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Visual Kei & the Lolita Subculture
In returning to the topic of G&L, especially in regard to Visual Kei, one
can observe that not only has it evolved from New Romanticism it is also
part of New Romanticism albeit in a latent but fresh and contemporary
state. However, I must again stress that Visual Kei does not represent the
mimicking by the Japanese of a Western movement. I have endeavoured to
show that New Romanticism and its predecessor Glam took considerable
inspiration Japan in its formulation as much as the Japanese movement has
evolved from essentially Western roots. Furthermore, the transference of
Western ideas into Japan, especially in regard to Visual kei, represents
translation rather than imitation. In discussing this notion, Masafumi
Monden cites anthropologist Jonathan Friedman’s contention that “the
things and symbols of Western culture have diffused into the daily lives of
many of the world’s people… yet still their mode of appropriating these
things is vastly different from our own”. 32 The result is a hybridisation
which, in this case, counts for sound as well as image.
In regard to visual identities, the members of the most prominent
Visual-kei bands, especially those followed by Lolita worldwide (Figs 37, 39,
42, 43 & 48 – 53), display their associations with a Glam, post-Punk, New-
wave, New-romantic heritage (Figs 38, 40, 41 & 44 – 47).
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