“Kawaii” Style: Japanese Lingerie at Amo’s Style

I never considered myself much of a shopper; least of all for lacy thongs and patterned corsets. And yet, I somehow found myself one Friday afternoon in a lingerie shop in downtown Nagoya, trying on various items, looking for something cute to buy. My friends and I talked on and off about going bra shopping while we were in Japan. This past weekend we finally made it out to Amo’s Style.

The retailer is an offshoot of Triumph International, a lingerie manufacturer founded in Germany in the late 1800s. The first Japanese location established in 1963. The company is one of the main producers of bras and sexy panties in Japan.

Amo’s Style is located in Sakae, one of the main commercial districts in Nagoya. It targets young women in their late teens and early twenties, though a store owner said that they have received patrons well into their fifties. The first thing I noticed about the lingerie on display was the quintessential “kawaii” style. Kawaii is the Japanese word for “cute,” but it has grown to encompass a much wider meaning: a cultural ideal of “cuteness,” expressed through the many facets of everyday life. Something that is “kawaii” is adorable, delicate, beautiful, and innocent.

The store was a sea of soft pinks, light greens and baby blues; pastel colors that give of the softness of something that is “kawaii.” The bras were designed to fit well and fully cover the breast; thongs – where they existed – had swaths of fabric to cover the hips and provide a hint of modesty. All were decorated: many with flowers, some with hearts, and several with bows.

Coming from America, this was not the image of “lingerie” that I had grown up with. Back in the states, I had learned that lingerie was worn to give a woman a sense of power by letting her take her sex appeal into her own hands. The images I had seen were pronounced with strong colors; black, crimson, and deep purple, colors that embody the ideals of passion, power and sexual intrigue. In Japan, it is an entirely different story. The women also strive for an ideal – but theirs is one not of power, but of delicacy. Not passion, but beauty. Not sex, but innocence. Neither is right or wrong; both are perfectly effective in the context of the culture that gave rise to them. Still, this experience has made me aware of the ways in which culture touches all aspects of our lives, even those that no one else (save that one special person) gets to see.