Kicking off the month with some Gyaru History! This will be an ongoing blog series, so make sure to stick around for the upcoming posts! In the meantime, let’s get started. If you’re new to Gyaru or don’t know the lifestyle part of it as much as the fashion, I’ve got you: Here’s a brief, chronological history of Gyaru and Shibuya up to 2014.
★ The first Popteen is released in 1980 (arguably not an actual Gyaru fashion magazine, but still important to the beginning of this subculture)
★ The first ViVi is released in 1983
★ Fashion Community 109 (ファッションコミュニティー109) is renamed to Shibuya109
★ Teams begin appearing in Shibuya, consequently so do Teamers (Gyaru History Sidenote I: Teams & Teamers)
★ The term Oyaji Gal wins a bronze buzzword award. This term comes from Yutsuko Chusonji’s golf manga “Sweet Spot”
★ The peak of the bubble economy (Nikkei Stock Average hits a record high of 38,957 yen)
★ Tokyo Walker (東京ウォーカー) magazine is released
★ Itameshi (イタメシ) and Tiramisu (ティラミス) become a boom in Japanese food culture
★ Kirekaji (キレカジ) meaning Pretty Casual gains popularity
★ HMV Shibuya (HMV渋谷) opens
★ Juliana’s Tokyo (ジュリアナ東京) opens – A discothèque famous for its dance stages, where Office Ladies wore bodycon clubwear as amateur go-go dancers. ‣
★ Navy blue suits (紺ブレ) becomes popular, winning the silver prize in the expression category as a new word
★ Bubble burst
★ Pagers (ポケベル) become extremely popular among high school girls
★ The word Kogal (コギャル) begins to appear (Gyaru 101: The Kogal Boom)
★ Loose socks (ルーズソックス) become popular
★ The Komuro boom begins – Songs produced by Tetsuya Komuro (小室 哲哉) massively sell
★ Namie Amuro with SUPER MONKEY’S “TRY ME ~ Believe in Me ~” is released
★ The Amurer (アムラー) boom begins
★ EGG Magazine is released (this is originally a magazine for men, then turns into a magazine for both men and women before releasing a separate Men’s EGG)
★ Cawaii!! Magazine is released
★ The JR Saikyo Line extends to Ebisu Station
★ Burberry Blue Label (バーバリー・ブルーレーベル) goes on sale
★ Enjo Kosai (援助交際) becomes a problem but also wins the Top Ten New Words and Popular Words Awards (basically sugar daddy and sugar baby relationships)
★ Loose socks (ルーズソックス), Choberiba (チョベリバ), Choberigu (チョベリグ), and Amurer (アムラー) also win awards
★ Cellphone ringtones (着メロ) are released
★ Pagers reach their peak
★ Yahoo! Japan is created
★ The beginning of the Gyaru boom is started
★ Namie Amuro announces marriage and pregnancy with SAM of the band TRF (Tetsuya Komuro Rave Factory)
★ Namie Amuro wins the Record Award for “CAN YOU CELEBRATE?” for the second consecutive year
★ Namie Amuro goes on maternity leave
★ Tamagotchi (たまごっち) boom
★ Gibetarian (ジベタリアン) boom – This is a word for a person who sits on the ground, primarily used as a term that refers to youth who sit comfortably in places where they should not sit, such as in aisles and train stations, but where sitting would be a nuisance to others (does this sound familiar? 👀)
★ Ranzuki magazine is released
★ Ayumi Hamasaki debuts with “Poker Face”
★ HMV Shibuya (HMV渋谷) is relocated
★ Yamanba (ヤマンバ) starts appearing
★ Ganguro (ガングロ) changes to Gonguro (ゴングロ) (Gyaru Substyle Series: Ganguro)
★ Ayumi Hamasaki booms with “A Song for XX”
★ Men’s EGG is released
★ I-Mode (iモード), EZ Web, and J-SKY services are released (internet connection for cellphones)
★ Magical i Land (魔法のiらんど) service is released (cellphone novels)
★ DDI Pocket (DDIポケット) (now WILLCOM) launches camera phones
★ Charisma Clerk (カリスマ店員) boom, with Charisma (カリスマ) winning the top ten in the New Words and Popular Words Awards
★ QFRONT opens in front of the scrambled intersection at the front of the Hachiko exit
★ S Cawaii! is released
★ Google launches
★ Para Para (パラパラ) boom
★ The (Gonguro Three Siblings) ゴングロ三兄弟 begin to attract attention (Gyaru History II – Buriteri & The Gonguro Boom)
★ Gal Circles (ギャルサー) start appearing (Life in a Shibuya Gal Circle from HARLEM’s Sa-jin )
★ The Ganguro boom is over – Ganguro disappear by Springtime
★ EXILE debuts
★ NTT Docomo releases “FOMA” (3G service)
★ Sha-Mail (写メール) boom – a 2G mailing and picture messaging service provided by J-Phone
★ A street security camera system is introduced in Kabukicho, Shinjuku
★ The JR Saikyo Line Ebisu Station-Osaki Station extension opens, consequently a direct operation with Rinkai Line starts
★ Cellphone novel (ケータイ小説) boom
★ BLENDA magazine is released
★ The Shibuya Center-gai Patrol Corps (SGCP/渋谷センター街パトロール隊) forms
★ Yamanba (ヤマンバが) is revived as Manba (マンバ)
★ Sentaa-GUY (センターGUY) start appearing
★ The Super Free (スーパーフリー) case happens, affecting unrelated ibesa (Gyaru Circles – The Real Deal )
★ Mixi service launches
★ A street security camera system is introduced in Shibuya Center-Gai
★ Zenryaku Profile (前略プロフィール) becomes available – essentially the pioneer in profile sites
★ Happie nuts magazine is released
★ Kigurumin makes an appearance (キグルミン)
★ Onii-kei (お兄系) appears
★ Contact Lens One Day Acuvue (ワンデーアキュビュー ディファイン) become available
★ Circle lens boom
★ JELLY magazine is released
★ The first Tokyo Girls Collection (TGC/東京ガールズコレクション) is held at Yoyogi Daiichi Gymnasium
★ Koakuma Ageha (小悪魔ageha) magazine is released, originally starting as a section within Happie nuts named Little Devil & nuts (小悪魔＆ナッツ)
★ AKB48 performs for the first time in Akihabara
★ Koda Kumi becomes popular and consequently Erotic Cool (エロかっこいい) booms
★ J-Drama Galcir (ギャルサー) is broadcast with Naohito Fujiki, Erika Toda, Emi Suzuki, Mari Yaguchi, Yui Aragaki and more
★ CanCam reaches 800,000 copies and booms alongside exclusive models Yu Yamada, Yuri Ebihara, and Moe Oshikiri
★ Apple announces the iPhone, not yet to be sold in Japan
★ Popteen reader model graduates from the magazine
★ Twitter and Facebook Japanese versions launch
★ The Tokyo-Metro Fukutoshin Line (東京メトロ副都心線) is fully open, Shibuya-Wako / Kotesashi are now directly connected
★ The iPhone 3G is released in Japan, initiating the smartphone era
★ mama nuts × ageha magazine is released, later to be named I LOVE MAMA and introducing Gal Mamas (ギャルママ)
★ H&M opens its first store in Ginza
★ Lehman shock (リーマン・ショック) happens – Global financial crisis
★ The shell eco-bag in sweet magazine becomes popular, consequently making appendixes in magazines popular too
★ FOREVER21 opens its first store in Harajuku
★ H&M opens another store in Shibuya
★ SHIBUYA109 sees record high sales resulting in 28.65 billion yen
★ EDGE STYLE magazine is released
★ FOREVER21 opens another store in Shibuya
★ HMV Shibuya (HMV渋谷) closes
★ Women’s Association/Meeting (女子会) is in the top ten of the New Words and Popular Words Awards
★ Women’s boom
★ March 11 earthquake happens
★ The main street in Center Gai is renamed to Basketball Street (バスケットボールストリート)
★ People gather at the Shibuya Scramble intersection for Halloween in costume
★ Osha-P (おしゃP) boom (fashion directors/producers) – boom made popular by EMODA producer Ena Matsumoto
★ Approximately half of cellphone sales go to smartphones this year
★ SHIBUYA109 goes through a renewal phase, replacing 24 stores
★ 109-2’s name changes to 109MEN’S
★ Softbank launches its 4G service as Softbank 4G
★ Shibuya Hikarie (渋谷ヒカリエ) opens
★ The Tokyu Toyoko Line Shibuya Station goes underground and starts direct operation with the Tokyo Metro Fukutoshin Line
★ Police gets dispatched to prevent Japanese soccer supporters from gathering at the Shibuya Scramble intersection, from becoming mobs, most commonly referred to as DJ Cop (DJポリス)
★ Shibuya Center Gai’s last game center Shibuya Kaikan Monaco (渋谷会館モナコ) closes
★ Men’s EGG magazine is discontinued
★ EDGE STYLE magazine is discontinued
★ Inforest publishing is suspended, consequently Koakuma ageha and Happie nuts are discontinued
★ EGG magazine is discontinued
★ BLENDA is discontinued
★ Ane ageha (姉ageha) is reiussed
★HMV record shop Shibuya (HMV record shop 渋谷) opens
★ Koakuma ageha Memorial BOOK (小悪魔agehaメモリアルBOOK) is released
There are quite a few other pieces that were not included in this post such as Popsister and other magazines, but you can see that Shibuya creates as much as it destroys. What are your thoughts on this timeline? Did any of these items surprise you or help put together knowledge on Gal history that you already had?