Hai, it’s a black-and-white season in Osaka

Japan. The land of the rising sun, the kimono, sushi and Hello Kitty. And may I add Voltes V, Nintendo, Tamagotchi, Pokemon, Zoids and Bey Blades.

Just last week, I joined a group of 14 models who went to Japan to with Pitoy Moreno, the Fashion Czar of Asia, for a special fashion gala to celebrate Philippine Independence Day with the Japanese community. Having done over 35 fashion galas around the world, the Czar had already conquered Tokyo, and Osaka was next.

Billeted at Hotel New Otani in Osaka, we found ourselves in the center of Japan’s business district. Not a teen with candy-colored hair in sight. Every street I crossed was filled with young Japanese businessmen in suits. The only fashion accessories they had were trendy decorated cellphones which they yakked all day with, not to talk about what pair of shoes to buy next but rather to close their business deals.

Definitely a far cry from Harajuku in Tokyo - the youth-centric of extravagantly dressed teenagers. There are coffee shops and chic fashion boutiques in Harajaku. It is the place where the young and trendy Tokyoites like to hang-out. Clubs and restaurants all reflect this "fast-fashion" attitude. If it’s "in," it’s in Harajuku. Harajuku and Osaka felt like a shift from colored TV to black and white.

We had one entire free day the morning after Pitoy Moreno’s fashion show. After a night of ternos, maria claras, barongs, and standing ovations, I was looking forward to seeing the Japanese in their costumes – national or not.

Our feet could only take us as far as Daiei, Kyobashi, and Keihan Mall. I was a little disappointed. Like in Manila, their shops were filled with military and utilitarian clothing. Nothing new. The most colorful item I saw was a set of notebooks with clouds, rainbows, candies and flowers. What happened to all the anime lovers?. Their biggest shoe size was a 6 (I loved the shoes, too bad! Not those platform moon-walking shoes, okay? They had a lot of lovely close-toed stilettos.)

Three years ago, a typical Japanese teen would have a vocabulary that’s heavily populated by the word kawaii. It means "cute" literally but figuratively, kawaii is something infinitely desirable, something to make a young girl’s life complete: platform shoes, loose legwarmers, purikura stickers (that’s neo-print stickers to us!), and Hello Kitty, the ultimate icon of Japanese cuteness.

The fashion statement then was the kogyaru look which basically translates as "young trendy woman." Time magazine described it as the antithesis of anything naturally Japanese: hair streaked with gray, tanned caramel skin, silver-speckled eye shadow, frosted silver lips, mini-skirts and bell bottom jeans, high-heeled suede boots, a tiny Louis Vuitton backpack that holds a pink compact case decorated with Hello Kitty. Funny how in Manila it was only recently that gray or salt-and-pepper hair and mini skirts became visible in the fashion scene. Japan had it three years ago. And it was over in a blink of a blue-mascaraed eyelash.

Even merchants who sell lesser-known Japanese labels keep in touch with what’s hip by reading Japanese fashion magazines like Non-no. The next trend? Drawstring pants in shades of khaki. That was their fashion forecast in 1999. And that’s our fashion staple only today.

So what do the young fashionable Japanese wear today? In Osaka, the girls replaced their loose leg warmers with fitted knee-length socks. They went back to Geometry: polka dots and stripes were the dominating patterns. While my eyes expected all colors of the rainbow, Japanese streetwear dictated black, white, and neutrals. Many girls favored black leaning towards a heavy metal/rock ‘n’ roll look. Skulls and crossbones were the emerging prints. (Does this have anything to do with Metallica’s release of a new album after a very long time?)

Filipinas consider layering and shapeless clothing unfashionable. But Japan’s fashion royalty Issey Miyake, Rei Kawakubo (for Comme des Garcons), and Yohji Yamamoto have long disproved that. Clothes do not always have to flatter the body. The young Japanese are good examples of this. Layering is also their secret to a non-stop changing wardrobe.

As for the hair, red, yellow, blue, orange, and green were nowhere in sight. Hues from black to brown and reddish brown crowned their heads. The cut? Wispy and feathery with bangs. Every Japanese girl reminded me of Gem and The Holograms.

But that’s just Osaka. But then again, Osaka natives like to say that even Tokyo bows to the creative ideas that hold sway in Osaka’s street fashion district.

What will be the next big fashionable thing in Japan? Not even the emperors of fashion can tell. Fashions come and go, faster than their bullet trains.

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