Japanese Alternative Fashion's Journal (original) (raw)

Hey everyone, I just found this community and figured I'd introduce myself.

Name: Richard

Location: Osaka, Japan

Favorite brands/clothing style: h.NAOTO/h.ANARCHY, BA-TSU, FÖTUS, Richard's (though I've only found the one store on Takeshita-dori in Harajuku, but I really liked the designs they had there... also bonus points for the cool name. ;P)

Favorite bands: +D'espairsRay+, Kagrra, Dir en grey, Gackt, Pierrot, Psycho le Cemu, Miyavi, Amaterase, Inugami Circus-dan, etc.

I've been to Tokyo/Yokohama a few times over the past few years (most recently this April/May), and really enjoyed visiting the fashion stores in Harajuku, Shinjuku, etc.

When I found out my university only had an exchange program with Osaka, I was a little upset, and worried that I wouldn't be able to find as much of a 'scene' there as the one in Tokyo. However, I was totally wrong, and have found plenty of awesome stores here, so for any who plan to visit Osaka or are planning to live here (for school, work, etc.), let me know, and I'd be more than happy to help you find the stores for your favorite brands here.

Being male, I'm not as much of a 'lolita' fan, but there is definately a big 'Gothic/Lolita/Visual' fashion scene here, comparable to the one in Harajuku, specifically in America-Mura in Shinsaibashi, which is a part of 'South' Osaka.

Just last weekend, I bought a FÖTUS hoodie for 5800 yen in Shinsaibashi, and was surprised to find a BA-TSU school girl uniform from the first Battle Royale movie for about 30,000 yen (I didn't buy that of course, as I don't think a skirt would look very flattering on me).

I also managed to find the Battle Royale II fatigues (jacket an pants) on sale at the 'BA-TSU Styling Room' in Hep 5, Umeda ('North' Osaka) for under 10,000-yen, so I did end up picking that up while I was out. ^^;

This past weekend, my friend withinity took me to the new h.NAOTO store they built behind Big Step in America-Mura, which was just incredible. It's two stories, and a lot bigger than the one in Laforet that's in Harajuku (that's the only one I've visited to compare it to)... I was overwhelmed by all the outfits there, and was tempted to burn a hole in my wallet, but decided it was more important to have train fare home, of course. ^^;

They were also having some kind of a 'Winter Sale' where you get a free h.NAOTO gift (I think it was a daily planner or something) if you bought one of the new coats they were selling.

Anyway, I look forward to meeting new people, and hope to learn more about Japanese fashion while I'm on here. I'm glad to have found a community like this, so hopefully I can contribute my findings in Osaka from time to time.

-Rich