Talk:Harajuku

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"Harajuku is, as of 2005, a major theme in the show of American singer Gwen Stefani, who uses four female dancers dressed like Harajuku girls to form her background act." Thanks for the good wording; in fact she USES them. The word must stay in, since she treats them and nicknames them as if they were some sorts of pet puppies or something. No doubt (sic!) that she hurts the feelings of many lovers of the Japanese culture because she just puts them in a ridiculous kinda light. -andy 80.129.90.34 11:54, 1 August 2005 (UTC)

from the page history it looks like that phrasing is from my humble self ;-). I must profess to a lack of familiarity with Ms. Stefani and her girls, and have not encountered her in the general media either here in Europe or in Japan, despite lengthy stays in the immediate vicinity of Harajuku Station. Only the fact that I have heard of her via the BBC prevented me from wiping the reference entirely. Personally I wouldn't be sad if someone comes up with a paragraph or two describing the influence of Harajuku in overseas popular culture, tangentially referencing the aforesaid popular singer if relevant. I for one am already well over 30 and therefore no longer qualified to comment on trends popular amongst the younger generation. Ianb 19:53, 1 August 2005 (UTC)

A simpler way to avoid criticism from people would be to rephrase it as "incorporates" as opposed to "uses". TheMonkofDestiny 11:25, 2 August 2005 (UTC)

Based on my limited exposure to Gwen Stefani, I'd have to say that her Harajuku Girls may have been inspired in some vague way by Harajuku fashions (also by the movie Cabaret, and perhaps a dream about Marie Antionette), but there really isn't a strong link. adamrice 15:10, 2 August 2005 (UTC)

OH Please some put down a definition !!! Harajuku : from the japanese, Fashion Kill "Literally" ie. in the sense of "punks" in the U.K. circa '75 and on excuse the hirrid punctuaytion but this topic must have attention, yeas i love you librarioans with an adonic shine of the first magnitude but please this is a thread of relevance to Global Culture

Once more please, in English this time. adamrice 15:57, 12 October 2005 (UTC) -Dunno.. I think Gwen's Harajuku girls are cooler than "real" harajuku girls. They seem to have more attitude and style than the countryside kids from Saitama who hang out in Takeshita street on the weekends. This girl who wrote the gwen stefani criticism 1) I believe she's not Japanese, but one of the many Asian-Americans who seem to over-idolise Japanese pop-culture. As can be seen in many Japanese style-magazines, the goal of your average young Japanese girl seems to be "mote" (MOH TEH) or, in other words, to be popular with the opposite sex. (not that this is not the case in most countries) but there is nothing particularly noble or cool about harajuku, although the styles are visually interesting. Although the outfits may seem daring to your average outsider, most of them are just doing what your average teenager does, which is be "individual" like everyone else. spend any length of time in Harajuku, and most people will realise that the outrageous outfits are mostly the same, fitting into "FURUGI" (thrift-store clothing imported from LA and Europe), "B-KEI" (black-style or hip hop), "SUTORIITO KEI" (Street-style), "GYARU-KEI" (GAL STYLE), etc...

[edit] Project Assessment

This article has a long way to go. Although I would imagine that all the various subcultures and fashions have their own articles, to see them so unrepresented here is strange. The whole thing seems only a very superficial, brief overview. (1) Explain out the misconceptions. People think it's a teenage hangout for the trendy kids, which isn't really true because LaForet, GAP, etc are a bit closer to Omotesando and a great deal different from the kind of subculture you see in "ura-hara" or Takeshita-dori.... (2) Explain out the unique role Harajuku has played in subculture fashion, etc etc, particularly the area around Yoyogi Bridge (or whatever it's called) (3) Expansion and added depth overall. Bigger and better pictures would be great too. I actually have a number I could offer, but I'm sure plenty of other editors do too. A view of the station, of Takeshita-dori... LordAmeth 09:20, 6 December 2006 (UTC)

I think the content of the page is some what of a style issue. There is good content on the linked pages for Omotesando, Takeshita-dori, Yoyogi Park etc, but I think then there is too much if you bring all of these sections into one page. Yes it seems a bit thin but I think to do otherwise is repeating too much content.