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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 / ON: FASHION
Nov 7, 2015
From Kyary Pamyu Pamyu to Emoda, Japanese fashion aims to be accessible
Emoda's student style
Japan Times
LIFE / Style & Design
Oct 24, 2015
Tokyo fashion week: menswear goes 'glocal'
Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week Tokyo's menswear collections are routinely lauded as the most courted commodity internationally, and yet the counterpoint is frequently forgotten — just what does menswear from abroad have to offer the week?
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / 20 QUESTIONS
Oct 24, 2015
Naoto Hirooka: 'I say sprint while you can'
Fashion designer on Jackie Chan, shocking pink and feeling nervous the day before a big match
Japan Times
LIFE / Style & Design / ON: FASHION
Oct 10, 2015
Fashion premieres and opening ceremonies
October debut for Gaultier's Sept Premieres
Japan Times
LIFE / Style & Design / ON: FASHION
Sep 12, 2015
Harajuku's underside style surfaces, uu delights kids and Snoopy's Belle is in town
Harajuku's underside is surfacing
Japan Times
LIFE / Style & Design / ON: FASHION
Jul 11, 2015
From women's underwear to men's street wear, Japan knows its market
Cinderellas deserve Gomi Hayakawa's Feast
Japan Times
LIFE / Style & Design / ON: FASHION
Jun 13, 2015
The halycon days of summer fashion
Game, set and match Fred Perry and Mintdesigns
Japan Times
LIFE / Style & Design / ON: FASHION
May 9, 2015
Catch the last day of Harajuku Kawaii!!; Undercover is going mad; Ultraman for the everyman
Catch the last day of Harajuku Kawaii!!
Japan Times
LIFE / Style & Design / ON: FASHION
Apr 11, 2015
Veteran designers are still as innovative as newcomers
Prada's little sister is all grown up
Japan Times
LIFE / Style & Design
Mar 28, 2015
Christian Dada's Masanori Morikawa: making his own way
Tokyo's fashion fans spent six days in the middle of this month looking at the city from the lofty viewpoint afforded by Shibuya's Hikarie building, and yet for all the excitement that was generated over the coming fall/winter collections, the rest of the city still showed general ambivalence toward Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week Tokyo. It's a situation that is frequently lamented by the industry, costing the event both publicity and international luster. It's also a situation that is difficult to account for in a city so patently in love with fashion.
Japan Times
LIFE / Style & Design
Mar 28, 2015
Tokyo fashion week: Womenswear celebrates an eclectic lineup; menswear draws inspiration from the street
Womenswear collections showcased in mid-March for the fall/winter 2015-16 season were decidedly eclectic in composition, including designs that were as street-savvy as they were cute.
Japan Times
LIFE / Style & Design / ON: FASHION
Mar 13, 2015
Put on your fashion face and get ready for Tokyo fashion week
One of the hottest fashion items to come out of Japan recently isn't what you may expect it to be. Moisturizing face masks, a long-time part of Japanese women's beauty routine,have been getting a makeover. While most still resemble plastic-surgery post-op gauze, now you can also find ones that make you look like a monster, animal or even a member of KISS. It's become part of the "costume play" craze that has seen anime and manga seeping into mainstream style agendas.
Japan Times
LIFE / Style & Design / ON: FASHION
Feb 13, 2015
Valentines specials and ways to treat yourself
Valentine's is all about the man
Japan Times
LIFE / Style & Design / ON: FASHION
Jan 9, 2015
Yohji Yamamoto — men, women and unisex
Yohji Yamamoto has certainly been busy, with collaborations flying off the shelves and new lines making debuts. Its partnership with baseball-cap brand New Era has been particularly buzz-worthy, with the brand's 59FIFTY caps and backpacks emblazoned with the Yohji logo selling out across the country. The newest collection adds to the lineup mutton dog-ear flaps and "day" backpacks in black (priced ¥15,000-¥20,000).
Japan Times
LIFE / Style & Design / ON: FASHION
Dec 12, 2014
Fashion goes festive for the holiday season
Erimaki Sox collars the market
Japan Times
LIFE / Style & Design
Oct 25, 2014
Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week Tokyo: Menswear looks for leadership
Christian Dada designer Masanori Morikawa's departure from Tokyo to show at Paris Fashion Week this season created an opportunity for a new headline act to emerge from the sidelines and seize the reins at Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week Tokyo.
Japan Times
LIFE / Style & Design
Oct 25, 2014
Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week Tokyo: breaking with tradition
There is an identity crisis at the heart of Japanese fashion. It has two contradictory faces that it would like to reconcile — both domestically and abroad. On one hand, the image of Kyary Pamyu Pamyu acolytes posing on the streets of Harajuku prevails and yet, at the same time, the word "Japanese" invokes the image of traditional garments — regrettably reduced to just the kimono in most minds, simply a fixed aesthetic locked in time as a national costume rather than a fashion object.
Japan Times
LIFE / Style & Design / ON: FASHION
Sep 12, 2014
Adventurous fashion abounds this month
Zadig & Voltaire is ready to rock in Aoyama
Japan Times
LIFE / Style & Design
Jul 25, 2014
Designs on Japan's student potential
Shining a light on Japan's student talent pool is Gakuten, a new event from the group responsible for the Design Festa biannual international art fair. There's only one requirement of Gakuten participants — that they be enrolled in an educational institution.
Japan Times
LIFE / Style & Design / ON: FASHION
Jul 11, 2014
Summer's here — yukata, sales and back-to-school satchels
Mintdesigns' refreshing yukata
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.
Kyotographie's strong 12th edition shines light into the margins
Yassine Alaoui Ismaili, who goes by Yoriyas, turned to photography, shooting motion while in motion himself, after an injury forced him to give up his career as a professional breakdancer.

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

SUSTAINABLE JAPAN

Vol. 34: Tokyo, a vanguard city for sustainability
Vol. 34: Tokyo, a vanguard city for sustainability

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