[Columbine]

Originally Posted by MikeB

Absolutely, yes, there was this one thing I bought in the hundr..... Uh... Yeah, they are wonderful to wear around the house considering the humidity of the Japanese Summer! Much better than a dressing gown and much more sightly than simply wandering around in boxers; especially as on sunny days its nice to have the curtains open, albeit with the windows firmly shut and the air conditioning turned up to max!

Funnily enough I was bought a cotton dressing gown from Marks and Spencer to take with me to Japan. It was a little too big so I used to wrap it round pretty tight and the first response I got from my japanese housemate was. "Ooh, a yukata with pockets? What a great idea!"

Originally Posted by MikeB

They are sometimes frowned upon, but they're so very widespread they could hardly be considered outside the norm, especially in Tokyo. They may have their own social rules, but that's how fashion develops, by breaking certain rules in order to develop new ones. However, contrary to some people's opinions, wearing a yukata isn't breaking one of these rules.

Tokyo's pretty exceptional though. Where I lived, I saw a gyaru girl precisely once. They're not wearing yukata in a typical way though, so I still think they stand somewhat outside the rule.

Originally Posted by MikeB

They're really entirely different thing, a hotel yukata is roughly the equivilent of pjyamas. Yes, people might think you were odd if you wore one outside the hotel, but that would be true regardless of your ethnic background.

Thats what I was getting at. Even the romans have rules about being roman.

Originally Posted by MikeB

In fact if anything you'd probably fair better, they might well think "ahhh it can't be helped he/she doesn't understand the different forms of dress, but isn't it nice that they're showing some respect by trying to fit in!" I confidently believe that would be the usual, though not universal, response.

Again, i agree, but here I think it could depend on who the wearer of the yukata is. A man with a japanese girlfriend and her family? Clearly one of the in-crowd. A man by himself? Some stupid tourist.

Originally Posted by MikeB

Most Japanese wouldn't wear one full time either, but in the Summer you'd definitely get away with it. The only people to have a problem would be other gaijin really.

Yeah, often the loudest critics are other foreigners. I remember a party where one of the guys turned up in yukata; he was soundly mocked by the british contingent and greeted with bafflement by the japanese students. But again, context. We were all students in the same class so him turning up in yukata was a) kind of a way to big himself up and b) we all knew he was just doing it to get attention from girls.

Originally Posted by MikeB

My Obachan students have tried to MAKE me wear it to school because they think its very cute, they also, both male and female all agree that it's a good thing to wear it and don't understand my slight embarrassment. What I'm trying to say is that the rules aren't really different for anyone, so far as I can tell. My girlfriends dad is getting really excited about wearing one with me to a Matsuri next week!

No, the rules aren't different depending on your ethnicity, but let's face it, Japanese people have these kinds of rules ingrained over the years they've grown up there. Foreigners have to learn it all more quickly. And we stand out more when we goof up.

Hope you have fun at the Matsuri! 8< I miss ika-yaki.

Originally Posted by MikeB

Agree with you exactly here, it saddens me too, I'm from England and I'm every bit as enthusiastic about English tradition as I am about Japanese tradition, <snip> In fact, thanks largely to Uniqlo, the Yukata is really going through something of a revival in Japan which is great news for everybody, there's loads of new styles coming out and they're becoming ever cheaper and cheaper. <snip>

That's really interesting about Uniqlo. I know a lot of the top sumo pro's aren't japanese, and there's now a full-fledged foreign geisha too. But yes, I think if there's a big boom in trad. culture abroad, it might inspire more people to take an interest. Oh! That reminds me, i read in the news about a manga artist who's just made a series all about kabuki and it's getting really popular with middle-school kids.

Originally Posted by MikeB

Their problem usually comes when people refuse to engage with the things that other people are doing. If you choose to engage you'll get a very positive response; if you don't you'll be treated indifferently.

Mm, true. And also if you engage but insist on doing it kind of the wrong way. I did sumi-e for a year, and on one occasion we were asked to bring in any plant or flower we wanted to paint. My friend chose higanbana; http://imaginatorium.org/sano/pics/b02206hgb.jpg . I don't know if you know about them but they have a strong association with death and picking them is considered unlucky. It's just really not done much. On her way to class she had a number of people stop her in the street to try and tell her about this, although of course, she was already aware, and several of the older ones got very shirty about it.