Dateline: Japan. This reporter has long been keeping an eye on the ever-changing fads of Japanese fashion. In the nineties there was the so-baggy-that-they-look-like-they're-going-to-fall-down socks fad; there was the attach-tiny-stuffed-animals-to-backpacks-or-purses fad; and the that-was-cute-so-let's-stuff-tiny-ACTUAL-animals-into-backpacks-and-purses fad.
After that came the real-animals-are-messy-when-they're-in-a-backpack-or-purse-so-let's-carry-digital-devices-that-ACT-like-real-pets fad. There was the hire-a-dressing-room-to-change-from-boring-daywear-to-weird-and-complicated-nightwear fad; the tiny-logos-on-knee-high-socks fad; the Victorian-and-Goth fad; and, believe it or not, the immune-to-being-photographed-by-infrared-cameras panties fad.
I haven't seen examples of this latter fad in person, of course. Infrared cameras are really expensive. But I have seen examples of the newest Japanese fashion fad. Spurred presumably by the fashion sense of Japanese schoolgirls (who drive nearly all of Japan's various fads, followed shortly by housewives and middle-aged businessmen), this one involves dressing up to look almost exactly like those flappers from the Chicago or New York of the 1920s, complete with fringed dresses and tight, brim-less hats.
We were taking a tour cruise around Sasebo, Japan's famed 99 Islands (made famed by the opening shots in Tom Cruise's movie about the last samurai called, suspiciously enough, "The Last Samurai"). Despite the fact that the tour boat was crafted to look like a British galleon from the seventeenth century, and despite the fact that the 99 Islands were in Japan, and despite the fact that the day was skin-blisteringly hot (especially if you weren't wearing shoes, as I, on occasion, wasn't) I was almost certain that we were in the midst of an Agatha Christie novel. There were half a dozen Japanese schoolgirls wearing elbow-length gloves; tight, fringed black dresses; and head-hugging flapper hats.
There was another Japanese woman, perhaps in her late twenties, who was also wearing what we'll call "flapper gear." Hers was an elegant white. If Inspector Poirot had come up onto the deck, playing with his mustache and calling for us all to gather so that he could tell us who murdered the captain in the wheelhouse with the lead pipe, I wouldn't have been at all shocked. (I'm not entirely sure why I associate flappers with Agatha Christie mysteries, but I do).
Trying to track the course of Japanese fads has become almost a fad in itself. There are websites devoted to the task on the Internet (motto: Giving the Japanese Something to Do Since 1994), such as Wired Magazine's "Japanese Schoolgirl Watch" (www.wired.com -- which is where I found out about some of the fads listed above, such as the hire-able dressing rooms and the business with the infrared camera.
In Japan, there are magazines and books and "mooks" (a combination of "magazine" and "book" -- no, it's a real thing, not one of those words that I just made up, although I do sometimes do that) devoted to helping the fad-conscious Japanese person keep up with the latest trends in fashion, accessories, and activities.
But the fads change almost by the day. Today it's flapper gear. Tomorrow, perhaps WWII bomber attire, or silver "far future suits". Or maybe the fad will be toward carrying around tiny, robotic pets that take infrared pictures and wear baggy socks.
To predict what the next hot Japanese fashion trend will be would take the intellect of a Hercule Poirot.
As soon as I figure out where I left my backpack with the stuffed duck hanging from the zipper, I'll go look for him.
The author has been wandering around the Pacific, looking for the latest trend in fashion so that he can spend all of his money on it. He's back in the States now, but there are still plenty of stories to come from his time in Asia.
