The most popular of these, or at least known to the outside world, is cosplay, which is ” the imitation of anime characters via the use of costumes and props.” The Japanese love to dress up in extreme fashion, almost similar to what you’d see in the Hunger Games, and there are so many different groups and themes these days. The street fashion/subculture has really exploded over the last few years.

Here are some of the cast of characters you’ll find walking the streets of Japan these days:

-Lolita: Young girls. Includes many subcategories like gothic, punk, classic, sweet, and kodona (“boystyle”).

-Gyaru and Ganguro: Girls dressed up in ” brightly colored outfits, mini-skirts, and tie-dyed sarongs, bleached hair, a deep tan, fake eyelashes, black and white eyeliner, bracelets, earrings, rings, necklaces and platform shoes, girly-glam style, wigs, fake lashes, fake nails etc..”

There are countless others, all with bright, flamboyant colors and hairstyles, and all sticking out like a sore thumb. It’s pretty insane.