What is a Harajuku Barbie? Answered!

Posted on 10 Aug. 2009
in: Other Stuff

If you use Twitter or MySpace, and you’re a fan of Japanese fashion, you’ve likely stumbled across some of the girls who use the term “Harajuku Barbie” in their usernames and updates. Last week, “Harajuku Barbie” was even a trending topic on Twitter, causing some confusion.

Why the confusion? Maybe because the girls who actually frequent Harajuku are Japanese, and most of the Harajuku Barbies online seem not to be. Or maybe it’s because the girls using “Harajuku Barbie” don’t seem to post much about Japan other than that one phrase. Whatever the reason, a lot of people were left wondering, “What is a Harajuku Barbie and where did they come from?”

It all started with a New York rapper named Nicki Minaj…

Harajuku Barbie Nicki Minaj

Nicki Minaj is a female rapper from New York who has worked with Lil Wayne. She was discovered after posting songs on her MySpace, and was signed to the hip hop label Dirty Money. What does any of that have to do with Harajuku? Not much, but somewhere along the way Minaj came up with the phrase “Harajuku Barbie” based on her admiration for – or at least her admiration for her perception of – the girls in Harajuku, Tokyo, Japan.

Check out this video of Nicki Minaj herself explaining the origin and definition of “Harajuku Barbie”:

After Minaj started using “Harajuku Barbie” in her songs, interviews, web pages, etc., her fans picked it up and it seems to have become viral over the last year or so.

As far as the Harajuku Barbie video interview – the image used in the video to illustrate “Harajuku” has nothing whatsoever to do with Japan. It appears to be something related to American singer Gwen Stefani, who is definitely not Japanese. Stefani herself is often criticized by bloggers for her exploitation of the real Harajuku and for her fake (and always silent) “Harajuku girls” dancers.

So, now we have an American singer promoting Harajuku Barbies, and another promoting Harajuku Girls. Where’s the love for the beautiful and fashionable men of Harajuku?

External Links:

Tags: , , , ,

Comments are closed.

143 Comments

  1. nikdog

    Yeh, Harajuku is so cutting edge and trendy, that explains the giant Gap store they’ve just built right outside the station.

  3. We need more smart people on earth

    WOW this is retarded, I hate when ghetto trash tries make itself unique when all it is, is another piece of trash. Stupid hood rats.

    Trash is exactly what it’s called. TRASH.

    Yes i’m from NYC so don’t try to say I don’t know anything cause I probably know more than you, NYC is FILLED with retards like her, This one just happened to get famous is all.

    Just like rapper trash. Nothing special.

  4. YOUNG MONEY

    First of all after reading all these bull shit comments I came to a conclusion that most of you that posted that Nicki is dumb, not original are a bunch of one tracked idiots. She made a video that explains what it harajuku barbie means to HER. She did because she knew insipid folks like yourselves would have some negative bull to add. She’s basically saying she likes the culture of Harajuku, Tokyo, Japan, but altered it to tailor her views as a female wanting to express herself. As studies has proven in Japan and other places, Harajuku is used to denote a certain type of youth culture. The district’s name in Tokyo has become synonymous with the unique, flamboyant in everyday life. Nicki broke the stereotypical labels as how a female rapper should look NS she mixed harajuku’s uniqueness with a flamboyant flair in order to fully free her self of the fashion boundaries.

  5. i

    OMFG ; i wish people would stop hating on NICKI MINAJ .. damn leave her alone .. like wtf . Everyone is allowed to have their own opinion .. ! Come on its 2010 now grow up ; but you know what NICKI MINAJ is going blow up BIG so dont worry about it [ i LOVE NICKI MINAJ : ) ]
    – if you see a bad bitch gettin shine, you should LOVE it – Nicki ” harajuku barbie”

  6. darealist

    LOVE YA NICKI MINAJ……

    UR BIGGEST FAN….

    ITS ME

    THE NEXT HARAJUKU BARBIE

  7. Pe3zZi Bby!

    Lolx Uu Guys Are Soo…Freaking Halarious Man Real Slow Noe One Really Noes What That Mean There Are Various Defintions Fha This Word Soo…Get A Effing Life And Get Lost BIMB0S!

  8. harajuku princ3ss

    Harajuku is mii! I lov3 dah fashion nd energy japan has! Sooo don’t hat3 becuz I’m harajuku all dee way! Lol

  9. gigi aka 3m@nu31 (h!(k

    Hey nicki great speech lovn da hair girly ur fabulous keep it up mxs.Black BarBie

  10. MiKiViNt!-

    Man i Wish Yal’ Get A Damn Life If You Know What Harajuku Means Or Not Nicki Minaj Is An Inspiration FahReal. Shes The Best And I Don’t Just Say this Like. Before Nicki It Was Like All NonSense Stuff That Only Matter & I Didnt Care What OR How Things Were But Once You Really Look At Life Its Like Man You Don’t Need Any Of That Stuff Life…You Only Can Live It Once. So Make The Best Of You-GodBless!Life Is Life No Matter How You Look At It
    FahReal. And Stop Thinking About The Neggy Stuff And About If She Has Been To Tokyo Or Japan Who Gives A Fkk. Shes Still Going To Be The Harajuku Barbie. Well Anyway.Smoochesss! itsBarbieeBXTCHHHH!

  11. MACT

    Man yall need to chill out…it is not that deep…its jus sumthin she likes…if she wants to be a harajuku barbie let her be that. if you like football nobody tries to stop u from watchin it. dam.

  12. PrincessJewel95

    Harajuku is a couple of things, Its a train station in japan and a big fashion district over there.

  13. Emani

    yo..nicki minaj iz dha best so all yall hatinq needz t2 stop cuz yu know dan well see iz tryinqq t2 live jux like every one esle so stop hatinqq.

  14. payday princess

    lol harajuku is a city in toyko not a mf culture lol…..i’m a chicago barbie lmao n she chinese not japanese japan and china r to way different countries…dont believe me call a japanese person chinese or a rican a mexican…totally offensive to sum people..but i love nicki dats my bitch she jus need to do her research a lil before she speak…still luv her ass tho

  15. ellie

    i hate it how all those kids now adays say im the harajulu barbie and wear all the harajuku lovers clothes just coz of nicki minaj. i used to be obsessed with harajuku girls when they came out w/ gwen stefani & all the kids would tell me oh ur such a white girl or they would say u r trying to be just like a chinese person but ur black. but yet now thats all they talk about.

  16. Honey bee

    Wooow, i liked that name and now that i know what it means it seems pointless to use it, but tha girl gettin gwap wit it so leave it alone!!! HATAS LOVE TO PRY!!

  17. Keisha

    It’s a shame that not only are Nicki’s facts wrong but why does a grown want to be called BARBIE. Of all the figures or icons to name yourself, this chick pics a skin, plastic doll….

  21. new york

    wow!!!! we have a lot of nicki haters on here!!! Nicki is the badest!!! Stop hating on her swagg. She gets it in better than you and your mama!!!

  22. 2 REAl ( 2 B PLASTiC)

    WTF. dOES iT MATTER. PPL RECREATE NEW WORdS ALL dhA TiME. iF NiCkii & GWEN WANNA dO dhEY THiNq lET dhEM dO iT. dhEY MAkiN MONEY & i hOPE YAll hATiN ASS PPL iS tOO. bHUT YEA dOE i AiNT A bARbIE bECAUSE iM REAl bbY.

  23. BABY B@RB!3

    yall som true hataz nicki minaj been thru alot and yall jus gone say dat bout ha if i wasnt a kid i would tell all yall something bout yall selfs cuz onika miraj is my f**kin idol and if u dont like it boot up den DH@t!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

  24. Wapanese People Go away

    You don’t need to prove how much you know about Japan… which is probably one or two things. Go away.
    “Harajuku is a shoppingu center!! Kawaiii11!!!11”
    “HARAJUKU IS A CITY!!!11 KAWAII!!1!”

    She can say whatever she wants.

  25. colemedina

    2 things:

    1. if you knew japanese people, you’d find they probably wouldn’t mind minaj taking something japanese and making it her own. japanese people do that all the time to our american culture. it’s artististic expression, to make something your own. everyone has the right to do it tasteful or not!

    2. whether you like what she’s doing or not, you’re still talking about her, so in the end, she wins, cause you’re still thinking about her!!!

    c

  27. jazzie j

    nicki minaj is chinese and black but she doesnt look like it so dont you think this could be a reason for her to say harajuku barbie maybe she wants to talk about where she comes from or her parents hometown

  28. xxKelseyxx

    yall takin this too seriously. not everyone knows that harajuku is a district in japan. and no one cares. the way people use it now, its irrelevant where it is. the point is that she likes the style. like it or not we call the people in harajuku that dress how they do, harajuku. got it? doesnt matter if she doesnt know wat it is, she knows what it LOOKS like and thats enough. whats the big deal? shes not posing shes just expressing herself.like you care…

  29. Nikki Majia

    Okay
    1. she is talking about the STYLE and how people FOLLOW it so closely it is like a culture
    2. Okay you know NOTHING about Nicki so, you need to stop making judgments okay? You can talk when you listen to her autobiography song okay?
    3. I like Nikki and at least she is TRYING to get a little culture unlike most rap stars
    4. SHE IS NOT USEING THIS IN A @#$% CLOTHING LINE so its not like she trys to make money off of it
    5. Nikki & gwen are great artist so you can shud up

  30. Ai

    What Gwen introduced to America as “Harajuku” is /not/ really Harajuku. Yes, she was inspired by it, and that makes me happy. Besides being an area by Harajuku Station, the fashion that lingers there is absolutely /amazing/. She /did/ exploited it, and what people see isn’t the egl or visual kei. It’s just American clothing with a fancy print and brand name on it. ( The song made me rage like no tomorrow though. “Super kawaii means super cute in Japanese” ? God, she sounds like a stupid weeaboo ).

    Nikki can be inspired by whatever the fuck she wants to be inspired by. I just wish that if she was going to be inspired by Harajuku fashion, to at least actually see what it’s like. Not just what Gwen had introduced. Nikki’s missing the whole big picture. Not go to Japan, but at least know that Harajuku consists of /many/ fashion styles. Decora, Visual Kei, EGL, Sweet Lolita, etc. I admire both of them for at least thinking outside of the box. But srsly, Nikki should be introduced to the bigger picture.

    I honestly would have been happier if Gwen introduced a Lolita line. But the prints would probably be ugly as hell and it might just be as tacky as a ita loli wearing Hot Topic.

  31. ookami

    No…just stop talking…plz now…stop…go back to school…

  32. SH52182010

    Just a few points to note for everyone out there:
    Every PLACE has a CULTURE
    e.g. the AMERICAN culture..i don’t hear anyone shouting abt America is a place
    The SPANISH culture…likewise comes from Spain..like duh
    The HARAJUKU culture WILL be based on the people from HARAJUKU, Japan.

    God gave us brains people, let’s use them.

    I’m no great fan of Nicki Minaj but it is obvious that this is her take on it. So…leave her be. Culture and Perception are not static things and because we are all DIFFERENT and interpret things differently, stuff will change and grow, become DIFFERENT.

    It’s just a little common sense…

  33. heatherrrr

    so critical.. its fashion… exploiting no? if anything they’re helping them get their creative style heard.. calm down.
    HARAJUKUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUU

  34. drieneskii

    nicki manaj is very talented but i do agree that she should find out more about what it is she claims to be :)

  36. bresha boo

    nicki u the bestist i luv u grl!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! i wish i could meetu one day, dont pay no mind to them hatters they ant nothing but bull sh*ting cuz they broke living in a box , wil u are makeing that mola.ya grl bresha boo!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! love u!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! omg!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

  37. DVus

    This site and all of the comments are awesome. Couple of things:

    1. Nicky Menaj is brutal. Girl is an airhead and can’t rhyme worth shit. You won’t even hear about her in a couple of years.

    2. I’m laughing my ass off at all of the people here saying “yo, Nicky is half Chinese, so she’s just talkin about her culture”. lol…what? That’s like saying some guy who is half-Russian is good to talk about stuff going on in Paris. But I guess Chinese and Japanese is the same thing to a lot of you. Good old American school system!

  38. belbels

    @Bresha Boo : Yes, because hobos that live in a box obviously go to their public library to use the computers to trash talk some chick. Nice logic you have there.

    @DVus : Won’t hear about her in a couple of years? I never knew she existed until I heard about this Harajuku Barbie crap.

    @Ai : Agreed that she should learn about it and/or experience it like Gwen had. She doesn’t necessarily really have to base it off of the current fashions there though.

    SH52182010 has a good point. Yes, Harajuku is all about originality and diversity. Good for her if she wants to be ‘different’. Could this chick at least learn some actual background about what Harajuku is? Instead of taking it from Gwen and then sticking Barbie at the end of it.

  39. Pingback: Nicki Minaj: Beneath The Bravado | "I do this for my culture..."

  40. jhaBoog

    WTF….people r so serious about this …well people take words and phrases and make them stand for different things just like PEACE it can stand for a state of mind or it can be used as a far well….so jus get over that shyt…..hahahahahahalol

  41. Jessica Minaj Harold

    I luv Nicki Minaj. She is my girl, so I don’t care what anyone says about her that’s negative. I am a Harajuku Barbie as well, and I’m on her team. We r sistas, so who eva have a problem wit that, then u r a Dumbb Bum and Surfboard. I don’t use da dictionary, I use da Nicktionary.

  42. Jessica Minaj Harold

    There r so many haters out therre. We care less bout u cuz u ain’t nuthin. It’s not lyke u mean anything. If we worried bout haters, people that r unimportant, and stupid idiots, then we wouldn’t b successful, we wouldn’t b happy, we wouldn’t b fly and fabolous, we wouldn’t b stress-free, and we wouldn’t have our priorities n da right place.

  43. haters

    yall need 2 stop hatin if she a barbie shae a barbie leave her alone if u called u self american girl and someone complained what would u do hahahahahah think dudop!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

  44. Nyokou

    Nicki isn’t Chinese… the closest she is to being asian is her Indo-Trinidadian background and those people look more like the people from India. She has no connection to Japanese culture at all.

    Now that that’s cleared up…

    I think her style is very reminiscent of Harajuku fashion, but it’s completely Americanized. Now, don’t get me started on the Ganguro, Yamanba/Manba fashions that were really popular in Japan in the late 90s, early 2000s… Cause I could bomb on that shit ALLLLLL day. We’re not the only ones ignorant of other cultures… Clearly, Japanese girls were SUPER ignorant of American culture/fashion with that whole trend. Nicki Minaj didn’t shoot the first bullet, THEY did, and I’m glad that she is doing the whole Harajuku Barbie thing… even though Ganguro didn’t originate from Harajuku.

    I see it as a parody of that. Don’t know what I’m talking about? Look up Ganguro and judge for yourself. I’m not saying that Japanese girls were stupid for doing that, but they crossed some lines… ESPECIALLY the girls with the really dark tans.. I found those pretty offensive.

  45. mika

    Woo, I think Harajuku Barbiee is amazingg!! :D It describes me perfecty, so all u hates stfu!

  46. Keyshay

    I love meh sum nicki minaj, i love that song kaled itty bitty piggy that’s my favorite song

  47. jhomer

    Don’t hate on my Nicki. BTW she’s a great artist and she is one sexy mother…

  50. DneshaLewinsky

    I am Indo-Asian and African American..I LUV NICKI shez da boss aroun hur..n all yal datz HATIN on hu nd 2 F— OFF shez tha HARAJUKU barbie…NOM-MYOHO RENGE KYO.!

Possibly Related Articles...