Category Archive for Tokyo + Japan
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 4 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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VIDEO CLIPS OF TOQUE DE TOKYO, JAPANESE TV DOCUMENTARY WITH ANTOINE DE CAUNES. FRENCH CANAL PLUS PROGRAM.
Tis an exciting time… in addition to bringing the NOH8 non-profit to Tokyo, I have new writing and TV jobs are in the works. (Will let you know everything soon.)
I know you’ve been itching to see the Toqué de Tokyo French TV documentary I co-hosted in Japan, with Antoine de Caunes. Finally, I’ve put up clips on my YouTube.
I was Antoine’s guide to Tokyo theme restaurants and crazy subcultures in the 90-minute TV special. I took him to an ear cleaning parlor, theme cafes (babies, cats, maids), and two wild Goth cyber fetish clubs (Tokyo Decadance and Department H). Watch me ride in a rickshaw and laugh manically with my partner in crime, Yukiro Dravarious! (The video is above and here.)
We gave Antoine a taste of our psychedelic clubbing world. (Yukiro went as Jem and the Holograms.)
It’s fun to have my friends involved in the TV shoots. G-suS and Count de Sang gave him a bite of Tokyo Decadance’s nightlife.
On my list of places to visit: the Drop Dead Festival for Gothic Punk and Weird Wave music/culture. The last one was in Lithuania, of all places.
Unzipped pants and nipple tape… what more do you need in a boy?
Here are links to all the BEHIND-THE-SCENES PHOTOS from the Tokyo TV shoot:
Official photos by Jeremie Souteyrat (who took the first photo in this post)
Ueno Park – where we filmed the rickshaw intro and ending
Ikebukuro cat cafe – where I gave Antoine a cute bento box and we played with kitties
Don Quijote – gallomping with my friends around the Shinjuku discount store
Omotesando baby cafe – for the world’s most spoiled brats
Cosmopolitan Magazine – feature about the documentary
Odaiba dinner boat cruise – with Antoine de Caunes and the TV crew
Thanks to everyone who saw the Japan documentary and sent me sweet messages! You can always comment in the posts or email me if you want to collaborate.
What do you think of my Toque de Tokyo TV clips? Were you mesmerized or petrified by any of the places we visited?
Japanese Word of the Day: Miyuki = Beautiful snow
Song of the Day: Edith Piaf – Je Ne Veux Pas Travailler (My current mood…)