Japan’s ‘ambassadors of cute’
One of the more colourful off-piste events at New York fashion week last month was Tokyo Fashion Festa, a celebration of Japanese design held at the Fashion Institute of Technology. The main event was a fashion show in which doll-like models showcasing “Lolita fashion” - the frilly, eccentric, comic-book-character style beloved by young girls in Japan but rarely seen overseas - took to the catwalk. The entire event was hosted by a petite Japanese star, Misako Aoki, a nurse, part-time model, icon of the Lolita aesthetic and newly appointed government official. Her title? Ambassador of Cute.
Actually, it’s Trend Communicator of Japanese Pop Culture. Appointed in March 2009 by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Japan, Aoki is one of three such ambassadors. Her colleagues are Shizuka Fujioka, a clothes designer who always wears a variation on school uniform and has written how-to books on achieving the style, and Yu Kimura, a singer-actress well-known in Harajuku - Tokyo’s popular shopping and entertainment district where young people dressed in Japanese cartoon-inspired styles converge - with her bleached-blonde hair and Barbie-inspired outfits. The positions, which last for one year, are honorary and unpaid; the ambassadors’ expenses are covered by the Japan Foundation, a semi-independent body similar to the British Council that also runs online language learning classes - using manga, the Japanese cartoon genre.
Though the ambassador concept may seem as cute and gimmicky as the women appear, there’s a strategic savvy behind the trio’s appointment. “The objective is to promote an understanding of Japan, a better image, or the correct image,” says Takeshi Akahori, director of the public diplomacy department at Tokyo’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs. “It’s to show we’re a pretty liberal society where people can express themselves, and that’s not the cliché idea of Japan. Japan is a free society, where people can choose what they like. Our figures show that between 70 per cent and 80 per cent of new Japanese language learning is based on a liking for Japanese pop culture.”
Put another way, the girls are an embodiment of “smart power”, the diplomatic tactic often mentioned by Hillary Clinton, US secretary of state, as an alternative to the hard power of military brawn. As if a cross between Paris Hilton and Pamela Harriman, Aoki and her colleagues have country-hopped on a mission to promote Japanese pop culture, specifically kawaii, a slippery term, that “is close to the notion of ‘cute’ in English,” says Fujioka.
“Economists are now looking at Japan and going: ‘Well, they don’t have the economic clout they had before, but they have a kind of soft power in view of the incredible global popularity of manga and anime,’” notes the Fashion Institute of Technology curator Valerie Steele, who is currently planning an exhibition for autumn 2010 entitled Japan Fashion Now. “A lot of the top collections in Europe are drawing on Japanese pop culture style. Marc Jacobs? There’s lots of cuteness in there, from the beginning; his little mouse shoes are a kawaii design.” Jacobs also tapped into the theme via a collaboration with contemporary Japanese artist Takashi Murakami on a range of limited edition, multicoloured Louis Vuitton handbags. “Galliano and Lagerfeld go to Japan for ideas,” continues Steele, “and so do mass manufacturers - they send cool hunters over there to pick up the latest thing, water them down and turn them into youth style.”
Besides, as Steele says, packaging fashion as a national trait to exploit and export - the ambassadors’ raison d’être - isn’t exactly a new idea. “In Britain, the heritage-plus-eccentric-street-style has been the DNA of fashion for 20 years,” Steele says. “And every pair of blue jeans that goes round the world is some kind of ambassador of American style.”
So far, the Japanese programme has been successful enough - at least in the eyes of the Tokyo Ministry of Foreign Affairs - that it will be expanded to include other pop culture genres such as an anime or manga when the next set of ambassadors is appointed for 2010-2011 later this year. Their itineraries will probably look similar to the first trio’s: aside from the show at the Fashion Institute of Technology in New York, Aoki went to Recife in Brazil, where her appearance drew a 20,000-strong crowd. She and Yu Kimura also visited Paris for several events during the Japan Expo at the Japanese Cultural Centre (“France was my favourite - Lolita fashion is most welcomed by French people,” Aoki says), while Shizuka Fujioka toured Thailand solo, visiting anime production houses, fashion and trade shows, and even appearing on TV shows. The schedule also included stops in Italy, Russia, Spain and South Korea, and each ambassador blogged regularly about her experiences.
The point is, according to Valerie Steele: “Everyone is ripping them off and the Japanese are finally saying maybe we should be making some economic benefit from it.”
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Not sure how I feel about this. They say they're doing this to promote a non-stereotypical view of Japan, but it would also seem that sending fashion, anime and manga ambassadors around the world just further promotes the idea that Japan is all anime, manga and eclectic fashion. Lolita style is certainly striking, but is by no means the majority.