Archive for September, 2010

Writers have always tried to document and pigeon hole the youth tribes of the moment, and reading a Sunday paper style magazine recently pandered to that exact point. However, this article struck me a little bit more than usual. Out of about 8 described ‘youth tribes’ 3 were influenced directly by Japanese culture, music and street fashion.

These youth tribes had reported distinct fascinations with the tea ceremony, geisha culture, j-rock, visual kei and of course the ever documented gothic/sweet Lolita.

I am probably now at 30 edging out of the ‘youth tribe’ sector but I know this, when you are part of a youth tribe or alternative group you strive for uniqueness within your circle.

With Japanese street fashion and culture influencing the mood on the streets of UK cities the launch of a direct pipeline to Japanese retailers is online purse candy! KAWAII!!!! I hear you scream…

I have an exhaustible and mostly inexcusable passion for vintage kimono, authentic geisha make up and Lolita clothing which brought me to shopping directly with Japanese online shops around 4 years ago. Unfortunately, it seemed at the time that the best outlets were all Japanese and shopping was restricted to those with an English offering.

It was during my kimono hunting when I came across Rakuten for the first time. I have to admit it was daunting but the pull of the Aladdin’s cave was too great for me not to open sesame.

Before I delve into how to find all of this glorious treasure, I will highlight a few basics when shopping.

Shipping:

Rakuten orders are shipped via EMS, a very fast and traceable postal service. A top or item around 300g will cost approximately £11-12 (1500 yen) and something the weight of a kimono (about 800g) will cost around £18-20 (2400 yen)

As items are shipped from outside the EU you will be bound to pay customs duty and VAT dependant on the total cost of your order. I won’t bore you with the details, but you can find more information here: http://www.hmrc.gov.uk/customs/post/buying.htm

Rakuten is a marketplace made up of different shops and each charges their own shipping fee. However, Rakuten do have a ‘combined shipping’ option handled by Tenso.com. I prefer to pay each seller individually as it is less complicated.

There is a shipping cost calculator at the base of each Rakuten item listing but it requires you to enter the shipping weight. I find often that the shipping weight is not included in seller’s listings so you will need to ask the question.

I have found using the Google translator quite effective, as well as apologising if the email does not make sense. When you do use an electronic translation service, please use basic English.

Payment:

Using a credit card with fraud liability is always advisable, normally after you submit payment the seller will email you the total cost with shipping charges before your card is charged. Rakuten charge your card and not the seller. To avoid nasty surprises it is best to ask the shipping weight prior to payment, but if you know the approximate weight of the item you are buying you can predict the cost. Communication will be in Japanese, so have your translator handy!

Now the fun part, finding what you want!

The Japanese language is very different to ours, so I tend to stick with keywords and not phrases when searching, and also try the English and Kanji.

The kimono section has a handy front page designed to help you navigate to the items you need but not all sections have this. I find it best to navigate to the closest category before searching.

Here are some basic Lolita keywords:

I normally take the simple names and couple them with either a colour:

Or a garment type:

*please see attached PDF for the Kanji to copy and paste as my database sucks apparently…

Combining both can be hit and miss at times due to the nature of the Japanese language but the best part about Rakuten is the range of items available. So go ahead and spend a little time browsing!

Let’s have an example, I want a loli dress so I navigate to the dresses category:

And I have decided to use the English term Lolita to see what I find.

Bingo, I find a sold out cute dress but more importantly a seller ‘FunkyFruit’ in the search results:

For me, finding and bookmarking sellers that you find on Rakuten is essential, I can now browse the wonderful goodies this seller has. As a UK size 12-14 gal, I always opt for the larger sizes when shopping for clothes, as the average Japanese women is shorter and thinner than her European counterpart.

I have recently registered properly with Rakuten so I can rack up the ‘points’. A point equals 1 yen and I have just brought some han-eri and received 20 points. It’s a small points system, but equal to that of most supermarket reward schemes in the UK (1% cash back)

So this Christmas, find your loved ones something unique on Rakuten!