Word: fashionability
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Ninjas don't wear sweatshirts. Yoshiyuki Ogata, a Tokyo designer whose street fashion is stocked in upscale L.A. and London boutiques, was living in Seattle in the 1990s when he discovered a peculiar phenomenon. His friends overseas, Americans as well as other nationalities, were proud of their roots, while his Japanese mates tended to denigrate their own culture and idolize anything foreign. Ogata couldn't understand the impulse. Yes, he had traveled the world and had majored in international business. But Ogata had a black belt in karate. He loved the exquisite craftsmanship of Japan's artisans. So when...
...Made in Japan" is getting a makeover. No longer are Japanese products simply equated with technological wizardry or muted expressions of international modernism. Instead, Japan's new exports draw inspiration from the country's abundant artistic heritage. Fashion designers are updating the kimono, while centuries-old sake distillers are proving that the rice-based spirit can be just as complex as a good Bordeaux. Movie directors are winning international awards for films that celebrate Japan's divine bond with nature, just as interior designers are fusing organic materials with industrial chic in a distinctively Japanese way. Instead of marketing...
...understandable. Japan's wartime defeat equated nationalism with suffering. The occupying Americans discouraged indigenous martial arts like karate and kendo from Japanese schools, just as an Emperor whose name was used to justify a terrible war learned to focus on safer pursuits like marine biology. What aspiring Japanese fashion designer would want to, say, revive historical motifs when the rising sun still draws revulsion in Nanjing or Bataan...
...crowd waited, the atmosphere was part rock concert, part independence day celebration. Teens strolled hand in hand, swaying to the music, chatting and lighting candles. Roma worked the crowd for spare change. Red and white flags were sported as fashion accessories, bandanas, shawls, and miniskirts. "Sarko ! Sarko!" they roared in anticipation, before following up with "YUV-SHEN-KO!" Speakers boomed out rock and folk music, including a recent local hit called Freedom to which the crowd poignantly responded by swaying and chanting to the lyrics as if they'd been singing it all their lives. Even Georgian NBA basketball star...
...Lezak's 100m leg of 46.06 seconds was the fastest among all 32 legs in the race, and while Bernard swam a faster first 50m, Lezak, who also picked up the anchor leg for the U.S. in the last two Olympics, caught up in stunning fashion and motored to the wall. Going into Lezak's 100m, the French were .59 second ahead. It might have helped, too, that Lezak was able to see Bernard all the way down the last lap. Lezak breathes on his right side, and there's nothing like seeing exactly where your opponent...