A Visit to America (Sort of)

During my stay Osaka, I couldn't resist stopping by the entertainment district of Amerikamura ("America Village"). Amerikamura is the Harajuku of Osaka. It is a place where youth gather and hang out in outrageous fashions. (I hear it also has a pretty good night life, but I had young children with me and therefore wouldn't know much about that.)

Teens just hanging.

This pair is dressed fairly normal, but I was struck by the boy's tanning bed skin. (NOTE: Tanning beds are NOT normal in Japan because most people prefer light skin.)

A goth lolita from behind.

Amemura (as Amerikamura is commonly called) has a psuedo-American look and feel. I found it to be like a Bizarro World America/Japan that was based mostly on images and stereotypes. (In other words, it was kind of funky.)

You could easily recognize Amemura by its miniature Statue of Liberty overlooking its grounds:

There was a lot of largeness and tackiness (aka stereotypical American-ness) to be seen around and about:

A terminator in a store window.

An interesting lamp that reminded me of the Dad's leg lamp on "A Christmas Story."

The street lights were pretty hip.

Another fun plastic statue.

Of course, there was still plenty of signature Japanese cuteness around:

This cutie's going for the fuzzy look.

I love this pink bear with the blood-covered claws.

Besides the supposed American atmosphere, the main differences I found between Amemura and Harajuku were:

• Amemura didn't have the huge number of professional photographers hanging out like Harajuku did (although they were present).
• The Amemura kids didn't seem to enjoy attention from strangers as much as the Harajuku kids. When I asked to photograph some of them, they said no and ran off, whereas in Harajuku they usually either obliged or said no and giggled and posed for me anyway. So most of my photography was done in stealth mode (which is why most of it didn't turn out well or at all).
• There was a higher percentage of boys involved in the Kozupurei (costume play) than in Harajuku.
• There were more foreigners geniunely hanging out and not simply there for the "freak show".
• There was a large number of youth with body piercings.
• Unlike in Harajuku's mostly overpriced stores, in Amemura you could find some real deals. One used clothing store sold 3 items for 100 yen!

With such bargains to be had, I couldn't resist purchasing the items in this shopping bag.

Curious as to what lies within? Too bad--It's a secret. But I will show you a picture of the store I bought it at:

My only regret about my visit to Amemura is that I wasn't able to get many pictures of the camera shy youth in their costumes. If you want to get an idea of what they looked like, visit my old post with pics of Harajuku by clicking here.