JAPAN Kimono wearers wrap to the tune of ancient tradition

Some Japanese rediscover the charm of the traditional garb.
KNIGHT RIDDER NEWSPAPERS
TOKYO -- When Gojyaku Kyoya, his wife and a group of friends went to a preview of the Hollywood film "The Last Samurai" recently, they arrived at the cinema decked out in the latest fashion: kimonos.
The traditional belted robes, thought to have originated in the eighth century, are enjoying a renaissance in Japan.
Kyoya, 53, cutting an elegant figure in a pale-green cotton kimono, black silk vest and black obi (sash), said the kimono not only helps hide his expanding waistline, but it also makes a fashion statement.
"People say I look great in a kimono, but I look like a boring, middle-aged chubby man when I wear a suit and tie," the junior high school vice principal said with a shy smile.
Akemi Morozumi, 46, an editor at Sekai Bunka Publishing, said she discovered the charm of the garment years ago when she edited a magazine article that taught young people how to wear kimonos.
"I was fascinated to find the beauty of the cloth of my mother's kimono," she said. "Then I discovered when I wear a kimono, I receive the red-carpet treatment. At restaurants and concerts, some people even asked to take my photograph."
Kimono facts
Kimono, which means "things to wear," is a traditional Japanese wraparound garment made of vertical panels of cloth stitched together and bound with a sash, called an obi (pronounced oh-be). Kimonos come in different materials, including silk, wool, cotton and linen. Their looks also vary depending on which part of Japan they came from.
Kimonos gradually disappeared from everyday Japanese wardrobes after World War II, giving way to Western-style suits. But now some Japanese, including computer engineers, artists and government bureaucrats, have started digging them out of family closets and dressers to resurrect an ancient style and to stand out from the oceans of people in Western business attire.
Isao Kikuchi, a 29-year-old computer engineer, started wearing kimonos more than 10 years ago and now wears one to work every day at the SOUM Corp., a computer services company. He favors a dark blue machine-washable polyester kimono that cost $120.
"Six years ago, when I changed jobs, I came to a job interview in a kimono," he said. "In the beginning, the interviewer seemed a bit surprised. Now I go to the office wearing a kimono every day. It's easier, more comfortable and I don't have to suffocate with a necktie."
Although their clothes may be traditional, kimono lovers are using a new medium to find each other: the Internet.
Computer systems engineer Hiroyuki Makita, 46, and his wife started wearing kimonos five years ago. They learned how to wear the complicated garments from a kimono Internet forum.
In 1999, Makita suggested that the Internet acquaintances get together with other kimono wearers in Tokyo. The first gathering attracted fewer than 10 people. The next year Makita and his friends decided to organize more meetings, including a monthly outing called "Kimono de Ginza." Three years later, there are dozens of participants, so many that Makita has lost count.
They come to Tokyo by plane or high-speed train from as far north as Hokkaido and as far south as Kyushu on the southern tip of Japan. Members include a doctor, a Buddhist priest, a cartoonist, a self-defense force member, a fisherman and high school students. Most of them have met through kimono-related Web sites.
Activities
They gather in front of the Seiko tower clock on the second Saturday of every month around 3 p.m. in Tokyo's fashionable Ginza district. Dressed in their finest kimonos, they stroll down the wide boulevards to shop, eat in restaurants and attend a concert or movie.
While the market for new kimonos in Japan has been shrinking for the past 20 years, sales of recycled kimonos have grown 20 percent a year since 2000, according to Yano Intelligence Corp., a private research institute in Tokyo that studies Japan's retail industry.
The Yamaki Corp. operates the Tansu-ya, or "Drawers," a chain of stores that sells vintage kimonos dating from the Edo era (1600-1867) to about 1935.