Cultural Guests of Honor

Alisa Freedman is a professor of Japanese Literature, Cultural Studies, and Gender at the University of Oregon. Her books include Japan on American TV: Screaming Samurai Join Anime Clubs in the Land of the Lost; Tokyo in Transit: Japanese Culture on the Rails and Road; Introducing Japanese Popular Culture (edited textbook); Women in Japanese Studies: Memoirs from a Trailblazing Generation (edited collection of personal stories); Modern Girls on the Go: Gender, Mobility, and Labor in Japan (coedited book); and an annotated translation of Kawabata Yasunari's The Scarlet Gang of Asakusa. She has published around 40 articles on Tokyo studies, youth culture, gender, television, humor as social critique, teaching pedagogies, and digital media, along with 25 translations and co-translations of Japanese literature and guides to teaching and doing research. Alisa has been nationally recognized for excellence in mentoring and enjoys presenting at cultural events like anime cons and Japan festivals.

Kawaii artist and Harajuku model, Haruka Kurebayashi made her modeling debut in KERA magazine. She became a fashion icon popular both in Japan and around the world for her colorful makeup videos on YouTube.

She is a Harajuku-based creator who spreads the culture of kawaii, including her Kure-Chan YouTube channel, and her designs such as the entrance arch for Takeshita Street and the athlete masks for the Tokyo 2020 Olympics.

The mastermind behind the popular rocker fashion brand HYPER CORE, Hisacy started on the streets of Harajuku back in 2000 as an illustrator. With the experience that he has gathered through designing for many rock icons such as Yoshiki (X Japan) and Hyde, he founded HYPER CORE and opened his first shop in Harajuku in 2010. Since then, HYPER CORE has become a popular destination for fashion fans and tourists in Harajuku.

The brand's motto is "HYPER CORE IS HERE FOR YOU!"

6%DOKIDOKI is a shop/brand based in Harajuku, founded in 1995 by Sebastian Masuda as a place of creation. Shop concept "sensational kawaii" means "shockingly kawaii", "exceedingly kawaii", and "too-kawaii things and stuff". They sell original items, select items, and projects along with this shop concept.

Also, not only a fashion genre, 6%DOKIDOKI has an important role to expand culture all over the world. As a leading place/people/brand of Japanese pop culture, the shop showcases original, unique creations throughout events and shows, etc.

Japan Cultural Envoy 2017 / Visiting Scholar at NYU 2017–2018 / Newsweek Japan "100 Japanese people respected by the world" 2019.

Born in 1970, Sebastian Masuda began working in the 90s in the worlds of theater and contemporary art. Since making Harajuku his base of activities in 1995, he has consistently created works that utilize a unique sense of color and cross over into the worlds of art, fashion, and entertainment. Known as the leading figure of Japanese kawaii culture, in 2011, he was the art director for Kyary Pamyu Pamyu's music video PONPONPON, and in 2015, produced the Kawaii Monster Cafe, both of which also helped introduce the world to kawaii culture.

In 2014, he held his first solo exhibition in New York titled Colorful Rebellion –Seventh Nightmare-. In 2017, he was the Japan Cultural Envoy. In 2016, he traveled to Holland, South Africa, Bolivia, Brazil, and throughout America holding lectures, workshops, and creating various artworks. He created the participatory art project Time After Time Capsule in 2014, unfolding at several locations throughout the world. Having experienced the fragmentation of the world during the pandemic, Masuda became deeply interested in the nature of community and began to advocate for the Digital Tribe and examine it through his own kawaii community.

He continues to create works utilizing all the phenomena of the world as materials.

GHOST GiRL GOODS is a cool and kawaii Harajuku fashion-inspired clothing brand from Toronto, Canada. They work closely with the following Japanese brands: 6%DOKIDOKI, NUEZZZ, and HYPER CORE and have done various collaborations with them. The brand slogan "BE STRANGE. FEAR THE NORM." encourages others to fear blending in and let their true colours shine, no matter how bright they are! A collection of fun characters resides in GHOST GiRL HQ, which includes the 5 monsters who you may even see on various products.

We are looking forward to visiting Kumoricon for the first time and hope you enjoy our colourful fashion, hype energy, and fun content!

cybr.grl, also known as The Rainbow Lady, is a Filipino YouTuber, fashion designer, and mom based in the USA. Their love for Harajuku fashion began when they chanced upon a copy of FRUiTS magazine while browsing their local bookstore after school. Years later in 2018, they started a YouTube channel where they interview people part of the worldwide J-fashion community and create videos trying to open healthy conversations about the hard stuff too. That same year, they also started a fashion brand called CANDY☆TRAP after feeling frustrated about the lack of colorful clothing options for all bodies. Their colorful fashion brand CANDY☆TRAP is inspired by decora fashion, a style that was born in Harajuku that is known for excessively accessorizing oneself from head to toe, a.k.a. "decora"-ting yourself! Through their content creation as well as their fashion brand, their hope and dream is to help spread Harajuku kawaii culture, rainbows, and happiness around the world! #KAWAII4ALL! You can keep up with cybr.grl online at the social media links below. 💖🌈

cybr.grl:

CANDY☆TRAP: