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Friday August 20, 2010

Bajowoo

harajuku, tokyo
SUMMER 2010,
Kjeld Duits

Jacket – (remade)
Vest – N/A
Shirt – (self)
Pants – N/A
Shoes – George Cox

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Pants – N/A – (present)

10088-3944-10088-3947

Jacket – (remade) – (present) | Vest – N/A – (mother’s) | Shirt – (self) – JPY 0

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Accessories – N/A – N/A

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Hair – (self) – JPY 0

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Buttons – N/A – N/A

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Hair – (self) – JPY 0

10088-3965

Shoes – George Cox – N/A

Kjeld Duits About the Photographer

Inspired by the stunningly creative street fashion that exploded on the streets of Tokyo and Osaka in the late 1990’s, photo-journalist Kjeld Duits launched JAPANESE STREETS in 2002. This makes JS one of the first fashion blogs on the net, and the very first to cover Japanese street fashion.

Recent photos by Kjeld Duits:

Japanese fashionJapanese fashionJapanese fashionJapanese fashionJapanese fashionJapanese fashion

Comment (日本語もOK)

The hair is real right? :0 Cool look, it’s alotta different from what we’ve been seeing on the guys lately. Not to sure about the eyeliner/shadow mind. :)

Mel
Aug 20, 2010 (4848 days ago)

His hair is fantastic!
The jacket is awesome, I like the syringe he has clipped to it and I love his name. ;P

Meg
Aug 20, 2010 (4848 days ago)

@Mel: I rarely see punk boys on the streets so I’m so happy to see these photos. Great find, Kjeld. I’m not too sure but his hair looks real. Kjeld will be able to answer to your question when he’s back from his work:)

@Meg: His name sounds very unfamiliar, so it might be a Korean name or something:) Wow, syringle! It’s such a unique idea and it’s defintiely working out.

Marie Sasago
Aug 20, 2010 (4848 days ago)

@Mel: Bajowoo’s hair is real. He is a genius with hair, I think. He also did Minhye’s hair. If the hair is not real, we will almost always give information about the wig used; at the very least the fact that there is a wig.

@Meg & Marie: Yes, Bajowoo is Korean. He is a friend of Minhye.

Kjeld Duits (photographer)
Aug 20, 2010 (4848 days ago)

In the syringe shot I though ‘‘he looks korean’‘ and then I saw your comment KD n_n
First time a see a syringe as an accesorie… reaaally cool ;) His pants are kinda chic I like them.

Maria
Aug 20, 2010 (4848 days ago)

@Kjeld: Was it a total coincidence that you found those two who happened to be friends? :)

Mel
Aug 21, 2010 (4848 days ago)

@Maria: No, I actually found them together. But I uploaded their images on different days, so we can have a variety of looks every day.

Incidentally, that's also why you will still see some of my images cropping up every day, even though I have just arrived in Pakistan to cover the flooding here.

Kjeld Duits (photographer)
Aug 21, 2010 (4848 days ago)

i wish i have the guts to dye my hair like that. It’s amazing how you come out with all these pics. Everyone has their own unique style

Dominique
Aug 21, 2010 (4848 days ago)

@ Dominique: It is a lot of hard work, and countless hours on the street!

Kjeld Duits (photographer)
Aug 21, 2010 (4848 days ago)

Oh wow! I also saw them hanging out together in Harajuku and took their picture! Except when I saw them, they were with one more punk friend. He was also cool.

I LOVE this guys style..I didn’t know he was Korean though. I wonder if he is shop staff or working in Harajuku? SO cool. The hair is probably my favorite part..His hair was blue before.

Lactose Intoler-Art
Aug 21, 2010 (4847 days ago)

@actose Intoler-Art: Actually there were 4 or 5 more friends super cool friends hanging out with Bajowoo and Minhye when I saw them, but each shoot takes quite at least 15-20 minutes, so I didn’t feel it courteous to ask them all…

If I remember correctly, Bajowoo told me that he is studying fashion in Tokyo.

Kjeld Duits (photographer)
Aug 21, 2010 (4847 days ago)

I don’t know Bajowoo, so I don’t really want to judge him like this, BUT I still have to say that (even though I kind of like his look), it seems to me he’s more of a fashion punk, than a real one. Everything about him seems just too neat. And the symbols: chaos, anarchy, syringe… somehow too typical. Like he’s still only experimenting with this punk look. But don’t get me wrong, the look is cool (at first glance, yeah), I just don’t really see the ideology behind. It just bothers me, every time I get this feeling about someone. If you don’t feel the same way, just ignore what I wrote. :‘D

Oh! Btw, about the eye make-up someone mentioned earlier, I think it suits him hellishly good!

gionbaby
Sep 5, 2010 (4832 days ago)

@gionbaby: As always, I love your insightful observations and well-thought out comments. Their depth and sincerity make them a delight to read.

Interesting observation on Bajowoo’s use of Punk.

What you wear in the West often makes a political or social statement. Especially when it is Punk or Goth. In Asia this is rarely the case. Clothes are enjoyed for their own sake, and a person can wear Punk on Monday, Lolita on Tuesday, Goth on Wednesday and a suit on Thursday.

I have seen lots and lots of foreign journalists come to Tokyo, see the Harajuku fashion and interpret it as a youth rebellion in their articles. Although there surely are a few rebels, and some people may be aware of and sympathize with the social statements the fashion current originally came with, this interpretation is very mistaken.

To understand Japanese fashion, it is important to know that it is about clothes, and how you put them together. It is about fun. It is about playful creativity.

Then again, Bajowoo may actually be making a social statement—I didn’t talk about this with him…

Kjeld Duits (photographer)
Sep 5, 2010 (4832 days ago)

@Kjeld Duits: Thank you for your compliment. I appreciate it. ^^

Everything what you wrote is true. I know that in Japan (I don’t want to mention other Asian countries, because I haven’t been to any other) people don’t really put ideologies behind their look. If something is kakkoi or kawaii, they’ll just put it on and that’s it. They don’t really go deeper than that. However, as you already mentioned, there are some people in Japan too, who put some ideology behind their look, and I think, I will always respect those people a little bit more, than the others. Which doesn’t mean that I don’t respect Bajowoo for his fashion sense. Because I do! It’s just a little bit different. ^^; Do you know what I mean? Some of my Japanese friends told me that they don’t like the Japanese fashion (and by that they meant people who they can see on the streets not the catwalks or magazines, etc.), because it’s all about copying each other without thinking. I still don’t think it’s 100% true, but sometimes I feel I know what they meant.

For me everything I put on is a social statement. It’s never just clothes. I can’t say I’m a punk, a goth, a loli or anything. I’m just me, but I never dress up just for the sake of it. The best thing what can happen to me is when people say, they recognize my style, because it’s different from what they have seen so far. And I think it’s because I believe in everything what I put on, and that through clothes I’m capable of showing my true self to some extent. It’s very hard to put into words, maybe it didn’t go very well, but I hope you could understand what I wanted to say and that I didn’t seem arrogant and stuck-up. Because I’m not.

gionbaby
Sep 6, 2010 (4832 days ago)

@gionbaby: We are all influenced by our surroundings and upbringing. I grew up in a place where having strong opinions and stating them was valued highly. This affected everything you did and said, including the clothes you put on. I can’t remember the number of times I was actually physically attacked for what I wore. So I understand what you mean when you say that you will always respect people who put some ideology behind their look a little bit more. I come from a background with such values myself.

But having lived most of my life in Japan now, and having documented Japanese street fashion since the turn of the century, I have really fallen in love with how many Japanese people use fashion. Some of your friends may think that it is all empty-headed copying, but I see more creativity among this small group of people in places like Harajuku than anywhere else. I absolutely love what they do with clothes. I have come to embrace that not everything needs to be political. I happily admit that I enjoy the relaxed comfort of feeling that it is not always necessary to take a stand on everything with every single thing you do, say and think. Often, I have found, a little Japanese Wa takes you much farther than insisting on your own opinion.

Kjeld Duits (photographer)
Sep 6, 2010 (4831 days ago)

@KD, so i’m kinda japanese, huh? I dress very different from day to day, sometimes I look girly, others really punk/rock, others I look very hippie xD
It’s just that I have lots of styles in my closet and I like them all n_n

Maria
Sep 8, 2010 (4829 days ago)

@Maria: Haha! I guess so. ^ _ ^

Kjeld Duits (photographer)
Sep 9, 2010 (4829 days ago)

I really like his pants!

Etsune
Sep 9, 2010 (4828 days ago)

@Kjeld Duits: Don’t get me wrong. I adore Japanese street style! I wouldn’t be commenting on this website if I wouldn’t like it. :D I’m afraid we went a bit too deep into this conversation about ideology/outfit/social statements, don’t you think? For example, I wasn’t trying to involve politics at all. I don’t like politics. “Ideology” or “social statement”, in my dictionary they haven’t really got connections with politics. They are just tools of my self-realisation.

What I wrote in my first comment about Bajowoo, I wasn’t trying to generalize and extend my opinion to ALL the Japanese people. I was just trying to explain that for me something was missing from Bajowoo (the first person out of all the others whos photos I have seen on this website) what I could find in almost all the other people so far. These clothes suit his body, even the eye make-up suits his eyes and the hair his face, but I don’t feel the connection between his inside and outside. How can I see it on the photos? No idea. I just got this feeling when I was looking at them. This has nothing to do with strong beliefs about a certain thing, just believe in yourself and the clothes you wear and it will shine through. You can wear super cool clothes, but if you aren’t a cool person, it will be visible (at least to some). Or you can wear loli one day, punk the other day, business look the third they if you can pull all those looks off, then no one will say you aren’t true to your beliefs. They just going to say you are versatile and interesting. But this is not just about Bajowoo anymore. And I might be wrong about everything what I wrote. Although I believe in every single word. :) I suggest not to get more entangled in this conversation about ideologies and such. I think it’s too complicated and cannot be discussed in writing very well. This needs real conversation. ;)

I’m looking forward to incorporate some more 和(wa) into my life after I have been living for some years in Japan. I’m sure it will change me in certain ways. I’ll try to be as open as possible and embrace whatever (good) comes my way. :)

gionbaby
Sep 14, 2010 (4824 days ago)

@ gionbaby: Thanks for the long explanations. That’s what conversations are for, right? To understand each other. I don’t think its is always necessary to agree; just knowing where the other person comes from and to respect and accept that. I have always had trouble with people who become messianistic, feel that only they are right, and that everybody else has to think the exact same way. Thankfully, I don’t encounter it too much in Japan.

Anyway, now we know that we both talked about two different, but related things. I feel that I learnt something. I hope you feel the same way; then we both walk away richer people. ^ _ ^

Kjeld Duits (photographer)
Sep 14, 2010 (4823 days ago)

@Kjeld Duits: Yes, indeed. I feel I’ve learnt from it too. Thank you. ^^ In fact if one is careful, than (s)he can learn something from each and every conversation (s)he had. But some people don’t pay attention to such small matters, so they might miss out on some important and constructive elements of life.

…but this has nothing to do with street fashion anymore really, so let’s get back on track. :DD I just noticed that the red “thing” around both of Bajowoo’s wrists is actually the lining of the jacket! I love that! I love jackets which have a different colour lining in opposition to the colour of the jacket.

gionbaby
Sep 22, 2010 (4816 days ago)

@gionbaby: Yes, beautiful lining, isn’t it? Red and black are a classic match; I love it when it’s done this discreetly.

Kjeld Duits (photographer)
Sep 22, 2010 (4815 days ago)

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