Ametora: How Japan Saved American Style (BASIC BOOKS/PER)

by W. David Marx

In reality, the editors liked commercial goods more than members of the opposite sex.

Youth no longer bought things as an avenue towards new experiences—record players to listen to jazz LPs, suits to impress girls, mountain parkas for hiking. Youth fetishized goods as goods.

Both Ishikawa and Kinameri have long denied American government funding, but it is widely known that the writers at Heibon Publishing did receive logistical assistance from the U.S. Embassy of Japan starting with “Illustrated Reportage.” Japanese editors travelling to the United States needed guidance on where to stay and what to do, and until the 1980s, the American embassy was the best place in Tokyo to obtain that information. Popeye’s primary funding came from commercial entities with a clear business interest: airlines and trading companies underwrote Popeye’s overseas reporting in hopes that the stories would encourage Japanese youth to travel and buy imported goods.

Ikuya Satō discovered, blue-collar teenagers thought college kids were “effeminate and affected” and wanted clothing that manifested “outright showmanship tinged with deliberate vulgarity.”

magazine Popeye played a big role in creating the word ‘city boy.’ New York, Paris, London, Milan, and Tokyo are all cities, right? Until then, the framework had been ‘country’ or ‘nation.’ But now city transcended nation. This would mark the start of what we now call globalism.”

In the world of amekaji, anything American could be thrown together: East Coast prep, West Coast athletic, hip-hop, Hollywood, and Native American jewelry. (Yet Time, in the U.S., still thought the look too rote: “The ultimate way to look American may be not to look American at all.”)

Out went hyper-fashion sensitivity and in came moneyed nonchalance. No one cared about designers, and no one wanted to wear a single brand head-to-toe. The formula for shibukaji was simply having the right brands without looking like you actually paid attention to the fashion world. The easy combination of classic American labels, loose-fitting clothing, and sneakers ultimately attracted more people into the apparel market than ever before. Unlike with the DC boom, teens did not need specialized knowledge, nor credit cards, nor a willingness to forgo personal comfort. The bar to being stylish had never been so low.

Fashion writer Derek Guy adds, “If global consumers were into Japanese brands because of their novelty, that novelty wore off a long time ago. Japanese brands are popular because they offer something special in the market.”