Osakans

The first thing that I noticed when I arrived here in Osaka was the people.  They have rather distinctive sense of fashion and style. I'm referring to both men and ladies.  Here is a list of what I have observed for the past few months in the order of their top to bottom;

Hair 

• Ladies ~ Most of them have long hair. Their hair look as if they have personal hairdresser following them everywhere.  There are some adventurous ladies who go for extreme colours like yellow, pink or baby blue.

• Men - You will see many men who remind you of the heroes in the Japanese movies or dramas. You know, the 'hair-in-the-advertisement' kind of thing. Yeah, like the Gatsby ad :)

                                           

   

Clothing

• Ladies - Mostly well-dressed from top to bottom.  They wear earth colours during winter. We, aliens on the other hand wear bright colours :P. I love to see their different types of outerwear, and the way they style them. They like stockings. There are variety of colours and design.  I think the recent one is the tatoo-like stockings. Skinny pants and leggings are popular. Micro-miniskirts and dresses are common especially during summer. Hotpants too! They love accessories to complement their style. Some will dress up like their favourite manga character.

• Men - Generally they are also concerned about their appearance in public. Some of them REALLY look good in their casual wear. Hats, skinny jeans or pants, vests, jackets, plus muffler scarves around their necks. 

Shoes

• Ladies - They are never in their flipflops or slippers except for crocs, even during summer.  No wonder we had difficult times finding slippers for our kids when we first arrived here.  We were hoping to find *'selipar jepun' easily here, but that was not the case. There were not even a pair of slippers sold at the shoe shop.  We were lucky that we found fake crocs at AEON mall. Just by looking at the shoes that they wear, I can tell that they cost a bomb. High heels and wedges are what they usually walk in. I really love to see their shoes during winter, the boots which varies from ankle boots to knee boots, are all to die for! Oh yes, it's common to see ladies cycling in their high heels here :D.  

Just a random lady riding a bicycle in her high heels :)

• Men - The popular sight will be loafers and boots like Timberland or Red Wings. Converse and Vans are also common especially among youngsters.

Bag 

• Ladies - Handbags. It's their fashion statement. LV is everywhere.  Perhaps Balenciaga, Chanel or Hermes to show that their in a higher rank of the social status. Older women in Osaka are still looking poised, classy and stylish for their age. 

• Men - The stylish men will carry bags too. Of course they are the designer's items like Armani, Gucci, Prada and so on. 

I think there is like a hidden rule here that you're not allowed to dress shabbily or wear slippers when you're in the city especially when entering the malls. Or they are strictly abiding this quote:

Or this one:

I've actually read somewhere before, that Japanese would rather live in a 'box' and spend thousands on designer's items.  In short, where they live is actually less important than their image or what they carry around on their shoulders. To experience this with my own eyes is pretty cool.  

Again, this is coming from what I've observed and read. Blending into this culture will be quite tough for us, so I'll spend on what is necessary.  Splurging once in a while is fine, I think.  No?