Ganguro

Posted by Danny Choo [www] 
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Ganguro

Ganguro is where folks either get a suntan or wear make up to give their skin a darker appearance.
Gan = Face
Kuro = Black

When some Japanese words are mixed together, the "K" becomes a "G"

Some Ganguro folks wear a particular style of make up that turns them into Yamamba (also written as Yamanba) and often called just Mamba.

Snippet taken from Wikipedia below.

Yamanba (ヤマンバ) and manba (マンバ) are terms often used to describe extreme practitioners of ganguro fashion. Old school Yamanba and Manba; (particularly known as 2004 Manba); featured dark tans and white lipstick, pastel eye make-up, tiny metallic or glittery adhesives below the eyes, brightly-coloured contact lenses, plastic dayglo-coloured clothing, and incongruous accessories, such as Hawaiian Leis (often the Alba Rosa brand). Stickers on the face died out shortly after 2004, and for a while, Manba died. Yamanba is now more extreme, and hair is often multicoloured, and usually synthetic. 2008's Manba has seen a darker tan, and no facial decoration (stickers).

Hair is usually neon/bright colours, with pink being a favourite. Wool("dreadlocks"), extensions and clips are worn to make hair appear longer. Clothing remains the same, although Leis are worn less frequently now. Manba and Yamanba are not to be confused. Yamanba has white make-up only above the eye, while Manba has makeup below the eye also. Stuffed animals, bracelets, bells and hibiscuses are worn. The male equivalent is called a "center guy" (センター街, Sentāgai?, Center Street), a pun on the name of a pedestrian shopping street near Shibuya Station in Tokyo where yamanba and center guys are often seen.

Japan Probe has the nitty gritty on some folks back in the UK appliying themselves to the Yamamba fashion and you can see the videos at the BBC.

And just a reminder that we aim to keep the community here clean of comments discriminating against others based on their appearance or interests ^^






 

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