Category Archive for Tokyo + Japan
TORTURE GARDEN JAPAN: HALLOWEEN FETISH BDSM CLUB PARTY, AKASAKA EREBOS TOKYO. KIGURUMI & SEXY JAPANESE GIRLS IN LEATHER.
Twas the night before Halloween and all through the land / Spooky kids were gathering at Torture Garden Japan. Here’s what I wore for the most important occasion of the year…
Goth Nun outfit: Habitualized costume, gifted from Lip Service. Appropriately skimpy!
White fishnets: gifted from We Love Colors
Black and white shoes: John Fluevog
A dramatic night of dramatic poses. Yukiro dressed in “classic Dravarious,” while First Mate Naomi was a French maid.
In our universe, every day is Halloween. Our outfits always cause a stir when we’re riding on the subway.
Yukiro’s maniacal laughter resounded through the underground passages.
Atsushi wears “the mark of Satan” all over his face. He co-stars in our upcoming Evil Queen makeup video, which will be posted soon… (You’ll laugh so hard at our antics!)
Outside the club (Akasaka Erebos) we ran into Maria. I love the buttons down the outer sleeve of her elegant Gothic top.
Designer Kenzo also wore a dangerous spiky collar.
Kenzo is wearing his brand, Rituals. You’ll recall that I interviewed him for CNN TV.
Six of us got into Torture Garden for free — a new clubbing record.
The fashion inside was very varied. Latex, vinyl, Gothic…
Fairy kei, cyber decora, Victorian burlesque…
There were whips, masks and other instruments of pain for sale.
You’ll always run into kigurumi at fetish parties such as Department H. I find them delightful, though the half-realistic masks (left) are slightly chilling. Someone was inside this blow-up cow, shaking his plastic hooves to the music.
“There was a lot of riff-raff downstairs”. The music was pretty good upstairs (80s, neo-disco, electro).
Orange Halloween hair. The pair on the right was covered in eyeballs and had giant spiders in their hair.
A masked slave, metal chain leashed around his neck, begged for abuse from passersby. In the back, there was “libido” area where senses were aroused by volunteers in leopard suits…
Overall, a satisfactory nightcrawl! What did you do for All Hallow’s Eve? How did you dress up? More Halloween adventures coming right up…
Japanese Word of the Day: Nusumigiki = Eavesdropping
Song of the Day: Nekromantic – Honeysucker
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VISUAL KEI HORROR BAND SATAN IS BREAKING UP. HARAJUKU GIRLS FASHION: STREET SNAPS OF SWEET LOLITAS, DECORA JAPANESE FASHION.
More shakeups in the Visual Kei world! I was at the Candy Spooky Theater and Satan concert tonight in Tokyo, and they announced that this was Satan’s final show with the original 4 members. Shiya and DK are leaving the horror metal band to pursue new projects. Mr. Satan and leader Hi-na will soon find new members and restart the project.
I’ll have videos, photos and a full report of the last Satan concert coming up on my blog. Until then, you can see Satan live in my concert video and article from last May (with GPKISM).
Back to the Sony Australia travel show shoot. I hardly had any sleep after partying at Decadance Bar’s Seileen release party (and filming it for the Australian travel TV show). No sleep for the wicked… up and at ’em! TV hosting and arranging is a marathon; one must be Strong to make it through. So I rolled out of bed and headed to Harajuku station.
Pirate military buttons top: Putumayo, from Closet Child
Red skirt: Emily Temple Cute, from Closet Child
Little red plaid hat: Putumayo, from Closet Child
Platform Mary Janes: h.NAOTO, from Closet Child
Coffin backpack: h.NAOTO, from Closet Child
Holy knee socks: old things
One of the Aussie hosts, Tim, thought the main shopping street (Takeashita Doori) sounded like “take-a-shit-a”… Hence the mature pose.
The heyday of Jingu-bashi is over. You’ll no longer find cosplayers and Gothic Lolita fashionistas congregated on the iconic Harajuku bridge. On this particular Sunday, there was a matsuri (traditional festival) on a make-shift stage.
However, in Harajuku, you can still see Tinseltown-baroque fashion moving about on two legs. On-camera, I spoke about the district’s history and the various fashion tribes that blossomed here. We interviewed these Decora girls, who mix Sweet Lolita (Angelic Pretty dresses) with a rainfall of kawaii kitsch accessories.
The spirit of Harajuku fashion is DIY. Experimentation. Choose your own adventure. I interviewed two horned and black-winged girls who called their style Devil Kei. This pink-headed lady from Nagoya calls her look Zombie Kei. Every aspect is brilliantly coordinated, don’t you think?
On the weekends, many Japanese girls dress up and shop in Harajuku with their friends. Angelic Pretty remains very popular among the Sweet Loli set. I’m personally more of a Goth-stomper-boots type.
The Pirates had made arrangements to visit Takuya Angel’s cyber Goth boutique. Excellent news: the shop is no longer closing. It’ll be in the same location, but now you use the back entrance to access it.
The Australians were blown away by Takuya’s cyber-techno designs.Next, we visited Sex Pot Revenge around the corner.
Many TV crews ask me to take them to weird Japanese theme restaurants, since I wrote a book about them. We ended the day at Kayaga, possibly the maddest, wildest bar in Tokyo. Vibrating beers!
The owner, Mark, stunned the Australians with his surreal kindergarten performance art (here is a video.) To boot, he’s a talented chef who whipped up one of my favorite foods — kabocha, or Japanese pumpkin. (I’m also obsessed with the citrus, yuzu, which is a Frappucino flavor at Japan Starbucks.)
Want to learn more about my company La Carmina & The Pirates? We offer coolhunting, translating, Japanese travel arranging, TV hosting and production coordination. Come aboard our fair ship!
Japanese Word of the Day: Ginga = The Milky Way
Song of the Day: Galyernus – Destiny (This Japan metal band is my new favorite.)
LA CARMINA
