Category Archive for How-Tos
Osaka Gothic Lolita Punk shopping guide. Buy goth alternative clothing in Japan, Shinsaibashi store maps & addresse.
Welcome to La Carmina’s Osaka alternative shopping guide (updated 2017)! Looking for the best Goth Lolita Punk / Visual Kei / Cyber Rave clothing shops in Shinsaibashi, Americamura, Kansai? Read on for maps and photos of the best stores, including Angelic Pretty, Atelier Pierrot and your other favorite brands.
This Japanese streetwear shopping guide is constantly updated, so please visit my blog for the latest posts. (For Goth Industrial EBM Fetish nightclubs in Tokyo and Osaka, visit my comprehensive Nightlife Guide. I also have a TOKYO Goth Lolita Punk shopping guide. If you want to get these clothes from overseas, click to shop my Goth clothing sale.
CLICK to shop for Gothic kawaii fashion now.
La Carmina is a Japan / alt fashion blogger, TV host, author of 3 books (Penguin USA and Random House), and journalist (CNNGo, Huffington Post). My site on Japanese alternative beauty and underground culture – www.lacarmina.com/blog – has been featured in major publications (The New Yorker, Vogue, South China Morning Post). I’ve appeared on ABC Nightline and The Today Show, and co-hosted an episode of Bizarre Foods with Andrew Zimmern for Travel Channel, which airs in 75 countries. NHK Japan filmed two documentaries about my work; recent TV hosting and arranging credits include Canal Plus France, TLC Asia, TVB Hong Kong, National Geographic, Discovery, Food Network. View La Carmina’s TV hosting clips and wiki.
Hire my TV hosting, production arranging and fixing company: La Carmina & The Pirates.
– We specialize in production logistics for travel TV shows in Japan, Hong Kong and elsewhere.
– Our services include TV show casting, scheduling on-camera hosting, Japanese translation and guiding, coolhunting, consulting.
– For our resume, please visit our Pirates website.
Email La Carmina if you’d like to work with her (TV hosting, press trips, advertisements, etc). Thank you.
If you’re looking to buy these Japanese clothes online, click here for sales.
† † † OSAKA SHOPPING MAP † † †
- First, visit this updated 2017 guide to Osaka, Japan Gothic stores! Including Territory, Satanic / Satan / Devil / witch shops.
Most of the alternative / Goth / Punk / Lolita stores are concentrated in the Shinsaibashi district of Osaka, especially Americamura (the triangle-shaped park). Above is a map of that I modified from a page in Kera Magazine. Some stores have closed down or moved; I did my best to update the locations.
Take the subway to Shinsaibashi Station, and walk towards the “canal” (the light blue vertical line on the map above) and Americamura park. From there, you can explore the area and find the stores.
Unlike in Harajuku, the stores are not always located close together, and many are found inside department stores or buildings (such as OPA and Big Step). If this is your first visit, I strongly recommend that you DON’T stress about finding the individual boutiques! Simply walk around Shinsaibashi / Americamura, and meander into the side-streets. You’ll run into incredible Sweet Lolita shops, Fairy Kei accessories and more, I promise. (Photos and reports of the stores are below).
† † † SWEET & GOTHIC LOLITA, PUNK EMO ELECTRO BOUTIQUES † † †
Innocent World – Sweet and Classical Lolita
Atelier Pierrot and Chantilly – Sweet and Classical Lolita
Angelic Pretty, Dr Martens, Shocker, secondhand Osaka Gothic Lolita clothes
Trick Monster – Cyber hair and rave gear
Sexy Dynamite London and Stigmata – Store is now closed down.
Goth Punk brands – including Sex Pot Revenge, Listen Flavor, Iron Fist
Dangerous Nude, Kikirara Shoten, Sex Pot Revenge
Bodyline – inexpensive cosplay, Lolita and Jrock clothes
Black Peace Now and Yosuke shoes – at OPA Department Store
Cutie Frash – Cyber, Wa, Loli
Kera Shop Arena: brands include Heart E, Maple wigs, Blablahospital, Miho Matsuda
Ridiculous Store – bright, used clothing. The ridiculous store is Ridiculous.
† † † OCCULT, TOYS & CUTE GOODS STORES † † †
Bleeding Maria – fortune telling, tarot, magic
Retro toy store – in the same building
Osaka Pokemon Center – Umeda. Sells merchandise of Pikachu and friends.
Aranzi Aronzo and other cute character goods / stationery stores
Territory – DJ Taiki’s black magic and Wicca store
† † † OSAKA JROCK VISUAL KEI CD STORES & BARS † † †
Visual Kei CD store in Shinsaibashi Big Step
Bar Midian – Visual Kei Jrock Metal bar owned by Fu-Ki, vocalist of BLOOD
Bar Rock Rock, Bar Moonwalk and Bar Midian – more heavy metal and VK bars / hangouts
† † † OSAKA GOTH CLUBS & PARTIES † † †
Black Veil – best and longest-running Goth Industrial EBM party in Osaka. Organized by DJ Taiki.
Video of Black Veil 10th anniversary ball, including Dark Marchen and fetish performances.
For photos and reports of TOKYO’S trendiest, weirdest clothing stores, please visit my constantly-updated shopping guide.
Got questions? Leave me a comment in this post or email me. You can find out more about me on my Biography page, and about my Japan trend consulting / tour guiding / TV hosting and fixing company, La Carmina & The Pirates.
If you’re looking to buy these Japanese clothes online, click here to shop
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PINK LEOPARD PRINT NAIL ART. CRISPIN HELLION GLOVER: FILM SCREENING & BOOK SIGNING TOUR. LIP SERVICE CYBERGOTH JACKET & MINI-SKIRT.
Remember when Rob and I interviewed Crispin Hellion Glover about his spooky career and current movie-making? That weekend, we attended his film event at Pacific Cinematheque, as press. I did leopard print nails for the occasion…
DIY leopard print nail art: I painted my nails pink, using OPI polish that I got from a New York Fashion Week swag bag. Using $1 black Daiso nail art polish (it has a fine tip), I painted leopard swirls and splotches. Finally, I filled in some of the “rings” with sparkly magenta polish from Don Quijote in Shinjuku.
The Body Needs sent me their signature TBN eyeshadows to play with. I am officially in love with Shimmers Teal, a white shadow that reflects like ice — perfect for highlighting the inner corners. I’m also impressed by TBN’s Blue-brown Sparkle a modulating mix of colors that I swept over the outer lids. I lined my lids with Graphite for a dark, smoky effect.
While in LA, Sebastiano and I invaded Lip Service headquarters. The mini-skirt and ruffle shrug jacket are from the Nocturnal Rendezvous collection.
Corset: Spider, Hong Kong brand. Seba tried very hard to fit into it.
Bowler hat: an old hat I customized
Purple tights: Old as well.
Crown royal necklace: Black Peace Now, from Closet Child
Crispin Glover began his one-man vaudeville show by reading passages from eight of his books. Each page is gloriously defaced with his unique handwriting and slightly discomforting collages (rats turned inside-out, elephants and swastikas). He then screened his film “What Is It?,” a reaction to the restraints of the corporate film industry, which refuses to distribute any material that might make a youngster slightly uncomfortable. Finally, he answered questions from the audience, such as the motivation and challenges behind using actors with Down’s Syndrome in the production.
Crispin then signed books, and we talked for quite some time. We’re thinking of teaming up and doing something together in Japan… More to come!
Crispin was gracious and genuinely interested in his fans. I think we can induct him in the Super-Exclusive Spooky Friendship Ring Club! Here’s what he signed for Rob; you can pick up his books from his website.
Rob models my new pink-and-black Hello Kitty iPhone cover, a gift from Sparklebee (world’s largest licensee of Sanrio products; check them out for more cute Japanese goods). He customized his bag: Warhol-Gaga-horror.
Crispin Hellion Glover’s is currently touring his films and books in the Pacific Northwest and England! Each event consists of “different combinations of the following”: Big Slide Show (one hour dramatic narration of eight different profusely illustrated books he has made over the years), film screening, Q & A session, book signing. The dates, venues and showtimes are here.
Apologies for the low quality photos… I’ll have more makeup tutorials soon. The Body Needs has a large line of mineral eye shadows and blushes, including MAC samples — can’t wait to keep experimenting!
What do you think of my leopard print nail art? Do you like to experiment with DIY nails? For wild inspiration, come see Yukiro’s nail art masterworks.
Japanese Word of the Day: Hyougara = Leopard print
Song of the Day: Hatsune Miku – World is Mine Live (The Japanese vocoloid teen is taking over the globe.)
LA CARMINA
