What’s Going On?

On Friday night CAAM (Center for Asian American Media) and the Japantown Merchants Association hosted a free screening of Kamikaze Girls a film by Tetsuya Nakashima in Japantown’s Peace Plaza to welcome the store New People to San Francisco. The film was to kick off the beginning of the 2009 J-Pop Summit Festival.

The free screening was set up outdoors with limited white folding chair seating. Overflow guests were still allowed to come, but they would have to stand and/or sit on the floor or other permanent fixtures in the plaza.

Prior to the screening there were five contestants who dressed up in Lolita styled clothing. Basically Lolita fashion is a Japanese styled wardrobe focused around the Rococo and Victorian era. More information on Lolita fashion can be found here.

Kamikaze Girls is a comedy surrounding two girls who come from different backgrounds, one who loved buying fancy Lolita styled clothing and the other a wannabe biker chick who rides a scooter. Throughout the movie their bond proves to show that friendship knows no bounds and they become the best of friends. In the movie, the main character Momoko Ryugasaki even gets the opportunity to embroider a Lolita dress.

The night was cold and the fingers numb, but a subtitled Asian film in the middle of Japantown’s Peace Plaza outdoors was priceless.

Five Contestants Compete for Best Dressed

People bundle up on a cold night to watch Kamikaze Girls

The film is featured in Japantown's Peace Plaza underneath the Peace Plaza Pagoda.