COVER STORY: The Way of Cool

Caption: Japanese models on stage at the Shanghai Expo in June. Held in the Japan Pavilion, the fashion show “Shibuya Style Collection” was a big hit with Expo visitors.
Credit: ©CoFesta

CoFesta Charms China

“Japan Week” took place at the Shanghai International Expo earlier this summer, with even former Japanese Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama paying a visit. “CoFesta in Shanghai” was held from the opening day on June 12 until June 23.

Held yearly in Japan since 2007, CoFesta (the Japan International Contents Festival) is the world’s largest comprehensive content festival where various events related to games, music, broadcasting, fashion and design are held in cooperation with each other.

On this occasion, as a part of the international expansion of CoFesta, elements of Japanese pop culture, including an anime song concert, dress-up show and screening of a 3D animation, were introduced at the site of the Shanghai Expo.

Among the activities, the fashion show proved especially popular. In China, Chinese language versions of Japanese fashion magazines make up the top sales spots for women’s fashion magazines. The “Shibuya style” fashion show “Shibuya Style Collec­tion” that took place on the event stage of the Japanese pavilion packed the venue with an audience of over 350 people.

“A lot of young Chinese women clad in the sort of fashions one finds in the Shibuya district of Tokyo gathered for the show. I almost mistook them for having come from Japan,” remarked a PR officer for CoFesta in Shanghai. “The audience knew each model’s name well. And there were shouts of the Japanese word ‘kawaii’ (cute) flying around the venue.”