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April 29, 2024
 

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Samuel Thomas

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Samuel Thomas
Samuel Thomas is a fashion writer and lecturer in fashion media at Bunka Gakuen University. He regularly contributes to The Japan Times, among other publications, and provides consultancy services to industry clients.
For Samuel Thomas's latest contributions to The Japan Times, see below:
Japan Times
LIFE / Style & Design
Apr 1, 2017
Tokyo fashion week: Young menswear designers take the helm
Tokyo menswear always used to be the easy sale of the city come fashion week, with womenswear collections characterized as thinking altogether far too locally to capture a global audience.
Japan Times
LIFE / Style & Design
Mar 11, 2017
Monocle raises its glass to 10 years in Japan
There are precious few publications standing against the accepted status quo that print media has had its day and the future is digital. Taking a stand among their ranks is lifestyle magazine Monocle, which even eschews social media, choosing to address those who seek its singular lens via a 24-hour radio show rather than by 140-character posts.
Japan Times
LIFE / Style & Design / ON: FASHION
Mar 11, 2017
Inspiration can come from anywhere
Q-Pot dishes out more sweet stuff
Japan Times
LIFE / Style & Design / ON: FASHION
Jan 7, 2017
David Bowie is and always will be with us
SHINTARO YAMANAKA (QSYUM!)
Japan Times
LIFE / Style & Design
Nov 12, 2016
Tokyo fashion show takes a modest approach to style
Modesty takes center stage
Japan Times
LIFE / Style & Design
Oct 29, 2016
Leonard Wong: freedom in restraint
Shanghai designer looks to break away from producing conventional collections
Japan Times
LIFE / Style & Design
Oct 29, 2016
Amazon Fashion Week Tokyo: Menswear sells out
While Tokyo's womenswear seems to be content fighting for a place in the domestic market, the endlessly repeated adage that Amazon Fashion Week Tokyo's menswear is the collection's most viable export product appears to have finally come true, with many of the brands tipped for greatness either gracing the schedules of fashion weeks abroad or lining the racks of showrooms at home.
Japan Times
LIFE / Style & Design
Oct 22, 2016
Re-fashioning the business of womenswear
As the last of the models walk the Amazon Fashion Week Tokyo runway, there are many in the metropolis who won't look at one tweet from the front row or even acknowledge the week's existence.
Japan Times
LIFE / Style & Design / ON: FASHION
Sep 10, 2016
Anrealage gets real in Tokyo's Omotesando
Anrealage gets real in Omotesando
Japan Times
LIFE / Style & Design / ON: FASHION
Jul 9, 2016
Tokyo fashion faces some backstage changes
Vintage graduation
Japan Times
LIFE / Style & Design / ON: FASHION
Jun 11, 2016
Shibuya Parco Museum Final Exhibitions I, II, III
Shibuya Parco gets ready for a rebirth
Japan Times
LIFE / Style & Design / ON: FASHION
May 7, 2016
Reviving the old and promoting the new
A new hope for traditional menswear
Japan Times
LIFE / Style & Design / ON: FASHION
Apr 9, 2016
New places to shop and an all-inclusive way to approach fashion
Diesel adds to the family
Japan Times
LIFE / Style & Design
Mar 26, 2016
Designer Jotaro Saito seeks to free the kimono from the confines of tradition
Jotaro Saito has been showcasing his kimono brand at Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week Tokyo since 2006, almost a decade before the eyebrow-raising appearance of X Japan frontman Yoshiki Hayashi's Yoshikimono brand at the event last October.
Japan Times
LIFE / Style & Design
Mar 26, 2016
Tokyo fashion week: Menswear is caught in the great divide
Trends for normcore restraint in current Japanese menswear have taken the mainstream hostage, prompting a divisive splinter on the Tokyo fashion week runways.
Japan Times
LIFE / Style & Design / ON: FASHION
Mar 12, 2016
Mercedes-Benz fashion week vs. homemade couture
Fashion Week gets peachy
Japan Times
LIFE / Style & Design
Feb 27, 2016
Japan's cult brands get into character
When the topic turns to "Cool Japan" and the various related efforts to capitalize on Japan's indubitable cultural capital internationally, commendation — or more frequently the lack thereof — is easy to come by. The question of how Japan markets its own culture domestically, however, is a largely forgotten dimension, but one that may play a part in making Cool Japan actually cool. Evidenced by the waves of 19th-century Japonism, the outbreaks of otaku (fanboy and fangirl culture) overseas in the 1980s and even the current crop of inbound shoppers, Japan has historically done remarkably well out of focusing internally and letting the resultant culture speak for itself.
Japan Times
LIFE / Style & Design / ON: FASHION
Feb 13, 2016
Winning looks: Sacai, Mr. Gentlemen and AllSaints
Sacai wins Mainichi Fashion Grand Prix
Japan Times
LIFE / Style & Design / ON: FASHION
Jan 9, 2016
Avatar models, Sanrio menswear and disheveled clothing — fashion at its oddest
Louis Vuitton is being struck by Lightning
Japan Times
LIFE / Style & Design / ON: FASHION
Dec 12, 2015
From Saint Laurent to Uniqlo
Saint Laurent joins the glamour of Omotesando
Number of homeless in Japan hits record low
Homeless people sleep on the street in Tokyo's Shinjuku Ward in August 2021.
Raising kids in Japan as a single parent? It takes a village.
Making things work as a foreign, single mother in Japan isn't easy, but these tips and tricks can help you through the hardest parts.
JAL cancels international flight after captain gets drunk at Dallas hotel
A Japan Airlines' flight from Dallas to Tokyo was canceled last week after its captain got drunk at a local hotel.
In Japan, regional revitalization fails to halt population decline
Sakiyama elementary school in Tamba, Hyogo Prefecture, in March .Over the past decade, the government has directed efforts toward policies designed to give young people incentives to base themselves in rural areas.
Putin’s war will soon reach Russians’ tax bills
Russian President Vladimir Putin speaks during a meeting in St. Petersburg on Friday.
Japan wants you to spend more with ‘luxury tourism’
Performers play a traditional drum unique to Wajima, Ishikawa Prefecture, in the prefectural capital of Kanazawa on March 16 to mark the extension of the Hokuriku Shinkansen line to Tsuruga Station in Fukui Prefecture.
Theaster Gates’ ambitious ‘Afro-Mingei’ brings Black Chicago to Tokyo
Theaster Gates' “A Heavenly Chord” lines up church pews before seven speakers and a Hammond B3 organ, a type of electric organ prevalent in Black American churches.
Casa del Cibo: A thriving jewel born from Tohoku’s harsh past
When chef Ryohei Ikemi moved to Hachinohe, Aomori Prefecture, and opened Casa del Cibo in 2011, it was the first proper Italian restaurant in the city.
Town to block view of Mount Fuji in response to overtourism
The town government of Fujikawaguchiko, Yamanashi Prefecture, decided to set up a 2.5-meter-high screen to prevent tourists from taking pictures of Mount Fuji looming behind a convenience store.

Podcast

From easily navigable train stations to the helpfulness of its municipal staff, Tokyo has earned high praise for its commitment to accessibility for disabled travelers.
[Rebroadcast] Japan is doing better on accessibility than you may think

Longform

When trying to trace your lineage in Japan, the "koseki" is the most important form of document you'll encounter.
Climbing the branches of a Japanese family tree
By Alex K.T. Martin

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