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  • Were at Harajuku, Tokyo and behind me is Takeshita street

  • Ground zero for the youth fashion industry here in Japan

  • and help me out with this report is

  • Michelle Branch

  • A fashion consultant and buyer

  • Hi,I'm Michelle

  • I've lived in Tokyo for several years and study fashion

  • So this is Takeshita street. Why is it such a magnet

  • for youth fashion?

  • It's cheap

  • It's eccentric

  • Everybody here's creative

  • How can you not come here?

  • Well this area is undergoing an amazing change as you can hear

  • there's drills, there's a jackhammers there's a lot of construction it's a

  • really exciting time to be here

  • and I definitely need a makeover, too

  • I think I can help

  • That's good news

  • Takeshita street is pedestrian-only

  • and is jammed with fashion shops cafes and restaurants

  • The independent boutiques are like laboratories for youth fashions

  • Some call them antenna shops

  • where new items are test-marketed

  • How did you get involved in Japanese youth fashion?

  • It just started with anime and cosplay

  • fully evolved to Japanese fashion

  • What's with this outfit you get blue hair

  • You got you know, skrits... What do you call the stilts? Hi...?

  • I don't know...

  • Yeah

  • Converse

  • How did you come with this look?

  • A lot of this is a combination of things I like and

  • all sorts of things really popular right now

  • Galaxy friends, pleated skirt, cult symbols,

  • It's what's IN right now

  • Tell me about TAKESHITA street. What makes this place

  • really special and what are we gonna see today?

  • We're going to see... lots of neons

  • A lot of influence from the 80's and 90's

  • Lots of subculture fashion as well like Lolita for example...

  • um, and a lot of cheap stuff

  • On sale & cheap

  • Colorful, flashy, glitzy even vulgar

  • It's teen heaven for pop culture

  • You never know what you're going to find around the corner

  • (Hello)KONNICHIWA

  • This is AC/DC rack

  • a popular locally grown shop on Takeshita

  • Thousands of colors dancing on fabric

  • Welcome to pop culture fashion

  • Everything in the shop is unisex

  • These certainly are colorful

  • Really?

  • The shop designs are original

  • and they are priced to move in the youth market

  • I'm having my doubts about the unisex style

  • The store's history is as colorful as it's fashion

  • AC/DC rag is the first shop on Takeshita street

  • and they're on a mission to keep it that way

  • A lot of other buildings have been torn down to make way for the new

  • But ACDC rag keeps going the way they've done things for years

  • they now have several shops on Takeshita

  • My boss started this shop

  • I think more than thirty years ago

  • He didn't have

  • Money actually

  • But they, he had

  • a big such a big dream,so he started this shop

  • It looks like Island

  • But nowadays in this areas

  • There are so many big shops

  • like quite popular brand shops

  • But he had, he has

  • So many memories for this shop

  • So we do still now

  • This is our Identity

  • and this is Takeshita streets' identity

  • If we don't want to lose our identity

  • be on the front line up

  • yes, frontline

  • Top of Takeshita street

  • So we have to stay here

  • OK,OK,OK,OK

  • Oh Michelle, I feel like a new man

  • Look at this I had never worn anything

  • like this before in my life!

  • Now you look like one of the Harajuku kids

  • oh yeah, I'm ready to concur Takeshita street

  • Let' go

  • Yeah!!

  • I was skeptical about the shirt and pants

  • It seems like a ladies blouse but fashion energizes

  • Step-by-step I was getting more confident

  • now to find some accessories

  • There are so many shops to explore

  • Hey I got 'em

  • Color contacts

  • It's a real trend now

  • I went for impact! Neon white

  • I'll put it in

  • Which eye ball?

  • OK, look , look at the eye hole

  • Don't blink

  • I've never worn contacts before

  • But when they're in...

  • I changed from man to beast

  • Now we're on the attack

  • We need more accessories

  • and Michelle knows just the place

  • THANK YOU MART

  • Everything here is only 390 yen

  • I was in good hands with Michelle

  • It was time to complete the look but first

  • Let's jam

  • Time to turn to the dark side

  • We have these

  • bracelets here. Zippers that seems to go nowhere

  • socks which we need

  • The dark side light side ring

  • and a hat, the belts for running around 2G's

  • I think.... 2000 yen.Anything else?

  • You could get away if you feel so incline

  • OK

  • Top off the outfit with more color

  • Oh yeah

  • It's Harajuku time, baby

  • Power skull ring

  • NEON and go nowhere zipper bracelets

  • Bloody eye keyring with fancy belt

  • Clear spiked platforms that kick royal asphalt

  • Cool blue wig

  • Ice for the brain

  • Cap to hold the fort down

  • Color contacts and glasses to frame the madness

  • So here we are, at the end of Takeshita street

  • and I'm totally transformed. What did you do to me?

  • I made you colorful

  • I made you poppy

  • I made you hip and Harajuku boy

  • Just made me look twenty years younger

  • That's how you roll here

  • So this is what I guess in average

  • Harajuku pop style guy looks like

  • and it's definitely a look that's only in Japan

  • Let's go out!

Were at Harajuku, Tokyo and behind me is Takeshita street

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