INDIVIDUAL EFFORTS

With technology and the Internet, it is not difficult to diffuse fashion world­ wide. Teens create Web sites promoting, chatting, and exchanging information about their favorite fashions. It is not surprising that some of the Japanese street styles have migrated to the streets of New York City. In addition to manga, anime, sushi, and other cultural objects, Japan is attempting to pro­mote the latest street fashion and is setting new fashion tastes.

Many Lolita followers who were not familiar with Japanese culture are fas­cinated by the Lolita image and fashion. The Internet has undoubtedly been the key tool that helps followers find information about Japanese Lolita la­bels, events, auctions, and chat rooms. Many are initially influenced by manga and anime.

A 22-year-old Italian Lolita who has been wearing Lolita since 2006 said, "The first time I found Lolita was on the Internet. I was looking for an image of a manga that I was reading. Then I started to get more information about this subculture, and I found an Italian forum about Lolita (gothiclolita.forum­ community.net)." An American Lolita told me, "I went to a Japanese bookstore with my friends and found Gothic and Lolita Bible and fell in love with it. Then I started to Google to get more information on the Internet." These young women find sufficient information online about Japanese Lolita brands that they want to wear. They are familiar with the well-known Lolita brands, such as Baby, the Stars Shine Bright, Metamorphose, and Angelic Pretty.

The Italian Lolita girl continued, "My favorite brand is Alice and the Pi­ rates, but I love Innocent World and Mary Magdalene, too. Usually I buy them through international online shops, but sometimes I also buy secondhand through European Lolita girls. I can buy them in Italy, too, but there are few shops that carry them, and their prices are really high, usually three or four times the original price in Japan so I prefer to buy them online." Lolita clothes are rather expensive, and this is probably one of the reasons that many of the followers of this style sew their own clothes.

As indicated in chapter 5, "Harajuku: The Youth in Silent Rebellion," it is not only the look that Lolita adopt but also a lifestyle. Lolita girls like to or­ganize tea parties, so they often find their friends on Internet chat rooms or on social networking sites and get together at the parties. There is a large U.S. Lolita community on Live Journal (www.livejournal.com), a popular social networking site, and it is subdivided into smaller communities with specific Lolita interests, such as Lolita Housewife, Princess Lolita, Loli Graphics, Lolita Indies, and Lolita Pattern Swap. There is a Lolita community in almost every state in the United States. One of the largest Lolita communities on Live Jour­nal writes:

Welcome to The Elegant Gothic Lolita (EGL) Community! Please make sure and understand all the rules before posting! Our mission is to help others share, grow, and learn in the Gothic Lolita fashion. The community discussions focus on Japa­nese Gothic Lolita fashion and its manifestations the world over. We hope you will enjoy browsing our community!

The community has monthly themes. For example, the theme for October is "Lolita and Literature." Participants can share their own writings, or they can post an outfit inspired by their favorite novel.

INSTITUTIONAL EFFORTS

The Japanese government systematically and collaboratively attempts to pro­mote a wider range of Japanese popular culture. Consumers in the West take interest in Japanese subcultures and their stylistic expressions initially through anime and manga. Japanese fashion magazines are popular in East and Southeast Asia but not in Europe or the United States. Although there are Chinese versions of Japanese street fashion magazines, such as Popteen, S-Cawaii, mina, Vivi, and Ray, there are no English versions of them, which in­dicates the geographical limitation of Japan's fashion expansion.

There are several institutional efforts to spread Japanese Lolita worldwide since it appears to be one of the most well-known Japanese subcultures over­seas. The Japanese government and both commercial and nonprofit organizations realize that there is significant commercial potential to Lolita style. In March 2009, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs appointed three Kawaii (cute) Ambassa­dors: Shizuka Fujioka, Yu Kimura, and Misako Aoki. They went around the world promoting Japanese Kawaii culture. According to the press release issued by the Japan Ministry of Foreign Affairs (2009),

The main mission of the three ambassadors is to transmit the new trends of Japanese pop culture in the field of fashion to the rest of the world and to pro­mote understanding of Japan by their attending cultural projects carried out by the Japanese Embassies and the Japan Foundation. Pop culture, including fashion, is an integral part of today's Japanese culture. It enjoys worldwide popularity and we witness that such people are ever-increasing. Pop culture is expected to help the people of the world have more chances to know about contemporary Japan, hand-in-hand with other traditional and contemporary cultures.

Fujioka gave a lecture on Japanese fashion at the Japan Festa in Bangkok in March 2009. Aoki, who is a Lolita model for two major magazines, Gothic and Lolita Bible and Kera!, went to the Japan Expo in Paris to promote Japan's pop culture diplomacy. She also attended the World Cosplay Summit in Brazil to introduce Lolita fashion and traveled to Italy, Spain, Korea, and Russia.

Many European Lolita visit the Japan Expo in Paris, which is one of the world's largest international events celebrating Japanese pop culture, where over 160,000 people interested in Japanese pop cultural trends gather from all over the world. There are trade fairs, fashion shows, games, and various events related to Japanese popular culture, including Lolita. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Agency for Cultural Affairs, the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry, and the Japan Tourism Agency (JTA) collaborated to participate in the Japan Expo Paris 2010. The number of visitors has increased every year since its inception in 2000. The Lolita come from all over Europe and hold meetings at the convention.

The Fashion Institute of Technology in New York hosted a Lolita tea party in October 2010, in conjunction with its exhibition Japan Fashion Now! The ex­hibition featured contemporary Japanese fashion from world-famous design­ers, such as lssey Miyake and Yohji Yamamoto, as well as youth subcultural fashion, including different styles and brands of Lolita fashion. A similar exhi­bition on contemporary Japanese fashion took place at London's Barbican Art Gallery in 2010. A new store called Tokyo Rebel opened in New York in 2009, which exclusively sells imported Japanese Lolita fashion.