unemployed angry youth, in japan it was a visual playtime for the rich and spoiled, allowing the fashion to be more elaborate and perfectly designed no matter how rebellious or punk it is.

One of things that I was waiting for was the cosplay culture, the sophisticated costumes ranging from manga characters through superheroes and lady warriors to the doll like steampunkish tea parties, a play time for adults, or almost adults, which took the old tying the table map around your neck as a cape to a whole new level.

It did bring a smile to my face as they passed me down the street but I was a little disappointed as most of the costumes I saw were store bought, which kind of takes away some of the ‘oh look  what a unique and interesting individual I am’ concept. But maybe it is just me, maybe today our personality is really what we buy, and our choice of purchase is our rebellion. Or maybe it is just what japan really is. Probably .