Giving Thanks to a Harajuku Holiday

I must admit Thanksgiving is always special to me; it is more just a holiday to enjoy but also my birthday. My family won’t let me escape the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day parade even if my birthday doesn’t fall on Thanksgiving Day so every year I watch the it like it was made just for me.

This year’s parade featured a brand new float entitled Tokyo Lights by Harajuku Lovers - dedicated to the new collectible dolls of the same name. The float for the parade had a large lighted sign in hiragana with a light up neon colored floor to represent Harajuku of downtown Tokyo. There were also life size dolls of the 4 background dancers that inspired the toy line Love, Lil Angel, Music, Baby and G! who bopped to the beat of Gwen Stefani background music in a ultra kawaii way!

There was some criticism against the background dancers image in the Asian media. Comedian Margaret Cho blasted both the girls and Stefani saying that their reinforces ethnic stereotypes of Asian women. I do not know what is stereotypical about Harajuku style. In all realness Harajuku is fashion and individuality to the extreme and encompasses many genres of style from pop, street, goth, emo, lolitia and more. What I do see that is somewhat negative is not related to stereotypes of Asians at all; they wear too much makeup and show their midrifts too much but what girl that is famous in the US doesn’t if anything they reinforce US stereotypes of women!

Anyway the float was cute. I want these dolls so they are going on my b-day list! lol