What I've Been Into Recently; Reiwa Fashion Frustrations, Magazine Purchases, and Tons of Other Nostalgia

I mentioned in my last post how I've been super sick. Honestly, I'm crazy bummed out because I really had wanted to do some fun things over the Thanksgiving holiday but I suppose there always is Christmas. I totally lost my voice and my family has me quarantined in my room and it's been about a week and a day (not COVID, they just really don't want to get THIS SICK and for THIS LONG) so I've just been binging J-Dramas since I've stayed to myself and can't physically talk.

Risa recommended "Tomorrow I'll be Somebody's Girlfriend" which I decided to check out. I love a good josei and went as far as binging the manga it's based off of too. It's very modern about rental girlfriends and the environment of nightlife work in Tokyo in the Reiwa era. 

The usage of social media and the change in fashion from the point of someone who is still stuck loving Heisei gyaru really intrigued me. I feel like so much of things are based on men or being cute/pretty for the male gaze. So much of this drama frustrated me in that sense. I wanted the characters to value themselves more as women. Yes dating and needing love to "improve" yourself might have lead to confidence but I feel like love shouldn't be needed to find that type of confidence. I think that's really what frustrated me. I didn't hate this series but it certainly made me think about how vastly the mindset around being feminine and what for has changed and even how it has affected Reiwa Gyaru...

Not that gyaru weren't conscious of dating and the male gaze but I also felt like gyaru dressed for themselves. It wasn't being cute or pretty for the sake of love. They already long were gals beforehand and wanted to be impressive to their friends. There's just something about gyaru that usually goes into two categories. You have fun and sexy and then you have sexy and glamorous..and then cute/fun/glamorous. In all, gals always wanted a look that made people's heads turn and go, "I want to get to know that girl. I want to be friends with her. I want to date her." without a gyaru even intending for that attention. There was that desire to be the best version of yourself without someone else needing to change it. 

However, I do feel like as gyaru date or settle down, they try to change into their partner's ideal type sometimes, and change their whole aesthetic when honestly, they should just be accepted as they were. If you started dating a gyaru, then you fell in love with a gal, and should remain to know you'll be doing so and support it if that is what makes your partner happy. As someone hilariously wise once said, "This ain't build a bitch workshop" and that applies here. 

I feel like it's definitely affected how gyaru is now... 

I will say, the most recent Egg cover for winter 22/23 SUPER appeals to me. I actually love this cover but I'm wary about the contents inside of Egg because it's not the same magazine it used to be, I feel like the gals are being pushed into rapper/idol careers rather than actual charisma gals. I really wish they'd leave the music stuff to Avex and just collab with them/have the models make special appearances. I much rather see Kirei or Erika produce intricate clothing lines or see them in more makeup ads than "reality" TV shows and in cringe music videos. Let the gals be models. Let them slay Tokyo Girls Collection. Focus on pushing clothing/bring back brand loyalty so we can stop relying on Shein for dupes. -facepalms- Because I'd support boutique brands if they existed and didn't look and feel like they're coming from the same factories as AliExpress and Shein. 

Regardless of that, I MIGHT purchase the Fall/Winer Egg issue just because the covers actually look fucking good this time and I haven't seen a worthwhile cover in a hot fucking minute. Scared about the insides though! 

Anyway, outside of that, I've been doing a lot of shopping. I call it "stress shopping" because I window shop a lot when I get stressed or upset. But honestly, the more I buy and have, the pickier I'm becoming with my purchases. I bought a few magazines that are coming in soonish. I'm really excited for them. I have one Ageha set that I'm really looking forward to finally owning. Though, another fixation for me right now is very early 2000 Popteen. When I mean early 2000, I mean 2000, 2001, 2002. Maybe a little 2003 but there's something insanely fun and unique about the super early 2000s Popteen issues. I really enjoyed the issue I bought recently with Hiroko Anzai on the cover, so I bought more. 

I shared a picture of one of the issues I purchased on Instagram. It's a September 2001 issue, and people lost their fucking mind over the cover. It's such a fun, vibrant cover, and not what a lot of gaijin gyaru associate with Popteen. I'm kind of determined to change the mindset around Popteen. I know it had its himekaji era which a lot of the new kids or old-school enthusiasts don't deem as "gyaru enough" which is like...fighting words to me given how fucking icons were produced for that magazine during that time frame...but I get it. It's not for everyone, but there was an era before that himekaji boom that was more "in line" with what people saw as gyaru that I don't really see covered as much. 

I very vaguely remember seeing bits and pieces of the last bits of the early 00s in Japanese media when I first moved to California. I don't know how to explain how in the fuck I did. Lots of Chinese markets that had Chinese versions of Popteen at one point (yes that was a thing)...before I was going to San Francisco on my own to hit up Kinokuniya in Japan Town, I was often visiting Chinese supermarkets with whole ass bookstores inside of the front of them. Oddly they'd have a ton of manga and fashion magazines that were from Japan, but translated into Chinese. If anything, that was my first exposure to gyaru magazines in a very weird way. It's not something I thought about until recently flipping through this old-ass Popteen and realizing that that time in my life wasn't a fever dream. 

A lot of fashion trends overlap between many countries but flipping through my one 2001 issue so far, I felt really nostalgic. I was a pre-teen in that era but some of these trends I vividly remember being big in the US as well and the trends that weren't, I'd see Japanese celebs wear in some of the dramas I used to watch or the clothes emulated in early 00s manga. You'd see bits and pieces. It's hard to explain. 

Speaking of nostalgia and feeling old. someone uploaded a lot of old PopJapanTV episodes onto YouTube. I almost cried. Maybe I'm looking back at a lot of old media as a trauma response given all what's gone on, but man... Seeing these old episodes made me feel some type of way. Some people had the late-night VH1 music video countdowns, MTV's TRL... I had PopJapanTV. 

I think the first J-Pop/Rock I got into was accidentally bands like Guitar Vader thanks to Jet Set Radio, Do as Infinity, and The Pillows thanks to FLCL/InuYasha back when I lived in Tennessee. I also unknowingly was getting into TM Revolution's old 90s discography around that time without much knowledge about his newer things (that would blow my mind later on thanks to PopJapanTV) and old Globe and Ayumi Hamasaki songs-which was crazy given how I had no idea how iconic Globe and Ayu really were. 

Mind you, I had dial-up internet still, YouTube wasn't a thing yet, and so I couldn't just up and watch music videos or download music without it taking an entire day on one family computer that I shared with the rest of my family as a kid. It wasn't until I moved to California that I really got my first taste of that music thanks to PopJapanTV. I finally had faces to put with voices too as I started discovering Namie Amuro thanks to the manga Ayashi no Ceres mentioning her and figuring out that she too, was involved in InuYasha's soundtrack. 

I remember as I turned 13, having to decide if I was watching Adult Swim on Saturday night or if I was watching PopJapanTV instead. It got to the point where the music videos were winning out. I rather watch the people who made the music for the endings and openings rather than the animes. It kind of lowkey changed my life. I still obviously liked anime and eventually had better internet and watched a lot of shit fansubbed. But before those times, music videos from different countries really intrigued me. 

Watching as a 31 year old, it made me a little teary-eyed. The fashion in some of the episodes with the hosts is so fun and the music that is featured in the episodes so diverse. A lot of PopJapanTV was Sony-signed artists but man...so many of these groups and artists were iconic. Many are often featured in gyaru magazines that I've picked up since. I got into Crystal Kay, Chemistry, Sowelu, Zone, and Nami Tamaki thanks to that program. Eventually, I'd also come to watch NHK during the Christmas/New Year holidays and would be fixated on Kohaku Uta Gassen which would be like...a long-ass music show to ring in the New Year. I vividly remember hearing Koda Kumi belt, "Ai no Uta" in high school and finding out about Nakanomori Band through that program...and being excited seeing w-inds perform live. 

Anyway, here's an episode of PopJapanTV featuring Crystal Kay if you want to feel old or even time travel a little bit if you're a youngin that wasn't able to participate in this fun little era of time. These episodes always left such a huge impression on me and live in my mind til this day, rent free. 

Anyway, that's all for today's post! See ya'll soon hopefully!