We often hear the phrase “Only in Japan!” when describing some peculiarity about this country. Well, I’m not sure if this is a world-first but it still caught my eye (not in that way, I hasten to add)…
Japan is definitely known for its scrupulous attention to the niche market, whether that be in mobile phones, lifestyle goods, or fashion. Here’s a consumer base that could certainly be called niche, if not underground: crossdressers or jyosouku (女装子).
The crossdresser maid cafe New Type in Akihabara has only been open less than two years but it is thinking big. In fact, it’s just started its own e-commerce fashion site especially for otoko no musume ko (男の娘, literally “boy’s daughter”, and a play on 男の子, or “boy”, which has the same reading) customers, lagrangel.
As you might expect, there is plenty on offer for cosplay fans: uniforms, maid outfits and so on. But there’s also a wealth of “normal” fashion items too, like coats, dresses — to my layman eyes, at least, quite attractive stuff.
From what I could tell, most products seem to sell for between 10 and 15,000 JPY (about $118-170), making this niche fashion pretty reasonable too.
Japan, not having the biblical background of other cultures, often seems refreshingly free of any let-ups about this kind of area. So even though, needless to say, this fashion won’t be for everyone you are very unlikely to hear any moral complaints about it either.
Editor’s note (Michael): I changed ‘transvestite’ to ‘crossdresser’ due to reader comments, as well as after finding that lots of the jyosouko in the Japanese blogosphere actively call themselves crossdressers when they use English. Transvestite makes me think of Rocky Horror, but these are boys who like to dress like cute girls…and I must say pull it off rather well. To be honest, this could be a whole series, since crossdresser blogs are numerous, and there’s a bit of an underlying trend going on here. We’ll give this topic more attention I think. The #2 blog on the miscellaneous section of the blogmura ranking is this pretty young man, and the rest of the list is full of crossdressers!
William is an editor of JapanTrends.com and researcher for 
actually in this particular slang usage, 男の娘 is read as “otoko no ko.” It’s a wordplay from the usual “otoko no ko” (男の子) boys, only in this case the “boys” are “girls”
@sarita Yes, you’re absolutely right! It’s one of those wordplays that the Japanese language can do so well.
Certainly is a “new” type of online apparel. Not sure how this would translate in America!
Some of the uniforms and maid outfits go right up to 30,000 yen, though! Wow, that’s a lot to spend on fetish gear (which this might count as, right?). There’s some cheap-ish wigs. Might get myself one of those…
If I can get incredibly picky for a moment and just point something out, “transvestite” is often (in some circles) used for people who dress up as the opposite gender specifically for the sexual pleasure received from doing so. Which, I’m guessing is nowhere near the main goal of all of the people who would be using this online shop. The shop no doubt also has (or will have) a wide array of customers who are transgender (born one sex but who feel they are the other gender), cross dressers (those who enjoy dressing as the opposite sex, but not out of sexual pleasure or the desire to actually transition), and other types of people (such as plain-old cosplayers looking for something new).
It can sometimes be tough to know the exact term to use in a particular situation, so I don’t want to come across like I’m bitching about the use of “transvestite” in the title of this article and then in the article itself. At the same time, I wanted to point out that that might not be the most correct term due to the additional connotations that word can often have.
@Mollie Thanks for the input. I was actually a bit hesitant myself about using the term “transvestite” (over “cross-dresser”) but figured it would be easiest to understand for the uninitiated (and of course knew it would be more intriguing).
In fact, I think transvestitism is even more complicated in Japan than other places, due to the whole culture of dressing-up, both contemporary (cosplay) and traditional (kabuki). The terminology behind a lot of our concepts of sexuality were coined in the west and arguably don’t have credence here. I certainly see a lot more transvestites around than in other places, and I mean just out and about in “mainstream” places. To my eyes the New Type maid cafe appears to some degree “sexual” by its nature (though this doesn’t mean the customers are getting a sexual gratification in the typical heterosexual way, right?), but I have never been there so am purely just speculating. However, I agree with you that the likely target consumer of the online shop is probably a bit wider. It’s definitely a very gray area!
Eh, just call it “Tranny”, covers everything trans- vestite/gender/sexual etc. Yeah, only in Japan!
I made some editorial changes, noted in the post.
@William I really appreciate the fact that you put a lot of thought into the words and their use, and yes, it can sometimes be a little confusion when it comes to which terms to us when. Hell, I’m part of that community, and sometimes I can even get a bit tripped up as to how somebody prefers to have themselves referenced. The terms can have slightly different meanings depending on the situation they’re used in, the community using it, and the country the term is being used in. I think it’s one of a handful of reasons that the trans community can still be quite mis-understood among those outside of it, which is a real shame (but something the community itself needs to work harder to change).
@Nonya One thing I think most can agree on, however, is that “tranny” typically is not a word appreciated by those in the trans community, because it’s most often used by people or in situations where there’s very little understanding (or desire to understand) the people it’s being used towards. That’s not to say that everybody who uses it means it to be disrespectful, mind you, but for many people in the community it’s very similar to how, for example, the gay community looks at a word like “fag”.
Yeah, “franny” is stupid.
However, I think there are people who use both “cross-dresser” and “transvestite” interchangeably. I mean, members of the trans community themselves. Eddie Izzard might, I think.
I fear that words can be dangerous if we grow too attached to them as labels. After all, these people are fundamentally crossing borders (TRANScending categories), those lines that we have artificially imposed. Of course Mollie knows how he/she feels and his/her peers, but we do need to be sure not to pigeonhole these words and people, to assign clearcut definitions when these shifting identities are anything but…
One thing is certain, though — we should celebrate these developments as signs of movement and evolution beyond our black/white lives!
@Michael “This could be a whole series”. Yeah, this could be a whole book!
Interestingnshop and congratulations, yet in essence it is not really that new. Look at Kabuki actors who are male and dress in females kimono and even more elaborately. It’s very similar, just providing Western style clothing in a greater appeal.