author

 
Menu
Search
 
December 20, 2024
 

Today's print edition

Home Delivery
Subscribe for more access
Samuel Thomas

Meta

Samuel Thomas
Samuel Thomas is a fashion writer and lecturer in fashion media at Bunka Gakuen University. He regularly contributes to The Japan Times, among other publications, and provides consultancy services to industry clients.
Japan Times
LIFE / Style & Design / ON: FASHION
Jun 17, 2023
Japanese fashion can no longer afford to play hard to get
Is Japan’s air of aloof mystique still enough to convince foreign audiences to invest in Japanese fashion?
Japan Times
LIFE / Style & Design / ON: FASHION
May 6, 2023
AI will revolutionize Japanese fashion — just not right now
ChatGPT and other artificial intelligence engines are coming for everyone and everything, but the whims of the fashion world might be an unlikely bulwark.
Japan Times
LIFE / Style & Design / ON: FASHION
Mar 11, 2023
March’s biggest fashion drops are mired in nostalgia
When fashion isn't just cyclical but unimaginative, it's a sign of a deeper issue.
Japan Times
LIFE / Style & Design / ON: FASHION
Feb 11, 2023
Now in NYC, 2nd Street is banking big on old becoming new again
Another year of subdued New Year sales; another retro fashion retailer expanding overseas.
Japan Times
LIFE / Style & Design / ON: FASHION
Jan 7, 2023
Will Japan's pop culture and fashion spheres ever find common ground?
Japanese fashion and pop culture and both international forces, so why can't they seem to walk in step together?
Japan Times
LIFE / Style & Design / ON: FASHION
Dec 10, 2022
At 2022’s close, all quiet on the crypto fashion front
Digital currencies have had a difficult end to 2022, but what does that spell for fashion brands who pushed them all year?
Japan Times
LIFE / Style & Design / ON: FASHION
Nov 5, 2022
Japanese bra-makers place bigger spotlight on smaller sizes
Japanese women's breast sizes are increasing, but undergarment options for those on the smaller side remain low.
Japan Times
LIFE / Style & Design / ON: FASHION
Oct 8, 2022
Mending fashion’s threadbare relationship with sustainability
Another season gone and another round of promises from designers the world over to become more eco-friendly dashed.
Japan Times
LIFE / Style & Design / ON: FASHION
Sep 10, 2022
As fashion giants pass, the new guard prepares to pick up the torch
Issey Miyake and Hanae Mori have left big shoes to fill, but it's not yet clear who might take up the mantle of the next face of Japanese fashion.
Japan Times
LIFE / Style & Design / ON: FASHION
Aug 13, 2022
Dog days of summer bring grab bag of fashion fixtures
A departed legend, gaming deals and disrupted shows — summer's end is full of news for fashion watchers.
Japan Times
LIFE / Style & Design / ON: FASHION
Jul 9, 2022
To catch a counterfeiter, Japan's fashionistas turns to Fake Busters
With hundreds of thousands on the line, it pays to know if your jewelry is authentic.
Japan Times
LIFE / Style & Design / ON: FASHION
Jun 11, 2022
Can unlikely friendships kickstart fashion’s lackluster recovery?
Breaking down brand barriers may be the only way forward for Tokyo's couturiers
Japan Times
LIFE / Style & Design / ON: FASHION
May 14, 2022
Fashion’s retail revolution: What’s old is new again
As pandemic precautions appear to ease, retail fashion grapples with a return to business as usual.
Japan Times
LIFE / Style & Design / ON: FASHION
Apr 9, 2022
Tokyo fashion week not as fashion-forward as hoped
Not even a who's who of Japanese designers could overcome the uneven adoption of emerging tech at Rakuten Fashion Week Tokyo.
Japan Times
LIFE / Style & Design / ON: FASHION
Mar 12, 2022
Online status: If you build a virtual world of fashion, will they come?
Brands are seeking to replicate traditional models of scarcity in a metaverse where true abundance is possible.
Japan Times
LIFE / Style & Design / ON: FASHION
Feb 19, 2022
Expressing gender: Fresh approaches to unisex collections
A diverse fashion market is one that is broad enough to include everyone.
Japan Times
LIFE / Style & Design / ON: FASHION
Jan 29, 2022
NFT fashion collaborations: Virtual fashion, real demand
Consumers experiment with an NFT project that taps into Harajuku nostalgia from the 1990s.
Japan Times
LIFE / Style & Design / ON: FASHION
Dec 11, 2021
Retail therapy: Fashion outlets in battle to fight fatigue
Stores adopt a few innovative measures in a bid to prize open the wallets of domestic shoppers with overseas customers still shut out of Japan.
Japan Times
LIFE / Style & Design / ON: FASHION
Nov 14, 2021
Shop to your heart’s content, without a staff member in sight
If you've ever felt Japan's customer service was too much, contactless shopping is on the rise. Meanwhile, pop culture-capsule collaborations vie for the title of “most shocking.”
Japan Times
LIFE / Style & Design / ON: FASHION
Oct 10, 2021
Anime aesthetics blur the line between real and virtual fashion
As some brands dip their toes into NFTs, others turn to nostalgia-with-shock-value to sell both real and virtual clothing.
Honda and Nissan might combine to form world’s No. 3 auto group
Nissan President and CEO Makoto Uchida (left) and Honda President and CEO Toshihiro Mibe hold a news conference in Tokyo in March. Both automakers have been working together for months on a deal of some sort.
What we know so far about the Kitakyushu stabbings
Police guard the scene early Sunday morning of a stabbing incident at a McDonald's store in Kitakyushu's Kokuraminami Ward.
Japan to let investigators go undercover to crack down on yami baito
A flyer created by the Metropolitan Police Department to warn people about <i>yami baito</i>, or "dark" part-time jobs
Japan 'regrets' release of anti-whaling activist Paul Watson
Environmental activist Paul Watson waves after getting released from prison in Nuuk, Greenland, on Tuesday.
Trump picks businessman George Glass as Japan ambassador
Businessman George Glass has been selected by U.S. President-elect Donald Trump to be the next ambassador to Japan.
Curiosity didn’t kill the meme: Why cats still rule Japanese YouTube
A screen shot from YouTube user @lagelda shows the simplicity of going viral in Japan in 2024: A cat dancing to EDM in front of a green screen.
With rare Asia carrier deployment, France seeks greater interoperability
The flight deck of the French Navy's Charles de Gaulle aircraft carrier during a stop at Changi Naval Base in Singapore in May 2019
Taiwan’s bullet train a testament to shinkansen’s export potential
A Taiwan High Speed Rail bullet train arrives at Nangang Station in the city of Taipei.
Looking for ways to be charitable in Japan? Give the gift of reading.
Book Santa is a program that delivers books to children in need for Christmas, but it also operates year-round.
Women are writing a new chapter in Japanese literature in the 2020s
"Butter," Asako Yuzuki’s thrilling novel inspired by a real-life femme fatale, was named the Waterstones Book of the Year in 2024.

Podcast

One of the many entrances to the Kabukicho neighborhood in Tokyo’s Shinjuku Ward.
Kabukicho: Tokyo’s ‘stadium of desire’

Longform

Yasuyuki Yoshida stirs a brew in a fermentation tank at his brewery in Hakusan.
The quake that shook Noto's sake brewing tradition
By Alex K.T. Martin

SUSTAINABLE JAPAN

mission sustainability vol.12 : Kose Corp.Kose takes pride in creating beauty in the world
mission sustainability vol.12 : Kose Corp.Kose takes pride in creating beauty in the world

SPECIAL SUPPLEMENTS note

Read more

SUPPLEMENTS BINDER