let's talk about Jojifuku 女児服 

The dynamic of "saying kawaii is appropriation" vs "saying cutecore is whitewashing" is wild tho

As someone who wears a lot of girls clothes because of having a small frame and liking the style, it really sickens me how people can sexualize it. People will simultaneously mistake me for not being an adult and sexualize me. It’s can feel really weird and unsafe at times, but for me it’s just a style. I like the cute designs and they fit me well, they also tend to be less expensive. It would be best if the style was renamed a different way so people could connect over the clothes and not have to be exposed to kink/nsfw stuff.

I think that as jojifuku is often adults attempting to look like children it becomes problematic, compared to adults wanting to look childish. The line here is blurry but with the sexualisation of children's clothing that is occurring on a lot of popular jojifuku accounts, it is now an issue. I see this as being different to an adult wearing pastels or using "childish" elements in a sexualised way because there is a clear understanding that this person is an adult (rather than many of the prominent jojifuku models who are trying to look like a child).

I remember a video (by mina lee) about the japanese school girl, i think the same principle works with this fashion... everything started as a way to express and feel comfort and got weaponized AGAINST them because of dirty old men. I personally don't believe that clothes should have the power to categorize someone as a "fetishist" :( i feel so bad for the people who feel confortable wearing them

How did cute little kawaii outfit style have such a deep lore😭

I'm a sweet lolita so when I first heard jojifuku described as "adults trying to look like children" I was wary. Lolitas are often told that we are trying to look like children when that's super not the point. People should absolutely be able to wear feminine and pastel fashion styles without it being seen as a kink thing. But after seeing this video, nah jojifuku is blatantly sexualizing young girls imo. I think if you want to incorporate these brands into your style that's cool, but the images of "legit" jojifuku that are shown here are blatantly sexualizing people who are trying to look like elementary age girls. It's gross.

Personally I enjoy the style as I used to wear mezzopiano and that brand made me so happy as a kid!!! But def a rebranding is needed for this fashion “heiseijoshi” makes more sense imo. it removes the “joji-- kid” and emphasizes in the Josei- women reclaiming their youth aspect more

It irritates me so much that I can't wear whatever I want, "jojifuku" has always been a style I've wanted to achieve for a long time but once I heard people say how problematic and sexualized it is, it just made me feel outraged because literal GROWN MEN are doing this to an innocent fashion style, I really want to continue dressing like this but Im afraid I'll get hated on and called a "fetishizer" or a "p3do". I just want to enjoy dressing how i want to :'(

so maybe it would be good/better to call jojifuku (as a fashion style) ‘heisei joshi’ or ‘heisei joshi style’ like nekurayarou called it

Really unfortunate that fashion can be taken so far in a direction like that... I've always preferred kids clothing, simply because of much cuter designs and patterns, I'm in mid 20s and my friends feel the same about kid clothes; there just cooler and cuter!

the cute vs kawaii debate is so dumb.... we (westerners) say "kawaii" when it's specifically Japanese inspired cuteness... kawaii fashion/culture/aesthetic is Japanese cute/aesthetic culture (at least in English speaking countries) - hence saying "kawaii".. I'm sure there are more specific terms in Japanese culture because "kawaii" does just mean cute there. if something is just cute, yeah, call it cute - but if it's Japanese and cute, it's kawaii. we've used the term "kawaii or kawaiicore or kawaii aesthetic for years and years and years with no issue....

cutecore vs kawaii is so strange. on many occasions, japanese people, companies, etc. have been very encouraging and inviting to everyone globally about celebrating and participating in kawaii culture. there have even been many "kawaii ambassadors" appointed by the japanese government and NHK, and some of them were foreign (i know one was filipino and didn't live in japan). if you read more about "kawaii", it is indeed literally the japanese word for cute, but it is also a movement. people say it started when girls started writing so overly cute that it was incomprehensible. they wore cute things and collected cute things that were considered unbecoming of a woman. "you'll never get married looking like that," so what? the kawaii movement has been a form of rebellion against society and conformity. it is about being unapologetically true to yourself and what you enjoy. it's not cultural appropriation to use the word "kawaii", nor was it ever. of course, it's also an aesthetic. but what's cool about j-fashion and the kawaii movement is that quite a bit of it has very extensive history and meaning, like menhera and lolita. menhera is a subfashion that promotes mental health awareness and encourages healing. lolita fashion is conservative and much like what i said about the kawaii movement generally. they cover their skin: their shoulders (traditionally), their cleavage, their legs (this changes), their midriff, etc. and while people would say that it's not sexy, again, so what? they are not dressing to cater to other people's standards or desires, they are dressing themselves however they want. even today, we are so lucky to be witnessing the kawaii movement in motion. it's so fun and interesting seeing how it evolves. back in the 2010s the internet went nuts over kyary pamyu pamyu styled by dokidoki6%. i was actually able to go to the dokidoki6% store myself a few years back! it was so cool (and expensive af haha). i've been to japan and harajuku a number of times. the point of kawaii is that regardless of what people would think of them, they would still wear what they want and do what they want; without hurting people. cutecore is an irrelevant term. if anything, "cutecore" disregards all the work people have put into the kawaii movement, as well as the history of it. the hard work and crafts of people, artistry, and so much more. there are so many brands that have made wonderful clothes, such as angelic pretty, baby the stars shine bright, listen flavor, swankiss, milklim, liz lisa,... the list goes on. they are relatively small in size and while their products are expensive, they are often worth the price, if not all the time. the care they put into making and designing their works is so admirable. idk about "whitewashing" or cutecore being derogatory, but to me it just seems like the people who use that word probably just don't have a good grasp or understanding of the meaning of "kawaii". they probably have the wrong idea i'm asian. born and raised in asia. i've been to japan a lot and my family goes there all the time. my aunt took her masters there. unfortunately, it's somewhat harder for westerners to pick up on these things (especially if u cant read other languages). honestly, not a lot of people dress in kawaii and harajuku fashion in japan. in tokyo, it really depends on where you are. in other places in japan, it's even more rare to see anyone dressed like that. but i feel like the COVID-19 quarantine and the boom of tiktok has influenced more people to wear alt fashion styles. i see a lot more people wearing lolita, goth, etc. when i go out to the mall and stuff now (not in japan btw). not sure what change that has made for japan, but yeah. it's like how people expect that everyone in japan avidly watches anime when in reality, most people don't, at very least not at the volume or frequency they expected. people these days are so obsessed over calling out things for cultural appropriation even though they aren't from there and in turn the voices of the people they're trying to defend get drowned out. often times those people don't care. kawaii is not something you have to earn nor is it derogatory; it's just a word. a word with a legacy and culture applicable anywhere in the world. just use it lol no need to bring in more terms it just confuses people.

i’m honest to god so tired of people trying to demonize women and older girls who like looking cute and wearing cute clothes. it’s sick. it affects peoples mental health

It annoys me to no end that I can't dress how I want without people giving me shit. My room is 100% pink, I wear my hair in half-up pigtails, and love a lot of cutesy pastel fashion in general (I don't stick to labels like "lolita" or whatever, I just wear what I like for this reason). People are SO fucking weird.

As a Japanese person, people here just doesnt really care nor really think through jojifukus or just any type of sexualization towards minors since it’s been pretty normalized. I mean in japan it is still problematic to sexualize minors however most people don’t care as much as they do in the US, When I used to do a lot of live streaming on the Japanese media when I was 12/13 years old, older men casually sexualized me and kept calling me a “loli” girl and said how I’m so “petite and cute” or some people even said how I look like I’d be pretty “t1ght” and everyone who was watching the live stream just took it as a joke. It got pretty off topic but now that I think about it I think these things in japan just shouldn’t be normalized:( Jojifukus in general isn’t bad it’s just the adults that sexualize it and in japan I feel like when adults wear jojifukus or any type of things like that, the term “loli” or sexualization towards minors are mentioned casually. I know that in japan being “cute” is pretty popular, but people should see the borderline between “cute” and “bringing up baby/child related subject to make things look cute” which can turn into sexualizing minors/ childlike activities

Wild that people started on "kawaii" which is such an accepted term in japan and western j-fashion communities and ended up on a different phrase that has p3dophilic roots because of concerns about appropriation. Like, what??? So strange.

I lived in Japan in 2005 and taught English at a preschool. The children always wore these cute clothes and I would see them at my local mall. I actually bought a t-shirt from Mezzo Piano (it was about $60) just as a reminder of my time there. Some Japanese people asked me why I wore it lol I guess I was one of the first adults wearing it? I think you should be able to dress how you like and the evil people who make it a sexual should be punished not you. I hope you choose to dress how you like everyone. It’s much harder to do in your late 30s 😅

OMG. I love the aesthetic I used to call "Cute Dreamy". I just found out it has a name and it's YUME KAWAII. Humans do share a hive mind, I swear

we also not gonna talk abt how jojifuku attracts a LOT of ed communities and a good chunk of them make up the fashion ???

It is always sad to see these types of things in Japan. If we started wearing girls' 2000s clothes again for the nostalgia (which a lot of people do now) it wouldnt be held with the same connotations :c

an actual japanese here who enjoys a lot of style and subcultures like thisㅡit's (jojifuku) definitely a subculture that's on thin ice, for a lack of better wording. i related a lot to the bit where it was mentioned that a friend said these girls' brands like angel blue and mezzo piano weren't those that were easily accessible or affordable enough to be worn by young girls, which is why at adulthood, some people do turn to jojifuku as a fashion to catch up on the things they couldnt have when they were younger. as for the hashtag though, thats where it definitely gets problematic. the fact that there are obvious pedophilic and fetishising elements that Only adults can engage with on the twitter account tells you they mean it to be what we're afraid of. jojifuku can and should continue to be its own fashion subculture as its a very cute one that both young people and adults could enjoy, but the intentions behind why people engage in this is smth to be wary of.

personally i find it a bit funny that a lot of kids fashion has now been appropriated by adults and kids can't partecipate

Wow you did your RESEARCH. I really appreciate what you're doing for our community. Your page is such a great resource for information.

as someone who relates to the style of jojifuku, I think the casual and aesthetic wearing of girls clothes that is not sexualized is a valid fashion! however I think renaming it to separate from the sexual side of jojifuku is probably necessary. if jojifuku means girls clothes, maybe the name could be something along the lines of childish clothes? (kodomoppoi-fuku) This way, children aren’t the focus, the childish clothes are.

The cute va kawaii debate is the most chronically online Tik tok shit, how is this a debate😭💀

it’s such a shame because i personally loved the aspect of jojifuku - the colorful cute clothes were exactly my style ! i am always jealous of kids clothes because they always have nicer designs that appealed to me, but i never go out of my way to buy anything in fear of seeming weird. i thought this fashion style consisted of people who felt the same as me and wasn’t afraid of embracing their inner child, but i guess not… it’s saddening honestly. i like a lot of “childish” things and the amount of people who automatically assume it’s in a sexual manner makes me sick.

Im a Japanese person and in Japan, jojifuku isnt very sexualized nowadays anymore in Japan, all of the 18+ jojifuku photos are from the late 2000s and is now not really a thing anymore. Personally, I think tiktok is just too harsh on the cancel culture along side of people who aren't educated on anything about the topic. I think jojifuku and the sex industry jojifuku should be seperated to stop the gaijin community to stop misunderstanding and being way too sensitive about the fashion. Pedophilia is never okay but sometimes 13 year olds on the internet are just too uneducated on the topic. As an adult, I am very disgusted in the sex industry that was selling and promoting pedophilia.

The way people talk about this style is so confusing to me like some say “its all se*ual” and others say “its not its just that some do” its like…😕😕😕

i remember a some form of jojifuku being around 2007 after the airing of Kodomo no Jikan and also Ichigo Mashimaro. But it was more of a cosplay then a fashion statement. girls would wear the same elements of jojifuku like overall shorts, knee high socks, having their hair in pigtails and also the little red backpack that elementary japanese kids would wear. an american idol named Yukapon is a prime example of that kinda of jojifuku fashion at the time

I love this fashion mainly because I didn't really get a chance to wear this stuff growing up only going to a school with uniforms and barely being allowed outside. Plus I didn't have a room to call my own to decorate with these styles so it really makes me happy to buy cute clothes and home decor like this! People think I'm goth because I mostly wear black and white clothes because it was the cheaper alternative since everything matched and money was tight for my mom and I wanted to make things easier. I would never wear this stuff in what most people would call inappropriate places though. I would wear it to a family bbq, running errands at target or Walmart, anime conventions, to the movies, etc. Or even if I'm taking my nieces out to a kids themed place and they'll freak out over my outfit and be even more excited to go out with me!

tysm for putting more info out in regards to jojifuku! I feel as though there is a lot of misinformation in western jfashion communities due to platforms like tiktok and people trying to make 女児服 be synonymous with kawaii fashion is really annoying. Like you said i feel like the tag 大人なのに女児服着てる is primarily used in context of fetish whereas the actual term jojifuku is used more as a way to describe an adult to wears childrens clothing just as clothing without any other underlying off putting implications

all this discourse is so terminally online lmaoo

well😭i’m someone with a petite body type and i LOVE the pop colors of angel blue and mezzo piano. i rlly love the cute designs on each. i first started buying a few of these pieces from depop, they kept popping up in my reccomended and seemed exactly like the pop, imaginative style i was going for. i had no idea they were childrens clothing brands (tho it makes sense now why all the sizes usually fit me) or that they related to smth like this until i watched ur video just now. i hate that this aesthetic aims to sexualize children, ESPECIALLY that photoshoot that was actually done in a real elementary school😭like wth were they thinking, those are real children who go to school there. i don’t know what the solution here is tbh. changing the name could work but in the long run, we need to change the culture that links femininity to children. this is both infantilizing women and creating a new sub genre for pedophilia to thrive. gross.

i love this style so much. i loveee rhe bright colors,and everything about it.I hate how nsfw communities cant just let cutw things exist without sexualising them.

i saw haruka speaking on this and was hoping you would touch on it!! i know you always provide as much context as possible, and amplify the voices and opinions of those living in japan who understand the context a lot more, so thank you for your info as always !!

So it's like lolita fashion and the unfortunate meaning of the name in the west, but the japanese way around, yikes. Let's quickly bury the name jojifuku until it's too late. Before everything was a -core or a -kei, I'd have called it retro girly or something. Once upon a time a time many western decoras also only had the larger sizes in the kids section to choose from if you wanted rainbow ponies on your shirt. Absolutely nothing wrong with wearing that. Just let's shut out the pervs from the fashion hashtags.

I'm just sitting here still trying to figure out why bright and pastel colours and designs are only allowed for children, according to society, in the modern world. Back not even 300 years ago in kindgoms around the world, bright and pastel colours were sought after due to how difficult they were to create- children, even in wealthier families, rarely wore bright or pastel colours. Even with lolita, the J-fashion I wear, I find myself confused as to how the silohette because sexualised as the silohette was originally created for adults- in roccoco royal courts. After the death of Queen Victoria's husband, adults , wanting to be like the Queen, moved to wearing sad and dark colours, as this is what she wore when in the state of mourning she stayed in until her death years later. However, the 50s, 60s, and 70s brought back the bright colours and, ironically, the 70s fashion looked VERY similar to the fashions here, except they are more bright colours over pastels (although, you DID find the pastels in the 80s). Too many things have been made "child-sized" because parents wanted "mini-mes", which led to the situation we're in, I believe. I personally believe we should start sticking kids back in those long, baptismal-type dresses and bonnets that were unisex so all were treated the same and we immediately eliminate the possible sexualisation of them, but that's just me. Anything, really, to stop them getting sexualised (which is the most disgusting thing in the world) and to gain back the fashions that were meant for adults in the first place. A couple of fun facts: 1) Pink was, originally, a boy's colour. It became blue in the early part of the 19th century due only to a clothing campaign by a company. Yes, we completely changed our culture, worldwide, because of, as always, capitalism (the same with diamonds). 2) Men were originally the ones who wore high heels as to make them taller, enabling them to stand out amongst the group.

I don't think there's anything wrong with wearing Jojifuku, but I do have a problem with it being sexualized Cute should stay in it's cute lane. Cute is not sexy

People are so chronically online that saying cute core is apparently whitewashing and racist-- but so is kawaii since it’s appropriation? Like people are so so miserable-

I find myself very invested in the topic of jojifuku style for many reasons. To start, I myself like brands like mezzo piano and the pieces from them. I feel it fits my personal style well; I like to wear cute fashions and pastels, and it's hard to find casual clothes in the US that are similar to that. I Believe for many people, this style is just that. But additionally, I think it would be constructive to move away from the term "jojifuku". That term has already been cemented as a kink, and for those such as myself that like cute fashion, it can get tiring to try and explain that you're not a P baiter or trying to sexualize children. I believe this style of fashion has grown beyond being just a kink, and it would be wrong to lump that into the origins of it. But as this style devlops and takes on a more innocent audience, I do find it imperative to find a proper name for it.

I am quite disappointed to find how people have been wearing and using this fashion style in this problematic way, but I do believe it can be redeemed into something better! It's a super cute style of harajuku but the name should be changed to something else because not only is it's name right now connected to these problematic ideas but it'll still be a cute fashion and a great way for girls to live out their inner child in an expressive way! I know that their will still be a stigma surrounding it though, even if we were to change the name and meaning of the fashion, but if your not using it in a harmful or preadatory way then I don't see an issue with wanting to dress in cute girl clothing. Harajuku is all about dressing how you want and wearing things that make you happy! This style has good potential, we just need to push away from the problematic side of it. I would love to dress like this but I do not want anything gross to come along with it I just wanna express my inner childness in a cute fashionable way! :D

I personally think that people should just start calling the fashion a new word. That way if people or minors look up the fashion or get into it it's not seen a sexualized or fetish thing. (:

I strictly dress in pink, hyper feminine clothes that could definitely pass as children’s clothes, and..I just like the style man, what is this-

To be honest, I think the term is like a casualty of the internet. Because so many social media sites are tag dependent, it often leads to grouping like this, where ABDL accounts (adult baby diaper lovers) are right next to sfw accounts that just like the aesthetic/fashion. This happens very often in the furry community. There's even a subculture called 'diaperfurs' that will show up on Twitter next to completely normal fursuits. Unfortunately, the only real solution would probably be to change the fashion name, to ensure there's a sfw version for people who don't want to be apart of...the nsfw version😳

I dress the way I do because of childhood trauma and because it makes me feel comfortable. Even though I am still a child technically it scares me that when I’m older people will say I’m trying to sexualize stuff when that couldn’t be more wrong. I’m just healing and trying to get back the childhood I lost. My brain randomly reverts to the age of four when everything started going wrong AND I have absolutely zero interest in anything remotely sexual and I never will. Ugh people make me so sick.

so excited for this!! jojifuku has been getting popular in the west and the controversy behind it is so interesting to me lol

I really like this video. I appreciate this format of plain, open, and unbiased presentation, with a range of sources used to show both facts and some opinions from people involved or knowledgeable. Feel like I learned something new today.

As a Japanese person, i rlly don’t think saying kawaii is racist or appropriation. There are many words from Japanese that are also used in English, so i don’t rlly see how one word makes a difference

i wear clothing that i perceive as “childish” or i feel others would perceive as so, but strictly for my own comfort. i don’t have a child’s body by any means - i’m 5’ tall but i was targeted starting 5th grade for having a large chest w/small frame - so i always try to do my best not to sexualize the clothing when i wear them. i’ve always done this, to a degree. i wear what i wear as a trauma response to SCA & CSA, so the last thing i’m trying to do is attract predatory men. unfortunately, i know that people *do* weaponize things like this, i even personally know of some. there’s a famous one who streams daily & has hundreds of thousands of online followers. it’s discouraging & makes me not as comfortable dressing this way, which i think is one of the most detrimental things coming out of this.

Ive multiple times been jealous how cute some clothes meant for children are. Super fun designs! But never the ones that actually makes you look like a little child.

Yeah this is why I just call my style kawaii fashion or kawaii kidcore 💗

Thank you for making this video! When I first heard the term jojifuku I was pretty confused, because as you touch on in this video, there is not a lot of info or community around this in the way you would usually encounter while researching a jfashion style online. All the controversy around it recently and the stuff with the insta hashtag made it seem even more muddled and confusing. I really appreciate all the research you put into this video and how clarifying it is about the nature of term and where it comes from

i've always loved "kawaii" style and i thought that children's clothing was so much cuter and more appealing than most adult's clothing. when i had to stop wearing those clothes as a kid, i was really upset lol. it's unfortunate that some people are sexualizing this style, because personally i'm not going to try to get into jojifuku / danjifuku if it's going to be associated with the sexualization of children's clothes. i still think that it's a good idea outside of that and i would love it if a style like that became really popular.

My sis is fluent in japanese (she says she isnt good at verbs but she can hold LONG proper conversations, she's even going to college for it Im so proud of her) and dresses with the traditional Western gothic style. I feel like she would love ur channel! :0 I def lov how in depth you went I learned a ton and have decided I wanna get more into these subcultures! Great video!!!

Looking at things "objectively without bias from all points of view" is the definition of critical thinking. Thank you for comjng at this topic with that kind of tact and thoughtfulness 😊

As an alt fashion girl who incorporates 'children's clothing' in the form of backpacks, socks and accessories because it's hard to find kawaii fashhion pieces offline or outside of Asia; This discusts me. There is no reason that a woman (or an other grown person) who wears, wants to wear, or embrace the style of children's clothing should be using a hashtag kinksters and nunces use. It's a pretty common thing in alt fashion to incorporate clothing not 'ment for' you, kidcore is well established. You can wear iteams intended for children without in any way wanting to look like a literal child. I'm sorry, but if you do want to look like a child you either are one and shouldn't be in nsfw spaces or you're an adult with a nsfw intrest in it either for some very specific kinky roleplay that I'm sure you can use some other tag for or you're a nunce, which if you are, congrats this tag is for you. Themes of childhood, nostalga, and kids clothing could become a ligitemate fashion, but it would either need to take a strictly nonsexual approch like Lolita fashion, or a very WE AREN'T TRYING TO LOOK LIKE CHILDREN BECAUSE WE ARE ADULTS AND THIS FASHION IS FOR ADULTS approch, this is doing neither and it really shows.

1:43 aaaaa I had so many Mezzo clothings when I was 5! My favorite was a skirt with two vertical zippers on it that revealed a stary pattern when unzipped, was kinda trendy at that time and I guess most my friends had those too.

Here is the thing: Cis men will sexualize anything. So even if people weren't posing in suggestive poses, someone was going to sexualize this anyway. I think reclaiming it and calling it Heisei Joshi is a good idea.

I absolutely love your look!! I couldn't take my eyes off it!

this video was so objective and analytical, it was really enlightening to watch

im really happy you have so much detail research in your videos. i am not on tiktok as i did not like the misinfomation spread about certain japanese cultures coming from white people and an example was that saying that 'kawaii'' is a slur. thank you for doing this video. it really saddnes me that dressing cute is sexualised. i love dressing cute and "childish"' as i find comfort in it and also use age regression as a coping mechiasm due to trauma. again for anyone asking, ageplay is NOT age regression and age regression is only sfw.

How about this: wear whatever makes you happy. Americans are so easily offended by certain fashion aspects of other cultures. In Japan this style is not about sexualizing children in any capacity.? This isn’t a “problematic trend”, this is a legit fashion subculture with deep and interesting roots and history that has been around for a while now. It’s not about looking like a sexy child for a man, it’s a meaningful way for people to reconnect with their childhood and sometimes the style just makes people happy. People wear this for themselves because it brings them joy, not for men. It’s that simple. Can the US please stop gatekeeping subcultures they know nothing about?

I love your editing and style !!! It’s amazing

Off topic but i used to follow you years ago on instagram before i deleted my account. I’ve never heard your voice before and it is SO endearing! Also glad to find ur channel!

I heard about jojifuku so im curious to watch this

Hi cybr grl I'm really excited to watch your new video! :)

also jojifuku tags probably got blocked because I assume there was a ton of DDLG overlap going on... so not shocking it got blocked. update edit: I was correct lol if "jojikuku" tags are used for DDLG and nsfw/kink then it should not be used for harijuku fashion. it's not safe.

I really think jojifuku is a term too heavily surrounded in fetish, and that it's not safe to be using in the western jfashion community. When younger girls think these clothing items are cute and end up searching for more information online, it can open them to things they shouldn't be seeing, and even dangerous people. Being exposed to certain things like ageplay at a young age can really mess you up, and it really worried me when I saw the term "jojifuku" being used as a fashion on tik tok. I really liked the clarification that you can still use some kids items and be considered harajuku fashion, as opposed to being dressed in girls clothes from head-to-toe. I like the term "heisei joshi", and think it'll be better for the community to start using this word when it comes to the fashion! Thank you so much for making this video and clarifying things!

i think that it doesnt matter where you go, corn will always be there. people being weird interactions, you finding some plus age stuff or something like that will always exist in all the styles. anyways i just want this to settle just so i can find inspirations for my outfits.

i really appreciate you making this video! as an english speaker i first encountered jojifuku being described as “people wear children’s clothes because they couldn’t afford them when they were younger” and thought this was such a pleasant idea as someone who experienced something similar just in the west. being an adult with my own money, buying more childish things i never got the chance to have as a kid is very nice for me. i was really excited about jojifuku when i first found it because i thought it was groups of people with a similar mindset as me, but now having context for the NSFW style jojifuku images id find trying to look up the style, i no longer think this is the case. it seems the people who made jojifuku and insist in calling it that are trying to use it in a very unpleasant way, while those who use it in the way i’d like don’t necessarily make a big show about it. i think, because of those connotations, jojifuku, the fashion made by those in the sex industry, jojifuku, the normal clothes little girls wear and modeled by girls of the target age demographic, and people who wear children’s clothing should probably all be referred to differently.

I love all of your videos especially when they get into subcultures and fashion styles. Counting down until this gets released.

THE RAINBOW LADY IS BACK

First of all, Kawaii Pateen is my life blood. Also, since I've heard of Fairy Kei but not 女児服 I guess that means I'm old now 🥲 but I do understand the hesitation towards the name. Especially with things like those 女子個性散歩 and the 会話 cafes existing along side the loli you know what industry at the same time. It has to be tough for those people who genuinely like the style because it's SO heavily associated with child abuse you can't even call it what it is. I'm also still a huge fan of these brands myself (no way I'll ever fit into them though LOL) so I also have some of these household items and accessories myself so it sucks to see pervs get so heavily associated with it. CUTE IS FOR ALL AGES!!!

Honestly, this gives me flashbacks to my childhood. It's sad people are s-xu2lizing this. BUT something to mention, this is not new. This s-x2lization of this fashion style was going on when I was a child. I remember seeing suggestive imagery online or even just in the city in some dvd shops or even convinient store magazines of these clothes. When you know, this was still a style kids wore. The most common were shots from below, of children (or probably adults dressed as such) walking up their apartments stairs dressing like that, inviting the person below them to come with them. As a kid I knew these images were ''weird'' but I didn't really understand it back then. So this whole thing is ''coming back'' not appearing out of nowhere. And if you've been on the otaku side of Japanese twitter or have worked or known people who work in the idol industry, you'd know it never fully went away.

Very insightful thank you for introducing more styles :D

As an age dreamer/regressor (it’s not kink/fetish), I think Jojifuku is a really cute style, but I agree the style side vs the fetish side should have a different name. As someone who just wants to see cute clothes, it is triggering to find the fashion and fetish used interchangeably on platforms. To me, it’s like how ddlg and agere content are distinctly separated on platforms. They can look the same and they share some elements, but the meaning behind it is very different.

this is a really good and informative vid!! ive been wearing kawaii fashion for years and personally i think that jojifuku is an excuse for very bad people to engage in fetish material with the excuse that it is just a jfashion subculture. the thing is that jojifuku different to these other cute styles - there are specific spaces to sexualise the fashion, whilst i find that other kawaii styles use children's media in a nostalgic and wholesome way. sources also constantly inform ppl that it is a way to dress and look like children, too. the subculture itself is built on the fantasy of pedos.

Would you do a makeup tutorial of your makeup in this video?! I love it 🥺

Can't wait for this video 😩 😭 God jojifuku really makes me feel antsy. Heebie jeebies.

oh wow ive never even heard of this before, its interesting that so much of this seems to go back to that one studio and hashtag but doesnt have much of a presence outside of that. while i love the designs of brands like mezzo piano and angel blue, it def makes me uneasy seeing people who are wearing it in sexual ways with the examples youve shown, so i would personally never use that tag even if i were wearing a full outfit of those brands

I learned about this "style" from a mutuals on the bird app space, and as someone who has a fascination with pure, youthful and innocent pallete kind of clothing (pastel kei, decora, etc.) mixing with Akiba (anime/games/idols) culture (AKA Akiba-Kei, i'll bring that up after this) I was surprised... But also NOT surprised that this style exist. Long story short, yea it is NOT for the real youth, and I theory that this style "jojifuku" is a style that is meant for those who need to cope and to "earn" their dream piece or item when they're a adult because clothing and accessories from these specific, youth-specific target demographic ain't cheep. (Wait really??) It is also like a safe barrier to own and wear such pieces to cope, and not leading a future of actual harm because I think to me they wear them because they are very happy with such appeal. But same time, I can see why Tokyo Fashion does NOT tag nor find such people on street snaps. Looking at these posts shown, a lot are closed indoors, indicating that this style is likely not meant for public or outdoor, likely for personal safety. (Maybe this is why the cafe is desired?) Its also to me personally very awkward, even if I do like the design pieces of these brands. I say to use "jojifuku" on certain spaces, just like the other adults-only hobby "styles" such as ABDL (I am so sorry I have to bring the term up!). Its a sensitive topic, but I think at the end of the day it is up to the individual who IS involved in that style. If one is into it... Okay then! Just don't go out and meet other yume kawaiis or pastel keis in a meet up or fashion walk. (Maybe if its with your friends.) But it is also depend on the environment. Prefer not with families around to get confused. Also I like Bisuko and their Menhera-chan brand, and able to meet them in person years ago! Anyway about Akiba-Kei: I don't know if you ever plan to cover it, or I live under a rock and missed it.. LOL. But if it doesn't exist, do you have any intentions to cover it? I learned about it years ago via Tokyo Fashion channel, and I incorporate pastel kei or decora with Akiba Kei, which is helpful from someone who is a shameless and respectful otaku! Thank you for making such amazing and even respectful content! (And these warning tags.)

really off topic from the video but o manage to find you every where and i love it

I still wear some of my childhood dresses, I have this super frilly one that is pink and white and it has pink and white hearts and I love it so much! I have other clothes from childhood that I still wear but I didn’t know people called it a type of fashion lol

as you said the line is blurry but I think if you just wear mezzo piano / angel blue clothes cause theyre cute or nostalgic theres no inherent problem in it, it becomes a problem when you actively sexualize wearing children's clothes. it's also a problem if someone wears those clothes innocently but an actual lolicon starts getting all up in their space, however that's not the wearers fault since they didn't ask to get weirdos' attention (and as a gyaru who started out as a minor i know wayyyy too well what it's like to be sexualized against your will because of what you wear)

i really wanted to dress in this kind of style but i was deeply afraid of this exact thing so i educated myself more on it before i even tried to dress up in the fashion, since i’ve heard a lot of bad things about it and people getting weird comments. Also heard a lot about eds happening in the community. i still fear dressing like this because as someone who is still considered young i don’t want to be targeted by anyone specifically.

I hadn't heard of this style before but can totally appreciate it! There was a girls clothes store called Tammy Girl in the UK when I was a pre-teen/early teen and if they were still around I'd totally try and still wear their clothes XD It's unfortunate that most J-fashions on women are sexualised by the outside (ie, Lolita) but this style seems to have grown out of a fetish? So, sort of like the other way around. Regardless, no one should be sexualised or harassed or have assumptions made about their intentions without their consent. I would probably avoid the hashtag if I were to wear the style and go for something more along the lines of yumekawaii or fairy-kei even if that wasn't 100% accurate.

Here me out, would it be better to call jojifuku something like mezzo angel kei? To give this a much needed new definition of possibly youth nostalgia.

i love jojifuku so i cant wait for the video

I wear kids clothes almost exclusively, but I've never heard of jojifuku until a few days ago. I think it would be best for those of us who just enjoy the fashion to find a new name for it.

Damn this is my first time here and I was very interested in this subculture before very cool video! But I've gotta point out that I LOVE ur wall-I mean rainbow?? Yess please!!

Thank you for this information. I appreciate it

I feel like this comes as a natural progression of the infantilization of women in general and in the ways it happens in Japanese culture. It then seems natural that any place a woman exists, although she may have entered under infantilization, she can then be seen as sexual since she is an adult. It can also be a reclamation, “you can infantilization me but I am always still a full woman” and there it can be a tricky social experiment wherein if you as the viewer take the sexy part alone and run, it’s more revealing about you than it is about the woman’s expression.

Mezzo piano and the other brands are so cute, the characters, the designs- they are so fun and kawaii, unfortunately some ppl wear them to cater to gross people... But some just wear it bc the design makes them happy. Yes it's literally children clothes... And i guess if you can fit it and like it, why not? I don't think theres anything inherently wrong with the clothes, but wearing them to intentionally look like a child... I dont think thats ok- if you were to wear head to toe mezzo in the West, im not sure if anyone would ask "is this a fetish thing?" Like they would with lolita per say... But you dont rlly know why anyone is wearing what they are unless they tell you.

I love ur strawberry fit in the first clip 🎀

A sophisticated approach by an interesting person. Very refreshing.

as someone who loves decora, i love the angel blue design they are pop and colorful ( just like me lol :), but after seeing this video i might consider wearing those item ( i dont have but i was looking for winter stuff, like knit cardigan ...) but saldl i dont want to be sexualised...

I don’t think anything is wrong with the fashion aspect of it, because they’re just clothes! It would be a good idea to rename the style, since jojifuku has already been taken over by people who are either pedophiles or have a problem with it. Renaming the fashion would be a simple and easy way of separating the fashion from the reputation.

great video! really informative. could you do a mori kei video sometime in the future?? i would really appreciate that :D

I like jojifuku fashion but I can never find anything my size :/ I’m size l-xxl depending but it sucks this style seems to be reserved for more smaller women

I accidently stumbled upon an extremely sick image of a child on a website that was of this style. I was scarred from what i saw which lasted a split second before a mod kicked me out. It was on a public streaming site that got banned years ago. The reason i got even exposed was cause the cover was an anime girl. That was 5 years ago. It still pops in my mind on and off and I get nauseous. I can't even imagine what it's like for those who actually get first hand violated. Seeing an image for one sec was horrifying. It's disgusting and that word doesn't do any justice