Kimono make a comeback
While skimming kimono sites today I came across an interesting article, which inspired me to do a sort of press review. I’m glad I did, because it lead to even more interesting finds!
Kimono makes a style comeback in Japan (Market News Express)
The first article I came across. It’s good, but contains at least one oddity. The photo of hair accessories (kanzashi in Japanese) bears the caption “Clip-and-go: wearing gets easier.” I’m not quite sure how kanzashi could be confused with kimono clips… Nonetheless, the article is, overall, quite interesting and gives some nice insight on how things are in Japan.
Japanese tie into tradition as kimonos make a comeback (JS Online)
This is a great article, very “human interest”. It also serves as a nice kimono primer, explaining how terms are pronounced and their meanings. I can’t help but clarify a misstatement in it: at the end they say “obi age (a decorative tie, pronounced ah-gay, for the center of the obi) and obi dome (the sash band, pronounced doe-may, on the center of obi)”, but the obiage is a sort of scarf worn at the top of the obi, whereas the obi dome is an accessory somewhat like a broach, but which is slid on to the obi jime (an accessory they overlooked). They probably confused obi age with obi jime, since the obi jime is a decorative tie (braided) worn in the center of the obi, plus or minus a few centimeters.
University student chooses kimono as his everyday attire (Daily Yomiuri)
My absolute favorite. If I lived in Japan, I would do exactly the same as this student! “The reason that Shiratori dons kimono is simple – he loves them.”