Changing Trends in Japanese Pop Culture
By: Tess Dinapoli
Tags: Asian Culture, Japanese Culture, Fashion, Japanese, Fashion Trends

Japan is well-known for being a trendsetter, developing popular media, games, and other ideas and concepts that rapidly work their way into Western culture. Staying one step ahead of these trends means keeping a close eye on developments in the country. If you’re interested in learning more about what is coming out of Japan and what you may be looking forward to as we approach the new year, here are a few changing trends in Japanese pop culture worth paying attention to.

Photo by Jezael Melgoza on Unsplash

Itasha: Expressing Individuality Through Car Culture

Itasha is a term that refers to cars that have been heavily decorated with characters and logos stemming from popular anime and manga, often with an emphasis on featuring female characters hailing from the individual series that the car owners are interested in. A way to express individuality, the level of decorations may vary from person to person. For example, some people may only have the outside of the car painted, while others will go all out and include peeling stickers, air fresheners, and even license plate frames. You may even find some cars that have been heavily modified with exciting light displays, massive speakers, and expensive merchandise adorning both the interior and the exterior of the vehicle.

If you’re a lover of any manga or anime, this is absolutely one trend you’ll want to get behind as you may be able to find others who share your passion or even attend an event filled with itasha, itansha, and itachari!

Embracing Fashion

Photo by Alex Sheldon on Unsplash

Many will wear otaku clothing (otaku is a term used to refer to what we would call geek culture) to represent their favorite character. It’s a fun way to express your style and personality, and it’s perfect for everyday wear.

You can also take it a step further by exploring cosplay. This is when you dress and act like the character. Depending on the anime, you may be able to wear a complete outfit that looks just like the anime without anyone even realizing you’re playing a character.

A Return to Retro Gaming

Much of the gaming that has permeated Western culture was developed in Japan, and like all trends, many things return as trends once a couple of decades have passed. As a result, retro gaming seems to be making a comeback in Japan, with popular titles like Super Mario Bros and Donkey Kong as well as once obsolete gaming systems like the NES or the Super NES becoming popular once again. Whether it’s in the home or in gaming arcades or cafes, don’t be surprised if you see some of your favorite old games make an appearance in your life again.

Vegetarian Food

Interestingly enough, some of the health and food trends that became quite popular in the West are now moving to the East, despite the fact that we’ve seen quite a few food trends rise from the East in past years (take, for example, foods and drinks like boba tea or fluffy pancakes, both of which have taken the West by storm).

Arguably two of the biggest trends taking hold of Japan are vegetarian food and intermittent fasting. Despite the fact that vegetarian food is by no means a new development, it wasn’t something that was very popular in Japan until recently, which is largely due to the fact that meat is a staple in many Japanese meals and is not as problematic as it has become in Western culture. Now, more and more small restaurants are beginning to experiment with these types of meals, offering interested customers the ability to eat meals with meat substitutes and focus more on dishes that offer more vegetables than a traditional dish would.

Intermittent Fasting

Intermittent fasting is another concept that has grown in popularity in the West (much more recently than vegetarianism, however) but also hasn’t really made as much of an impact on the rest of the world as it has in America. Now, having a one day diet seems to be making its rounds throughout Japan, especially for those who are only looking to lose a little weight by consuming only liquids for 24 hours. While this may not be a trend that’s as impactful as the others listed above, it’s definitely interesting to see it play out as more people begin to adopt this kind of diet.

As cultures change and grow, trends come and go as well. Keeping tabs on these trends as they develop allows you to see which trends you may see developing within your country as well as showing you what trends may have developed elsewhere that are now impacting other countries, such as the examples in Japan listed above. Whatever your reason for being interested in these new Japanese trends, the article will help introduce you to some trends that may be new to you as well as some that you may already be familiar with!