Birthday and Fashion

I think I have the current Japanese young women's fashion "look" down to a formula:

- Girly (frills, lace, charms, etc.)
- Large body (no form-fitting top half stuff)
- Skinny legs (leggings, tights, skinny jeans, knee-highs, etc.)
- Heels or boots
- Accessories such as scarves and headbands a must
- Bags must be larger handbags, name brand preferable
- Nothing has to match as far as color or print, but must be in a genre -- hippie, chic, feminine, punky, etc.

I've seen a handful of native girls break these guidelines. I saw two girls wearing sneakers today, and one with a backpack. All the other girls generally followed this "look." When I first got here, I thought all the girls had great style and were unique. Yet after a few days, the conformity began to show. It exists in America, too, but differently. Here, I don't think anyone has the exact same piece of clothing -- there are so many little corner shops and boutiques that girls can find cute things no one else has -- but the style is the same. In America, you can generally look at a pair of jeans or a top and get an idea of where it was purchased. A lot of girls have the same items of clothing, but it is how the items are worn is where girls express their individual style. If that makes sense at all.

Examples of Japanese fashion:

Tights, heels, baggy dress, trench


Baggy dress, trench, heels


Baggy top halves, boots, heels, leggings


Boots, flats, leggings, shorts


Baggy dress, trench, tights, boots, large bag


Even the guys have name-brand man purses


Baggy shirt, skinny jeans, heels, big bag

Oh and YESTERDAY was my birthday, since it was the 13th of April in Japan. We went to a little Italian restaurant by the train station to eat dinner, and I got a apple pie marble cake thing too!

Happy 21st birthday to me!

Still no luck with classes. I went to a really interesting anthropology class dedicated to studying the use of keitai, but I have no anthro background and my Japanese speaking skills are lacking so I can't take the course. It was suggested I take Modern Japanese Lit and Comparative History, but I can't find out about those classes until Thursday. I'm not sure what classes I'll end up going to tomorrow other than Japanese.

I'll start posting about the dorm, my daily commute, and the campus soon.