Tight yellow dress worn at Mardi Gras in the French Quarter of New Orleans

Juliana's, also known as Juliana's Tokyo (ジュリアナ東京), was a Japanese

discothèque A nightclub or dance club is a club that is open at night, usually for drinking, dancing and other entertainment. Nightclubs often have a bar and discotheque (usually simply known as disco) with a dance floor, laser lighting displays, and a ...

that operated in

Shibaura is a district of Minato, Tokyo, Minato ward located in Tokyo, Japan. The district is located between the eastern side of the Yamanote Line train and Tokyo Bay. Shibaura consists mostly of artificial islands created by the excavation of indust ...

, Minato,

Tokyo Tokyo, officially the Tokyo Metropolis, is the capital of Japan, capital and List of cities in Japan, most populous city in Japan. With a population of over 14 million in the city proper in 2023, it is List of largest cities, one of the most ...

from May 15, 1991 till August 31, 1994. It was famous for its dance platforms, on which

office ladies ''Office Ladies'' is a rewatch podcast hosted by Jenna Fischer and Angela Kinsey which premiered on the Earwolf platform on October 16, 2019. It is also produced by Earwolf. In each episode, Fischer and Kinsey, who co-starred on the American tel ...

dressed in "

bodycon A dress (also known as a frock or a gown) is a one-piece outer garment that is worn on the torso, hangs down over the legs, and is primarily worn by women or girls. Dresses often consist of a bodice attached to a skirt. Dress shapes, silhoue ...

" ()

clubwear A nightclub or dance club is a club that is open at night, usually for drinking, dancing and other entertainment. Nightclubs often have a bar and discotheque (usually simply known as disco) with a dance floor, laser lighting displays, and a s ...

would congregate, as amateur

go-go dancers Go-go dancers are dancers who are employed to entertain crowds at nightclubs or other venues where music is played. Go-go dancing originated in the early 1960s at the French bar Whisky a Gogo, located in the town of Juan-les-Pins. The bar's n ...

(professionals were also employed). The club was produced by Masahiro Origuchi for the British leisure services group Juliana's (led at the time by Michael Wilkings and Mark Vlassopulos), and

Nissho Iwai Corporation is a ''sogo shosha'' (general trading company) based in Tokyo, Japan. It is engaged in a wide range of businesses globally, including buying, selling, importing, and exporting goods, manufacturing and selling products, providing services, and pl ...

, the Japanese

general trading company The General Trade Company () was a Dano-Norwegian trading company charged with administering the realm's settlements and trade in Greenland. The company existed from 1747 to 1774 and managed the government of Greenland from 1749. History The Gener ...

(now part of

Sojitz is a '' sogo shosha'' (general trading company) based in Tokyo, Japan. It is engaged in a wide range of businesses globally, including buying, selling, importing, and exporting goods, manufacturing and selling products, providing services, and p ...

Musical style and legacy

Juliana's started out playing

Italo house Italo house (often simply referred to as "Italian" or "Italian house" in the UK) is a form of house music originating in Italy. Typically popular in Italy, Britain, and United States since the late 1980s, it fuses house music and Italo disco. ...

then quickly following popular trends to

Hardcore techno Hardcore (also known as hardcore techno) is a genre of electronic dance music that originated in the Netherlands, Belgium, and Germany in the early 1990s. It is distinguished by faster tempos (160 to 200 BPM or more) and a distorted sawtooth ...

. The Juliana's producers published a series of compilation CDs which were popularizing techno in Japan. The album sales were an essential part of the business concept along with contracting with sponsors led by VP of marketing Reef Addison and Juliana's President Gary Calicott.

Cultural impact

The Juliana culture represented a hedonistic youth culture which had, at that stage, only recently arrived in Japan. The ''

gyaru (, ) is a Japanese street fashion, Japanese fashion subculture for young women, often associated with gaudy fashion styles and dyed hair. The term is a Japanese transliteration of the English slang word . In Japan, it is used to refer to you ...

'' subculture found its expression in high school girls and

alike transforming into Juliana girls in the evening, whereas men often came to the club in business suits.

References

The club "Disco Queen" in chapters 18, 19, and 21 of the

rugby Rugby may refer to: Sport * Rugby football in many forms: ** Rugby union: 15 players per side *** American flag rugby *** Beach rugby *** Mini rugby *** Rugby sevens, 7 players per side *** Rugby tens, 10 players per side *** Snow rugby *** Tou ...

manga are comics or graphic novels originating from Japan. Most manga conform to a style developed in Japan in the late 19th century, and the form has a long history in earlier Japanese art. The term is used in Japan to refer to both comics ...

''No Side'' by is a reference to Juliana's, down to the white feather fans used by the dancers. The club Juliana's is mentioned several times in the '' shōjo'' manga ''

Hana Yori Dango is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Yoko Kamio. The story takes place in the fictional Eitoku Academy, an elite school for children from rich families. It tells the story of Tsukushi Makino, a girl from a middle-class ...

'' by

Yoko Kamio is a Japanese manga artist. Her best known series , for which she received the Shogakukan Manga Award in 1996, is one of the best-selling manga series of all time and the best-selling ''shōjo manga'' of all time. Her work has been translated ...

(神尾葉子).

Earthquake Bird ''Earthquake Bird'' is a 2019 psychological thriller film written and directed by Wash Westmoreland based on the 2001 novel of the same name by Susanna Jones. It stars Alicia Vikander, Riley Keough, Naoki Kobayashi and Jack Huston. It had its ...

movie has club scenes heavily influenced by Juliana's and bodycon fashion styles.

Notes

References

Associated Press The Associated Press (AP) is an American not-for-profit organization, not-for-profit news agency headquartered in New York City. Founded in 1846, it operates as a cooperative, unincorporated association, and produces news reports that are dist ...

"Juliana's craze ceases"
September 1, 1994. Accessed 2 July 2017. * Brand, Jude. ''Tokyo Night City''. Rutland, Vermont: Charles E. Tuttle Company, 1993. . * Kawakami, Sumie
"Survivors: two approaches to survival in Japan's unkind economy: meet the fighter and the surfer - H.I.S. president Hideo Sawada and Goodwill Group CEO Masahiro Origuchi"
''Japan, Inc.'', December 2002. Accessed 10 August 2008. * Schilling, Mark. "Juliana's" in ''The Encyclopedia of Japanese Pop Culture''. New York: Weatherhill, 1997. . * Sterngold, James

''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''NYT'') is an American daily newspaper based in New York City. ''The New York Times'' covers domestic, national, and international news, and publishes opinion pieces, investigative reports, and reviews. As one of ...

'', October 18, 1992. Accessed 2 July 2017. * Trends in Japan

June 30, 2000. Accessed 10 August 2008. {{coord, 35, 38, 47, N, 139, 45, 12, E, region:JP-13_type:landmark_source:kolossus-jawiki, display=title Dance venues Nightclubs in Japan Heisei era Sojitz

Musical style and legacy

Cultural impact

References

See also

Notes

References