Culture
Cherish your culture.
I have always been in awe of the quirky streetwear fashion effortlessly donned on Harajuku Girls and the everyday icons captured on Fruits magazine. I think it's really cool the way these people dress how they want, whether that's head to toe in patent leather or disguised as little bo peep looking for her sheep.
I particularly love how everyone else, whether it be the Japanese salarymen or the tween school girls do not flinch or seem to notice the obscurities of the quirky outfits that pass them by. It’s nice to see people being outwardly authentic and still fitting in, in a place where everyone is so different.
My dad was a stay at home dad and every morning he would wake up early and make my sister and I onigiri for us to take to school when we were little. I vividly remember unwrapping my aluminum foiled, cold rice ball in front of all the other girls and boys and getting weird glances whilst they all opened up their white bread sandwiches with the crust neatly cut off.
Even worse, when I got to the fermented plum tucked inside the rice some nosey little kid would always ask “whats that~?”. At the time I got so embarrassed about my weird oriental lunch that I used to discreetly chuck my lunch out when no one was looking. Whenever I was outed by a peer on what I was having for lunch, I would make up silly little excuses like ‘I have already eaten’ or ‘I’m not hungry today.’ It makes me really sad reflecting back on this memory now but I am sure every halfie or third culture kid can relate to this in some way.
Itadaki is my way of reconnecting culture and community and since our inception in 2022, it has grown to be a brand that allows you to champion your own unique culture. Cherish your culture.
A poem Tobias Tarasov and I wrote together in Hakone, Japan.
