Asia Blog: China, Japan, Korea, Vietnam

The new style in Japan called “bon-kyu-bon” means “big-small-big” and trails the Western obsession with buxom girls, small waists, and big hips. You just have to hear the Commodores sing “36-24-36, what a winning hand!” in their hit disco song Brick House to realize this isn’t anything new. It’s not often that you see Japanese fashion on Digg, but with the mostly male geek crowd there are plenty of Japanophiles.

This wouldn’t fly in the US, but in Japan everything is game

Apparently the new trend is driven by better, calorie-rich Western nutrition:

Today, the average Japanese woman’s hips, at 35 inches, are around an inch wider than those of women a generation older. Women in their 20s wear a bra at least two sizes larger than that of their mothers, according to Wacoal. Waist size, meanwhile, has gotten slightly smaller, accentuating many young women’s curves. The average 20-year-old is also nearly three inches taller than she was in 1950, according to government statistics, and the average foot has grown by nearly a quarter of an inch.

The Star wants to indicate that Koda Kumi is to blame for the “show it all off” trend:

The cleavage craze took off in 2003, when a young pop star named Kumi Koda appeared in ads around Tokyo wearing a barely-there metallic bra and not much else. In one image, she wore coconut shells over her chest. Then, two years later, she performed at the televised Japan Record Awards wearing thin tape-like gold satin straps over her breasts that revealed nearly everything when she danced. The 24-year-old star has become the champion of a new “If you’ve got it, flaunt it” attitude among young Japanese women.

You can check out these photos of singer Koda Kumi yourself if you get bored. I really like her. As for the style, if I were a girl I’d probably try it; since I’m not and have to wear a suit most of the time, I will never have the opportunity… and it’s getting so hot here!

This entry was posted on Tuesday, May 15th, 2007 at 7:24 pm and is tagged with western obsession, satin straps, s curves, buxom girls, coconut shells, gold satin, disco song, thin tape, bon kyu bon, brick house, japanese fashion, record awards, waist size, digg, big hips, wacoal, kumi, old star, japanese woman, winning hand. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback.

2 Responses to 'Bon Kyu Bon (ボンキュボン) Fashion Style'

1. 
   Wendy said:

   on May 25th, 2007 at 2:59 pm

   hahaha, ahhhh, so that’s y u wanna make ur girlfriend to try, huh?! ^.~

2. 
   Elliott Back said:

   on May 25th, 2007 at 5:50 pm

   Maybe the bottom one, but not the top one

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