Japanese Alternative Fashion

What do you get when you dress your nation's children in the same old plain school uniform 6 days a week for 12 years in a country that has one of the longest school years in the world？　The answer is explosive Japanese alternative fashion!

Even during the pre-adolescent years when the urge to assert independence is not as great in teen years, youth still seem to eschew an explosion on color and self-expression in the few ways they are allowed to as far as the dress code of their school is concerned. Below is a picture of Japanese girls approximately 12 years old wearing fun and colorful shoes (the only part of the school uniform which is typically up to students).

On Sundays, the only day of the week Japanese youth are typically not in class, many school-age teens dress in wild outfits and strut their stuff around Harajuku, a neighborhood well-known in Japan for its fashionable youth. These outfits are inspired by well-known popular characters of Japan and by the teens own sense of fashion. There is a sense of explosion from pent up desire for self-expression in the fashion of many of these youth. Some of these youngsters perform in character for hours. The girl in the picture below performed and posed for pictures with tourists.


Check out more amazing photos of Japanese fashion at http://www.japanesestreets.com/