Japanese men's magazines are great. Most of us can't even read the words, but still buy them for the images to get new style inspiration and glimpses at stuff that we wish we could find in the States. Streetwear diehards already know about the various Supreme editorials in magazines like COOL TRANS, while nostalgic workwear dudes have been following Americana rags like Free & Easy and Lightning for a while.
The New York Times decided to post a short, fun piece on generalizing five different Japanese publications (POPEYE, Men's Nonno, Free & Easy, 2nd, and Huge) into their love for strange stories, self-improvement articles, and a prevalent theme of camouflage. We're not sure if Free & Easy publishing eight pages of oxford-cloth button-down shirts is weird, or if the Times making a deal out of Japanese magazines and their otaku-like attention-to-detail.
Sure, Japanese publications are drastically different than their American counterparts, and most of the time leave us scratching our heads in bewilderment, but there's a reason Japan is home to a lot of great brands—it's the country's earnest approach to clothes and the austere desire for perfection.
It's not that the stereotypes of these reading back-to-front books aren't true, but the wealth of knowledge that are usually contained within generally outweigh a broad stroke of similarities. But then again, type-casting is totally cool, right?
[via NY Times]
