Week 4_Toan Tran

It is interesting to read how American culture indirectly influenced Japanese fashion post World War II but is also now having a massive reverse effect on American fashion with influences from Japan. In fact, a relatively new Japanese slang called "Ametora" for "American tradition" is mentioned in the magazine article How American Style Fueled Postwar Youth Fashion in Japan where fashion styles become "reimported to the U.S. through the success of several denim and streetwear brand" for clothing chains such as Uniqlo (Fernandez, 1). And as a consumer of Uniqlo, I definitely agree as the general style is continuing to have more and more western fashion culture influence present. As a result, fashion became a huge factor in developing Japan's national aesthetic although "inserting themselves in the American consciousness [was] never their goal" (Fernandez, 1). Something like this pair of jeans from Evisu, a popular clothing brand from Japan, where I had no idea the history and intentions it had until now—to give the Japanese people the feeling of wearing something like American jeans. However, nowadays the article mentions that the American culture we have an idea of is "very much informed by foreign [countries] reimporting it back (Fernandez, 6). 

And this one example of the overall process Japan went through was called the Yoshida Doctrine where its primary goal was to advance Japan's economic growth while keeping its security developments at a reasonable minimum (Man, 1). To develop their sense of national aesthetic, Japan tried their best to stay on good political-economic terms with the U.S. while remaining less armed in their military and providing bases for the U.S. military forces. It is impressive to see how far Japan has gone with this method with its huge influence on the entire world now but nothing comes to mind for how I would improve its current aesthetic. For Japan's current brand in something else other than fashion I am not too well versed in but I am looking forward to hearing more about it possibly in class. 

References:

Evisu - Google Search. https://www.google.com/search?q=evisu&rlz=1C5CHFA_enUS789US789&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwj9l6DE54ngAhVJwMQHHSs9CVIQ_AUIDygC&biw=1439&bih=722#imgdii=AdRy3pRhFl3wNM:&imgrc=si5E3C-zf42nzM: Accessed 27 Jan. 2019.

Fernandez, Chantal. “How American Style Fueled Postwar Youth Fashion in Japan.” Fashionista.

Man, Tang Siew. Japan’s Grand Strategic Shift from Yoshida to Koizumi: Reflections on Japan’s Strategic Focus in the 21st Century.