IMPORTANT: THIS CONTEST EXPIRED ON SEP 15, 2008

The winner also gets 30,000 yen (274 US dollars) worth of coupons to spend on the multilingual MARUIONE.JP shopping site. The runner up prizes are excellent, too:

First Runner-Up (5 people): MARUIONE.JP JPY 20,000 Coupon
Second Runner-Up (10 people): MARUIONE.JP JPY 10,000 Coupon
Participation Prize (all applicants) : MARUIONE.JP JPY 1,000 Coupon

Additionally, there will be a jackpot in which three winners will receive tickets to a special event in Japan.

The contest is open to any non-Japanese national studying Japanese or interested in Japan.

Applicants should send three photographs of the same fashion outfit inspired by the theme Japan. You may design your own original clothes or arrange clothes, accessories, or costumes that you already have.

This is the first and only fashion contest of this kind in Japan open to non-Japanese that we are aware of.

“We wanted to create a project that would appeal to people who have just started to like Japan, or who don’t speak much Japanese yet,” explains spokesperson Hiraiwa. “There are all kinds of speech contests and the like for advanced speakers, but there are few fun fashion-related events for beginners.”

“We also want people to discover that Japan is a country where fashion is a lot of fun. Fashion is extremely broad here. You can find everything from traditional yukata (summer kimono) to goth-loli. There is no other country that offers this. It is truly unique.”

The MARUIONE.JP shopping site is a brand new site for Japanese fashion. It was started only December 1 last year.

“What makes our site unique,” says Hiraiwa, “is that our site offers fashion items that are now popular in Japan at Japanese prices. Many other sites charge 1.5 to 2 times as much, and don’t always offer up-to-date items.”

Many of the brands on the site are the same ones that are offered in Marui’s brick and mortar stores in Japan’s trendy shopping areas like Shinjuku. “These brands used to be small, but they grew big with us.” Although Marui is well-known among Japanese fashionistas, it is still a hidden treasure to most foreigners. Time to visit MARUIONE.JP and discover all the goodies that they offer.

MARUIONE.JP offers shopping in Japanese, English and French. Chinese and Korean will be added in the near future.

For more information about the Fashion Contest, visit the Fashion Contest Site (Japanese, English, French, Korean, Chinese).

DEADLINE: September 15th, 2008.

IMPORTANT: THIS CONTEST EXPIRED ON SEP 15, 2008