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Martin Webb
Japan Times
LIFE / Lifestyle
Sep 26, 2006
Latin America struts into the fashion spotlight
Ever since Gisele Bundchen attained supermodel status, Brazil has been going catwalk crazy. Now the country is hoping that the fashion world will recognize it as not only an exporter of top models but also as a center for the creation of designer clothing.
Japan Times
LIFE / Style & Design
Sep 12, 2006
Style wise
Heart of Harajuku renewed Teeming teen shopping haven LaForet Harajuku opened in 1978 and has been a pivotal part of Japan's youth culture ever since. The complex has had a few subdued periods over the years but is currently experiencing a happier chapter in its history. Earlier this month it underwent...
Japan Times
LIFE / Style & Design / COUNTER CULTURE
Sep 8, 2006
Dover Street shop storms into Tokyo
When it comes to revolutionary retail concept stores in Japan, there's no getting away from Tokyo's Aoyama district. That area's latest major opening comes from none other than Japan's epoch-making fashion house Comme des Garcons.
LIFE / Lifestyle
Sep 5, 2006
Japan-born stylist brings influence to bear back home
W ith his big brown eyes and permanent pout, Nicola Formichetti doesn't look like the kind of guy to battle his way to the top of the bitchy world of fashion. But that is exactly where this super-stylist is -- flick through the phonebook-size fashion mags on the shelves on any given month and you're...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Aug 31, 2006
The search for 'nihonga' clouds artistic judgements
While proponents of contemporary Japanese art do not seem quite as preoccupied with attempts to shock as their Western counterparts, for curators and creators with an eye on finding fame and fortune overseas, courting controversy can seem almost like an obligation.
Japan Times
Events / Events Outside Tokyo
Aug 25, 2006
Motor City soul
In the mid-1980s, when Detroit was a city in decline, Derrick May, Juan Atkins and Kevin Saunderson (collectively known as the Belleville Three) kicked off a musical revolution. By working the futuristic electro sound of European acts like Kraftwerk and New Order into a funky, dance floor-friendly musical...
Japan Times
LIFE / WEEK 3
Aug 20, 2006
Seniors go French with a 'little pig'
During the summer months in Japan, parks, baseball grounds and school yards come alive with the grimaces, grins, grunts and cries of triumph or dismay from people of advanced years who gather together to toss big metal balls at a little wooden one.
Japan Times
LIFE / Lifestyle
Aug 15, 2006
Meet the chic sikh
Waris Ahluwalia has some good anecdotes. Like the one where Willem Dafoe asks him if it's OK to give Spike Lee his number, and a couple of hours later he gets a call and the voice at the other end of the line says "Hey Waris, it's Spike Lee," and asks him to audition for his upcoming blockbuster bank...
Japan Times
LIFE / Style & Design / COUNTER CULTURE
Aug 11, 2006
An attack of the cute and quirky
Fashion designer Eri Utsugi is a very lucky lady: After only one catwalk outing, her mercibeaucoup brand will open six new stores in prime locations -- starting with Aoyama and Ginza -- over the course of the next seven weeks.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / CLOSE-UP
Aug 6, 2006
Shu Uemura: A life in pursuit of beauty
Hailing from a conservative family of businessmen and bankers, as a young man in occupied Japan, Shu Uemura dreamed of becoming an actor. But, fearing that his weak constitution would hamper his chances of success, he instead enrolled at Tokyo Beauty Academy -- the only man in a class of 130.
Japan Times
LIFE / WEEK 3
Jul 16, 2006
Hair today, gone tomorrow
"Does that hurt?" asks the doctor. "Err, not really," say I. "Right, turn it up to 40," she tells the technician. Then it does kind of start to hurt. It feels as though somebody is firing a tiny laser beam into my cheek. Indeed, that is exactly what is happening.
Japan Times
LIFE / Style & Design
Jul 11, 2006
Paula Ke in Tokyo, Uslu Airlines, Comme des Garcons' fragrances and more
Pret-a-porter a la Paris
Japan Times
LIFE
Jul 9, 2006
Japan fashions a menswear coup d'etat
For a week in July, Paris becomes an outpost of Tokyo as Japanese designers and buyers throng the catwalks, parties and cafes where business is done at the biannual men's clothing collections
LIFE
Jul 9, 2006
Fashionistas relish rumor over top job
Paris last week was rife with gossip over whether the menswear world's leading light, Hedi Slimane, was about to exit hyper-cool brand Dior Homme when his contract expires at the end of the month.
Japan Times
LIFE / Style & Design / COUNTER CULTURE
Jun 30, 2006
Getting the write stuff
Beyond scribbled shopping lists and jotted memos, putting pen to paper is increasingly rare in this age of electronic communications. But that only serves to enhance the delight of discovering a hand-addressed envelope on the doormat. While sending a signed and sealed missive is a sure way to show how...
Japan Times
LIFE
Jun 25, 2006
Goodies to let you live with the Y
The pea-green artery pumping shoals of company staffers into the heart of Japan Inc. every morning, and funneling them home by night, perfectly exemplifies Japanese efficiency.
Japan Times
Events / Events Outside Tokyo
Jun 23, 2006
Homage to a highland shrine
Fifteen years ago, photographer Naoyuki Kobayashi was on a joint Chinese-Japanese mountaineering expedition in the Himalayas when an avalanche took the lives of 17 of his fellow climbers. He has been returning to the Meili Snow Mountain, where the tragedy occurred, ever since, in a dogged search for...
Japan Times
LIFE / WEEK 3
Jun 18, 2006
Retro's where the future's at
Japan's talking heads of a liberal persuasion are clearly troubled by a rising nationalistic sentiment they detect throughout the land. But while speculation on the geopolitical consequences of any such shift may be an absorbing topic, trends in the world of culture -- and the changing tastes of consumers...
Japan Times
LIFE / Style & Design
Jun 13, 2006
Tiffany-Gehry collaboration, Commes des Garcons for Speedo, Oliver Goldsmith eyewear . . .
Architectural accessories Synonymous with refined New York-style luxury, jeweler Tiffany & Co. has signed up California-based Pritzker Prize-winning architect Frank Gehry to enhance its conservative image with a little left-field design credibility. The stellar collaboration has resulted in six lines...
Japan Times
LIFE / Style & Design
Jun 13, 2006
The beautiful game inspires sartorial sins
Soccer might be known as the beautiful game, but it has never inspired beautiful design. As the World Cup in Germany gets into full swing, patriotic fervor will move millions of fans to purchase their team's jersey, resulting in innumerable crimes against good taste.

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