Cosplay

The Japanese commitment to fashion is impressive. Whether it's middle-aged woman in a plain, Sunday kimono, a slicked-back silver-haired salary man in an immaculate grey blue suit or a teenage girl in Gothic Lolita outfit, each takes meticulous care to present their 'uniform' to society.

Uniforms of various sorts feature throughout the 12 months of the Setsu album: junior high kids and office ladies (On your bike, May); the salary man (Setsu, September); the Happi coats of the danjiri festival (Harvest, November); bleach-blonde, glitter-sparkles on a mascara-caked Yankie girl (Yankie girl, July); and most obviously here in December in Cosplay, with our protaganist, the Black Lolita, her friend Takako, White Lolita. As well, in the 'dream sequence' middle section, you've got Visual Kei, Ganguro and Punk kids hanging out in Harajuku.

This post on Japan Talk gives a pretty good overview (including some great photos) of the feeling a lot of westerners have when they get to Japan: everyone is wearing a uniform. It does miss a couple of my personal favourites however: the 'safety guy' at road works sites in faux 19th Century military uniform, complete with epaulets and hat, waving a glowing truncheon to ensure no-one falls into a cordoned-off ditch; and the construction workers with massively flared pants that must result in at least three construction deaths a year.

Cosuplay pays homage to the uniform spirit. The particular story I ended up with is two young girls who do the proper thing from Monday - Saturday at school but, despite the fact their local shotengai (shopping mall) is about as far from Harajuku as it gets, spend each Sunday dressing up and shocking the locals, no matter what the season.

Next post: musical notes on Cosuplay.