Topic
Japan
Kojima, a town in Okayama Prefecture, made school uniforms and work clothes before its factories turned to jeans, and it now has a reputation for selvedge denim that collectors travel to see. Japanese makers have a habit of taking an American or European idea and refining it past the point most companies would bother. In Tokyo, Nigo founded A Bathing Ape in Ura-Harajuku in 1993, and the neighborhood's tiny shops and limited runs set a pattern that streetwear everywhere followed. Rei Kawakubo founded Comme des Garçons in Tokyo in 1969 and showed in Paris for the first time in 1981. Watches get their own thread, from the Seiko SKX007 and the Casio G-Shock to the Grand Seiko workshops that polish cases with the Zaratsu technique. Objects do too, with the Walkman, the Game Boy and the PlayStation. Kyoto has a guide to its craft traditions. Isamu Noguchi's Akari lamps, made with lantern workshops in Gifu since 1951, sit in this thread as well.
Stories
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