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Like the United States, malls and shopping centers in Japan are a great place to scope out what's new and what's hot on the market for popular culture. You can find everything from your general department stores to your highest fashion outlets. But Japanese malls aren't limited to clothing and shoes. Let's take a look at what else can be found here.
In addition to being exceptionally fashion-conscious, Japanese people have an apparent interest in making sure their furry, four-legged companions are also looking their best. Clothing, toys, shoes, rain jackets, strollers, bedding, accessories...you name it, they had it. See those vests in the background of the photo? People clothing right? Nope! All of it, the entire store, dedicated to dogs. Paris Hilton would be in her glory.
Game centers are one of the busiest sections of Japanese shopping centers. Here you can find every possible crane game you can imagine, plus video games, virtual trading card games, and even Dance Dance Revolution for little kids. Prizes and themes are usually manga or anime characters, as well as food and snacks. Dragonball, Pokemon, Doraemon, Hello Kitty, and Disney seem to be some of the most popular characters among both children and adults.
Every shopping center I've visited has been different, and it's always interesting to see what people are buying and the kinds of things that they enjoy doing. Malls and shopping centers aren't the only sources to find popular culture, but they are a good window into the different areas of interest Japan has to offer.
4 comments:
I think the shopping mall is an interesting place to investigate pop culture. You provide a lot of good samples of J-pop to be found while shopping. (I think Paris Hilton had something to do with the pet clothes boom). I think your post would have been more successful if you limited the number of examples and provided more specific information about 1 or 2 examples. Seems like you could have provided some interesting links to go with your post.
It always amazes me to see how they put their interests out in plain sight, even if it's something like a shonen manga. I guess I'm just too used to anime and manga being a part of the ostracized counter-culture here in America. I suppose it's all much more mainstream to the Japanese. I've heard legends from Mukerjee about their arcades and malls, so this part is very interesting to me. I have yet to find another culture that takes it's hobbies as seriously as the Japanese.
It's not even that manga or anime are hobbies in Japan. I'm taking a pop culture class right now and you wouldn't believe how integrated they are into the culture. They start out as manga, then become anime, and then television dramas. That, and there's a manga for literally everything.
Japan is the most treasured place for the visitors due to its various shops offering diversified range of products. Shopping in Japan is always a unique experience as one can avail many exclusive products from different Japanese shops that have some rarest collection. Moreover these shops are well organized and maintained that provide a never to forget experience to the customers
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