Fashion Taboos in Japanese Culture

Taboos are what individuals discover to be abnormal and strange practices in different parts of the world. Depending on what we do or how we accomplish something, it may be viewed as taboo. Every person is influenced by a culture and may have different opinions as to what is considered taboo. For example, wearing crop tops and ripped jeans are considered taboo by many older adults in traditional Japanese culture and society. Not only does wearing these revealing clothes disrespect my traditional Japanese culture, but it can also create the assumption that I am a flaunt/slut.

Growing up, I never really learned much about my Japanese culture. My parents and my grandparents were all born in America, which makes me a 4th generation Japanese American. Therefore, I was never taught the traditional Japanese customs. Usually, a “traditional” Japanese person would remove their shoes before entering the house, would cook homemade Japanese food, and would speak Japanese at home. Since my family didn’t practice the Japanese culture, I never did any of those things. Another important part of Japanese culture is wearing modest clothes which means covering up most of your body. Since my family didn’t care about breaking the traditional Japanese way, I started to wear crop tops and ripped jeans. 

When I was younger, my mom would always pick out my outfits since I was too lazy to pick out my own clothes and I thought her taste in clothes was better than mine. My mom would pick outfits that would cover up most of my skin and would have sparkles on them. However, once I started middle school my style completely changed. I went from wearing modest clothes to wearing more revealing clothes. A lot of my friends were starting to wear this style of clothing and I liked how the style looked, as well as the confidence it gave me. 

One day my friends invited me to a Japanese festival called “Obon Odori” where a large gathering of people celebrate their Japanese ancestors with food and dances. Not being culturally aware of the Japanese culture, I wore a crop top and ripped jeans revealing a lot of my skin to the festival. When I got to the festival, I realized that I was the only one wearing revealing clothes, while the others wore traditional Japanese kimonos, which is like a robe. I kept getting weird stares and at that point I just felt so uncomfortable being there. From the lack of my cultural awareness, I faced taboo from my Japanese culture because it showed that I did not show respect to the culture of staying modest. Japanese people like to wear modest clothes because it shows respect to the person and their culture. By not wearing a kimono, it showed that I’m not respecting the culture, or I’m insulting the culture since I’m not respecting their values of wearing a kimono or dressing modestly. Wearing modest clothes symbolizes your respect to the person. Kimonos show respect for the dead, and to stay modest. 

I learned that being aware of my Japanese culture is important because, even though I don’t practice the traditional Japanese customs at home, I still need to respect the culture in general. I offended a lot of people that day when I went to the Japanese festival, and I felt out of place and I never want to have the feeling ever again. Now when I go to any Japanese festival, or any traditional Japanese gathering, I make sure to dress modestly. Even though I know that I don’t really like wearing modest clothing, I always want to show my respect and take into consideration other people’s customs and culture. I now know not to be ignorant and think only about what I value or do at home, but to be more aware and respectful of other people’s custom’s and culture and, more importantly, act accordingly. 

This is seen as taboo from not only my Japanese culture, but also from the older generation of adults. There have been countless times where older adults would ask me “Did you rip those jeans yourself?” “What are you wearing?” “Who are you trying to impress?” They were basically implying that I looked like a “slut” who was craving attention. Also, my parents have a little bit of a concern of me wearing crop tops and ripped jeans. Even though my family doesn’t care what I wear based on our current culture upbringing, they think that I still shouldn’t be wearing crop tops and ripped jeans because it makes me look trashy and they think it’s inappropriate dressing like that in public. Older adults tend to not get the trends of teens simply because they didn’t have this in the olden days and they don’t keep up with gen z styles. Now when I go to family events or anywhere there’s going to be a lot of adults I know; I try to cover up most of my skin. Now I don’t get comments about how revealing my clothes are and how they look slutty. 

Overall, I’ve learned to adapt the outfits I wear to certain places and situations’s, which has helped me have a better understanding of my Japanese culture, and why crop tops and ripped jeans are seen as taboo. I still wear my style of clothes out in public since teens my age are wearing the same thing. And I will always enjoy expressing my freedom of wearing whatever I want. Of course, crop tops and ripped jeans are going to be seen as taboo to some people, but as long as you aren’t intentionally disrespecting someone or their culture, its fine.