Fashion in Kitakyushu...

and Japan in general (?):

People here dress very feminine-ish (or to put it bluntly, they look very queer). It took us ages to write a blog about this because we didn't know where to start. I'm bored out of my brains and it's a Saturday night so it can't get any worse, so whatever it's all good. I'll start off with mens bags (age group: 18-25). I CAN NOT FIND A NORMAL LOOKING BAG ANYWHERE!!! Every guy i've seen so far carries a bag that chicks would normally be seen with. That's not the part that bugs me though, what bugs me is the way they carry it. As quoted by becs "there's no words to describe the absolute WRONGNESS".

I couldn't find the words to describe how they hold their bags so i'll post a quick picture i made with my MS paint skills:

Yeah, very feminine.

Next: Clothes. Same story as with the bags, the normal "trendy" clothes here are either very feminine... or very fobby (in comparison to Sydney's fashion if you didn't notice by now). In our 16 days here we've seen some of the weirdest clothing ensembles. One common example that really comes to mind is flannelet shirts with jeans that have a little skirt attachment. weird stuff.

Now you can get regular department store-type clothes that you'd see in Sydney but the prices are ridiculous so you wouldn't want to bother. We're talking at least 2 times the regular prices in Sydney... and you thought Sydney was bad. My sister summed it up perfectly:

"no wonder they dress so badly here in Japan, people are only able to buy fobby clothes".

In summary: Where did all the men go? I'm in a city where all the guys here are confused about their gender.

These photos aren't as bad as i described... trust me, there are worse and i'll try my best to get some snaps to show you guys what me and becs see everyday.



There are some positives though:
- Original Chucks are very cheap here. We're talking 3800yen which is ~$40AU. I picked up a pair to take with me to the gym. The patterned Chucks are like 9500yen, not that i care though cause those Chucks are way too wacko for my liking.
- Japanese style suits are very stylish. I'll definitely pick one up before i leave.

Now on to Becs with her thoughts on chicks fashion in Kitakyushu. Just a side note before i go, the girls here... are FINE! DAYUM!

Oooh becs post the pics of the guys at uni that we took on the people watching day before class.

The guys:

As per usual, there are the fuglies and there are the hotties - oh and the pretty boys. The only difference between a Japanese hottie and a non-japanese hottie is what how they're dressed, their hairstyle and their accessories.

Yes, accessories. As Quoc mentioned - bags. Man bags - as well as HANDBAGS. It's an unbelievable sight - watching a hot guy wak past with a handbag on the crook of their arm is probably the saddest thing ever T_T . WHY would you spoil your image by carrying a handbag!?!!?!?

Hairstyle - usually guys don't dye their hair - but some of them have such...long and girly hairstyles you'd think they were girls from certain angles. A lot of girls have dyed hair - and the rage right now is permed hair...permed AND dyed.

Clothes...unlike Quoc I've investigates different stores and their prices - if you know were to go you can get clothes that are cheaper than Sydney - and are not 'fobby'. I swear to whoever is up there that if it's not frilly, lacy or flowy or wearable in ten thousand layers girls won't wear it. Japanese girls (except the hot ones on tv and the skanky ones) seem not to like anyone seeing what their waist/hip looks like cos all their tops are long, flowy and come down to the thighs.

Or the opposite - 'hip-hop' clothes are terribly overpriced and show off everything (layers underneath-not their skin). Grls also mostly wear some sort of heels with knee high socks. Their socks are really cool though - so colourful XD, sooo many types - in their various patterned, frilly, lacey, and ribbony-forms. Oh and plain ones. T-shirts don't exist...

And a lot of girls don't know the meaning of no make-up. It's a japanese thing - but i still can't get used to seeing old and young girls with damn glittery white stuff all over their face and nails. Some of them paint themselves so damn white. Well - the girls in my lab are normal - i mean - this IS an engineering university. That said the girls really know how to fix themselves up - i would totally turn for some of these girls.

Chicks

Back to the eye-candy.

Guys are so shy T_T . Some may find this cute... girls are even more shy actually - even with other girls. I just want to hit them all over the head just to see if they actually can make a noise. Fortunately some guys manage to have a sense of normal-ness (not fashion cos then in my find they're metro/gay - and in Japan [generalisation] metro is normal) - when that happens... *drool*

-Bec