More Photos Below!Gallery
When we visited San Francisco this summer we checked out Little Tokyo. We all like Japanese pop culture stuff…and food…in our family.
I’ve long been attracted to the Japanese bike scene and their mags have been my access point, but they’ve been few and far between. And, of course, all I get are the pictures. But since they’re really big on photos that’s pretty good service!
We visited a Japanese bookshop/newstand. I wandered and found that I like their other pop culture mags, too. Basically, I like their merging of postmodern and classic values. They’ll have a Gun magazine with photos of a reporter at the range reviewing a pistol and he’ll be wearing some outrageous costume…what he thinks is gun-worthy plus a bit of punk, say. And the Teen Fashion mags combine Cute with Dark in an interesting way.
I bought two thick, glossy bike mags… Here’s a bunch of snapshots from them…
It doesn’t seem like they have websites. Nor do I want to sell my copies. So if you like what you see and want some yourself I guess you have to get to a Japanese part of town someday!
I tell ya, I dig their intermingled coverage of Retro, Fashion, Touring, Race, Mini, Folders, Women, Youth, Urban…
Mini-velos and Folders have a big role.
I like how Classic and Uber styles both find a home.
Classic Gios blue is being revived in Flat-bar and Rando bikes, maybe others. Wish I’d see them over here!
Brompton is HUGE. One mag had a full magazine-like Brompy catalog insert.
The mags I bought each have dozens of Hip Rider Profiles.
Bike reviews feature a significant number of women-oriented rides.
Bike fashion seems fine to me!
Bike accessories join the Japanese Pop scene.
Dude! A trip report features fun with folders on a train.
Stylish mini-velos galore
A classicly-styled mini-velo… Whoa!
The stylish craftsman approach to bike touring and its culture runs strong and deep.
Eclecticism runs rampant. Bike fashion meets the Harajuku Mall…
Hipsters rule! …But not necessarily fixie.
