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I love small monsters. Tokyo love!

I love small monsterse absolutely gaga.

The world is going crazy for Lady Gaga and Japan is no exception. Within the last two years, Japan has gone absolutely gaga.

Lady Gaga arrived at Narita Airport for her 2010 Monster Ball World Tour in what many has described as quite a ludicrous outfit. But her outfit wasn’t the only thing worth attention. On her forearm and $3,000 Hermes bag, she had written a shout-out to her Japanese fans in Katakana.  “I love little monsters. Tokyo love.”

This is not the first time; however, Lady Gaga has been to Japan. In 2009 she performed at the Summer Sonic in Tokyo and since then, by word of mouth and radio, she has gotten a considerably large fan base in Japan.

During her stay in 2010, she performed in both Osaka and Tokyo and did several “extra-curricular” activities. Most noticeably was the cover of the September issue of Vogue Hommes Japan, where she was depicted wearing a meat bikini, causing uproar with PETA. But even so, this is not the first time Lady Gaga has donned a raw meat outfit. There is a message within these outfits, but the symbolism can be hard to understand.  Nevertheless, Lady Gaga continues her provocative tone in another photo series involving paint. One of the more heated discussions, besides the meat outfits, was concerning a cover of Jo Caldrone, who turned out to be Lady Gaga’s alter ego.  Lady Gaga has created an impressive alter ego and pulls it off very well. In an interview Jo Caldrone explained his relationship with Lady Gaga:

“I met her at a shoot Nick Knight was doing. She’s fuckin’ beautiful, and funny, and interesting. I was a little nervous for Nick to start shooting. She said, “Don’t be baby, you were born this way.” I took her out after. The rest is private”

Quite an interesting notion, this alter ego, from an artist who was supposedly a hermaphrodite for a short period of time, and has now  chosen to display her figure to her best advantage at all times to show that she is indeed a woman. Is there a symbolism in doing this as well?

Vogues Hommes Japan Covers

But despite her sexual displays and references, she is also very conscious of fans and self-respect, and took the time to speak against HIV and unprotected sex at a concert in Tokyo Bay in mid-April 2010. The reason she did so, apart from her status as a spokeswoman in the MAC cosmetic campaign, is because “in Japan, women and men do not want to talk about AIDS or HIV. It’s really uncommon. We’re here now to put it on the table, not under the table.” That is really hitting the nail on the head in terms of what is taboo, and what can be done when you’re famous and a spokeswoman.

All in all, Lady Gaga has been quite active in Japan with photo shoots, awareness campaigns and concerts. But she is not the only one making an effort; her Japanese fans are full of devotion and creativity as well.

Although fans might be look and be the same to an artist performing night after night, there is actually a noticeable difference between Japanese (Asian) and European fans.  While most will just wear a T-shirt with a band logo to show their enjoyment of music, the Japanese take it a step further when going to concerts and worshipping artists.

This author recommends visiting these links for a full view of the Lady Gaga series Tokyo Fashion shot outside her concert in Yokohama Arena:

http://tokyofashion.com/lady-gagas-little-japanese-monsters-pictures/

http://tokyofashion.com/japanese-lady-gaga-fan-fashion-pictures-day-2/

The fashion displayed outside this arena is simply amazing. It is a fantastic display of creativity from the Japanese fan base, most of who compose and sew their own outfits.  They really make the European fan base seem boring and colorless in comparison.

Gaga Fans

Inspired by "Telephone"

A male Gaga-fan