TOKYOMANGO

2008 Miss Universe Japan Dancing in a Bikini

Hiroko Mima, a 21-year old university student, won the Miss Universe Japan contest last week in Vietnam. Japan's been tearing up the contest over the past couple of years—Riyo Mori won first place last year, and Kurara Chibana (a national favorite) was the first runner up the year before. Let's see how Miss Mima does this summer.

When Riyo Mori was chosen to represent Japan last year, a lot of people weren't happy because she didn't exude the image of the quiet, beautiful, intelligent Japanese woman. In fact, the outgoing, stern-faced beauty proved herself to be a blatant airhead when she forgot to bring her passport on a trip during her stint in a beauty queen reality show.

Judging from this provocative performance, it doesn't look like Mima is exactly demure, either.

Photo gallery (via Mainichi)

What's Hot Now: Dog Rental by the Hour

When I was in Tokyo last month, my mom and I took our dogs to Odaiba, where we stumbled upon this strange store called Puppy the World.

Puppy the World is a dog rental store. You can choose small, medium, or large breeds and rent them for $19/hr, or $100 a night. They have everything from chihuahuas to labs to border collies to papillons—and you get a 5% discount at the cafe if you rent one! You can't lose.

By the time my mom and I got there, registration for rentals for the day were over. Besides, they said, you can't rent one if you already own a dog. I couldn't help but wonder how they treated the dogs in a place like this. So I asked. Here's what I found out:

Tokyo Fashion Week Features Bunnies and Furries

It's Tokyo Fashion Week, and this year's recurring theme seems to be furries and bunnies! Love the full-body hoodie with the cats and men with tophats on it. Looks great for skiing.

Pretty Silver Jewelry Featuring Cool Moving Parts

We spent the weekend in Tahoe with friends Spencer, Christine, and Ken. Christine is a jeweler, and she makes beautiful silver-based pieces with a slightly Japanese touch that I love, like these dangly earrings with cranes on them. (I don't know if they're really cranes. I don't know my myna birds from my pigeons. But they're pretty birds.)

A lot of her designs have cool moving parts, like wings that flap or amethyst flower petals on rings that move when you wave your hand.

Christine Uemura main page

Kimiko Yoshida's Futuristic Brides

Japanese-born European artist Kimiko Yoshida takes really cool futuristic photos featuring herself. Here are some examples of her bridal collection. This one above is the Pokemon bride.

Dogs in Crazy Fashions Rocking The Runway—Pics!

Why not match your pet's wig with your dress? On Saturday, Tokyo had a serious runway show in honor of Pet Fashion Week New York. The pet industry is currently estimated at a trillion yen. That's some serious cash owners are putting down to make their pups look pretty. Or scary. Depending on how you look at it. More pics after the jump.

Hello Kitty Jesus Tattoo = Scary

Oh, wow. Somebody actualy has this Hello Kitty Jesus hybrid tattooed on his/her arm. Scary.

Kitty Hell via Japanator

New Years Lucky Bag: UNIQLO vs. MUJI

Every year on New Years Day, all major retailers in Japan sell Fukubukuro, or Lucky Bags, that have a hodge podge of items of that brand for a heavily discounted price. This year, my brother brought me one lucky bag each from two internationally renown Japanese brands—UNIQLO and one from MUJI. My conclusion? The MUJI one is cheaper, and much, much cooler.

Here's a point by point comparison of each (I got both in a women's medium):

UNIQLO
Cost: 5000 yen
Packaging: Neatly presented in a beautiful silver-and-bronze box with a personalized note by "charismatic housewife" Chieko Kuroda.
3 items: A pink cotton cashmere cardigan, a short white cotton sweater with big buttons, and a white nylon blouse with a big ribbon in the middle.
# of items I'll actually use: One. I'm giving the cardigan to my mom and the blouse to her housekeeper.

MUJI:
Cost: 3000 yen
Packaging: Thrown together in a large clear shopping bag.
9 items: Three thigh-high socks (one gray, two black), one brown painter's hat, one brown leather bag with a single canvas strap, one beige woolen p-coat, two black t-shirts—one sleeveless, one with 3/4 length sleeves, and one taupe table mat.
# of items that I'll actually use: Nine. The bag is a great basic that fits everything, the coat, hat, socks are all  super cute, the table mat is perfect for single living, and the t-shirts are great basics for any occasion.

CELE-BICH: A New Magazine For Celebrity Bitches?

There's a new magazine in Japan called CELE-BICH. Is it a magazine for bitchy celebrities?

Not quite. The words "Celeb" and "Bitch" have slightly different connotations in Japan. The Japanese interpretation of "Celeb" has expanded over the years to refer to a woman who is simply rich and/or wears brand-name apparel and leads an elegant, upper-class lifestyle. "Bitch," meanwhile, refers more to a loose, slutty woman than to "a malicious, unpleasant and selfish woman" as it's more commonly used in the Western world (though it's certainly a versatile word that's used in many different ways).

The publisher reportedly considered a concept surrounding the new "koakuma" (little devil) craze, in which women have embraced an unabashedly deceptive and manipulative approach to winning the hearts of men, as opposed to being innocent and angelic. The problem was, there was already a magazine catering to this market, called Koakuma Ageha. So they decided to create a magazine that can appeal to a wider demographic, "from adults to teens, rich to poor," and came up with---Cele-bich. Because, in the words of the publisher, sometimes celebs want to be bitches, and bitches want to be celebs.

Unique Hat/Scarf Designer Accessories from Osaka

For my birthday, my little brother got me a really cool piece of clothing from Tou Product. It's an Osaka-based fashion/design firm that makes these classy shirt-like cotton/cashmere pieces that turn into a hat or a scarf or a head wrap, depending on how you wear it.

Tou Product main page (Japanese)

 

Dr. NakaMats' Male Model Debut

Japan's favorite inventor, Dr. NakaMats, has expanded his repertoire from allegedly having 3x more patents than Thomas Edison to running for office in the Tokyo mayoral elections to making a Derek Zoolander-esque debut at the Rock Street Fashion Show in Roppongi last night.

More photos (via Dr. Rogg's Flickr site)

+ read about my fateful encounter with NakaMats here.