11/2/2005

Last November I was bored and aimlessly channel surfing MTV on Japan’s satellite SkyPerfecTV and YIKES!
did a doubletake when I heard Japanese in the background: “Gwen ha suru no” which loosely means Is Gwen doing – or Will Gwen do it?).
It ain’t often I hear Japanese in heavy rotation, American Top-40 Pop. It turned out that I had stumbled across one of the videos of Gwen Stefani and her Harajuku Girls looking like they’re wearing Hogwarts (Hufflepuff) uniforms.

I was greatly amused and an instant fan of the new Japanesque Gwen and the Harajuku girls on the “Harajuku Lovers” world tour:

But oh no!
I was wrong to be smitten by the Harajuku kittens.
It turns out I’m sexist and racist pig according to the following….

red balloon: Stefani’s mascots …With their sexy outfits and subservient demeanors, Stefani’s Harajuku girls seem more like colorful, geisha arm-candy than trendsetters. In Stefani’s act, they’re seen either giggling and fawning over the Caucasian star or staring with blank expressions and behaving like robots. If the rumor that they are under contractual obligation not to speak in public is true, they literally have nothing to say for themselves. “I do think it’s harmful,” said Sophia Kim, who has created anti-racism and anti-sexism campaigns with the Asian American Resource Workshop, “It’s imposed this box on Asian women, on who we can be and can’t be”…more…

Even worse is the Flash-infested Stefani-goods website that sell J-junk and tells the backstory of the Harajuku Girls. Please do NOT enjoy the girls at Harajuku-lovers.com.

Oh, and ple-e-e-ease don’t enjoy the videos of the Harajuku Girls booty dancing or speaking in public.