Recent years have seen an explosion of interest in Korea, especially in Asia. Kickstarted years ago by Gangnam Style and its billions of YouTube views (now more than 5 billion since its video release in 2012) and further fuelled by the K-Pop bands of stylish young men and women, fascination with Korean food, style and culture is at an all-time high.
But it would be foolish to say that Korea has usurped the interest in everything Japanese when it comes to fascination with Asian culture in general and there remains a huge market in Australia for products that fuel people’s obsessions about everything to do with the Land of the Rising Sun.And no stronger is that fascination than in the field of products that cater to the continuing need for accessories from products that personalise cars to fashion apparel such as trendy anime hoodies. In fact, the two often go hand in hand.
The Japanese Domestic Market
The term Japanese Domestic Market or JMD is a bit of a misnomer in line with many uses of “Japanese English”. Rather than being a broad economic term it actually refers to Japan’s home market for vehicles and vehicle parts and colloquially refers to vehicles for domestic use in Japan.
More broadly the term was used in Australia to refer to the love of Japanese cars but has grown to mean so much more as a marker of the need to personalise everything in terms of the shared enjoyment people have in terms of everything Japanese in nature.
Today enthusiasts can buy not just knick-knacks you might expect like JDM lanyards and keychains but products such as JDM floor mats, air fresheners, seat belt covers and jet tags. The list is endless and enthusiasts can’t get enough.
This is also true in the area of clothing of course where personalising goes with the territory. One of Australia’s biggest companies in the sale of such items offers hoodies, t-shirts, crewnecks and hats. High-quality breathable fabrics make the clothing not just a trendy fashion statement but more broadly speaking “anywhere” and “all day” clothing that you might see at functions or the gym and certainly at dress-down days at work. It’s understated rather than garish.
JDM clothing clearly speaks to the lifestyle and culture that automotive enthusiasts love to express about themselves. The appeal crosses not just the sexual divide but the generation gap too – after all fascination with everything Japanese goes back decades and is so much more than anime comics these days.
The fascination with Japanese anime stretches back decades now and figures such as “Speed Racer” and “Astro Boy” have passed into legend. But with “Dragon Ball-Z” and “Sailor Moon” in the 1990’s and the subsequent rise of the internet, it is unlikely that Korean fans will kick the Japanese off their pedestal any time soon!Look for Australian-wide delivery of clothing and other accessories that conform to standards.
