Co-edited by Tenko Nakajima & Jeppe Ugelvig. The ninth issue of Viscose investigates a single context of fashion production: Japan. Rather than approaching our topic as a delineated geography, we are interested in exploring Japanese fashion industries, systems, and knowledges in their full transnational capacity and potential. With a particular focus on the 1990s as a starting point, our inquiry moves outward—through professional networks, friendships, and archives—to much earlier periods, as well as to the present. In making this issue, our instinct was to uncover the lesser-known, deeply social histories of Japanese fashion. In doing so, we ultimately hope to challenge our readers’ assumptions about what qualifies (as) “Japan”—as an idea, a place, a network, and an image—at all. Contributors: Nakako Hayashi, Taquehal Hirakawa, Stella Ishii, Jeppe Ugelvig, Alex Esculapio, Christopher Nemeth, Yoshikatsu Yamato, Ana Howe Bukowski, Christian Alborz Oldham & Davora Lindner, Sen Isozumi, Eilidh Duffy, Matthew Linde, Hanayo, Jun Takahashi, Tenko Nakajima, Wataru Tominaga, Juje Hsiung, Danielle Neu, Mended Veil, Kosuke Tsumura, COSMIC WONDER, Miriam Silverberg.
