'B-STYLERS' ARE JAPANESE TEENS WHO WANT TO BE BLACK
Dutch photographer Desiré van den Berg has spent the past seven months traveling around Asia. She lives in Hong Kong at the moment, but when she was in Tokyo, back in December 2013, she met Hina, a 23-year-old who works at a trendy Tokyo boutique called Baby Shoop. Hina's shop has the tagline “Black for Life.” She describes its products as “a tribute to Black culture: the music, the fashion, and style of dance.”
Hina's appearance is also loyal to what the Japanese call "B-style"—a contraction of the words "Black" and "Lifestyle" that refers to a subculture of young Japanese people who love American hip-hop culture so much that they do everything in their power to look as African American as possible.
I called up Desiré to find out more about her time photographing Hina and her gang.
VICE: How did you meet Hina?
Desiré van den Berg: She appeared in a documentary about B-style a couple of years back, which I happened to watch. This is what got me interested in the culture. It took a lot of effort, but I eventually got in touch with her on Facebook, through other B-stylers. I said I wanted to take photos of her, and she actually thought that was pretty cool. It was all a bit of a hassle, though, because Hina and the other B-stylers didn't speak a single word of English. We needed a translator both to make an appointment and at the actual first meeting, too. . . .
Even though many Japanese feel right at home in the mass, it is still a land of extremes, which manage to coexist rather well.
Much more ethnic cohesion actually allows for more freedom, since it is still all in the family?
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