Style blog explores the wacky world of Japanese fashion 

Source: ONE News

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Style Blog has now moved up north, away from the bright lights and crazy 21st century Blade Runner-esque city that is Tokyo.

As you may well know, just like our beloved Land of the Long White Cloud, the Land of the Rising Sun is also made up of a series of "small" islands and way up north you will find the island of Hokkaido.

It's actually about the size of our North Island and, funnily enough, they also call it their North Island.

It's similar to NZ - there are way less people here - it is less polluted and very green up here. There's also a sizable dairy industry and the milk and cheese products are very popular.

There are though, four true seasons and at the moment it is Autumn and it is absolutely stunning!

All the trees (such as the Maples) have turned an amazing orange-red.

It's picture-postcard stuff! In winter it snows so heavily they have to heat the roads and it is the hip place (apart from Nagano where they also once held the Winter Olympics) for snow-bunnies to hang out.

Speaking of snow-bunnies... compared to Tokyo, here, up north, they are few and far baetween.

Everyone is a lot less "full-on" here about the fashion look they are rocking.

Sure, Style Blog spotted a few Harajuku style "kawaii" girls up in the capital of Hokkaido, Sapporo (yes, where the beer is from) strutting around in the smallest, tightest cuts of denim hot pants (even though it was 5 degrees) and teetering on the highest heels you could ever imagine.

Style Blog is currently camped out in Otaru, a small fishing port north of Sapporo where the the look is more "obaaaachan" style (which means nanna or granny) then the mad Harajuku banshee!

The look is much more of a flowery, frumpy, I'm dressing for warmth look, with lashings of frilly lacey bits and bobs festooning the garb (think of a tiered baby pink frock fashioned with about a thousand giant lace doiles with a matching umbrella and you'll get what we mean!).

Although the common thread between the gals from the North and the rest of the Japanese girls is that they ALL don false eyelashes, at all times! Yes, even the young girl at the local supermarket wears them. No one would be seen dead with out them!

Recently a famous movie star/singer here was sprung by the paparazzi whilst she was holidaying somewhere remote. All she could scream out was "nooo! I dont have any make up on!!! and I have no lashes on either!!!!!!arghhhhh!"

Oh how I miss the absolutely insane get-ups seen in Tokyo, namely Shibuya. If you ever go to Shibuya in Tokyo please visit the craziest department store in the world called 109.

It has about 9 levels of true Tokyo fashion (i.e. all that they think is hip right now) that all the girls wear. It is a sight to be seen. Look, laugh and then beat a hasty retreat before you go completely bonkers!

Style Blog tried to get a couple of pics but was shooed out of the place! They're sick of foreigners coming in there and going snap happy, but how could you resist? How odd though? Japan loves cameras and taking pictures!

One of the best looks spotted there was on a young wee lass (They are all about 17-21-years-old and, yes, Style Blog felt very un-youthful and about 1,000 years old there!) When the young thing turned on the side, she vanished into thin air she was soooooooo tiny!

This mere slip of a girl was the epitome of the look they spend all day trying to achieve. That is:

1) To not look remotely like they are of Japanese, or Asian descent

2) To look as slutty, yet as "kawaii" (cute) as possible

Top marks to her as she got the look down pat as do many, many of her Japanese counterparts.

There are magazines here dedicated to how to look like a "gaijin" (foreigner, or a person of European, non-Japanese stock!) in great detail, from clothing mimicing young Hollywood stars such as Nicole Ritchie, step-by-step guides to make your eyes look rounder and bigger using make up techniques to bleaching your hair to make it look more Western and wearing wigs or hair pieces.

Perms are popular here too and the lads colour and bleach their hair and are keen on lots of hair product. They're also partial to a good blow dry!

Lots of Japanese girls get face/eye surgery to create a big double eyelid, wear coloured contact lenses and always wear the largest false eyelashes top and bottom!

There are some great labels around which have completely cracked Style Blog up and we are 100% certain the true meaning is not known. Plumpy nuts, Smacky glam and Nice Claup come to mind. Other names that weren't clothing labels, but were ultra funny were Cream Collon, Nudy Aura, Mama butter, Diet slim finger cream & Mammy cleaning.

Wierd fashions abound in this place. We mentioned the fashion accessory du jour last week; gumboots in any shade or pattern regardless of the weather.

Also spotted everywhere at the moment are girls wearing the massive, oversized beannies with gigantic pompoms on top, even when the temperature was a stifling 29 degrees and the humidity was 100%

Legwarmers are also an on-going fad here, even worn during a heatwave!

Ah fashion, it's fun and it's young around here and while, in a way, everyone tries to look exactly the same compared to the rest of the world; Japanese fashion is out of this world crazy and free.

We are mad for it! As they say here "Mata neh" (see you soon).