What are gyaru? (About the Slang, Fashion and History of Japan's Gyaru/Gal) | Japan Station 157/Ichimon Japan 52

This episode of Japan Station is a re-broadcast of episode 52 of Ichimon Japan.

 

On this episode of Ichimon Japan we ask: What are gyaru?

Topics Discussed

• What the term gyaru/gal means/refers to
• About the word gyaru
• How the word gyaru was used in Dragonball by Master Roshi
• What a kogyaru/kogal is
• About the singer Namie Amuro and her role in popularizing the gyaru subculture
• About Ayumi Hamasaki's influence on the gyaru subculture
• About the supposed but unconfirmed connection between the gyaru subculture and the American TV show Baywatch, as well as Pamela Anderson
• About the iconic "loose socks" (lūzusokkusu)
• About E.G. Smith, the supposed origin of loose socks
• An interesting linguistic quirk about the Japanese term for "loose socks"
• About ganguro and yamanba gyaru and their dark tans
• About ageha gyaru
• The connection between gyaru, eurobeat and parapara
• What eurobeat is
• What parapara is
• Contemporary gyaru
• What gyarugo is
• Examples of popular gyaru slang
• What karipaku means
• What MK5 means
• What ChōSW means
• What sumisu means
• What ATM means
• What gachi means
• What agepoyo/sagepoyo mean
• What doron means
• What tehepero means
• What gekiokopunpunmaru means
• And much more!

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Sources, Links, Videos, Etc.

Here are some of the Japanese language articles found when researching the topic of this episode.

• ヤマンバ、イベサー、ガングロ…ギャル・ギャル男はどこに消えたのか？ 【 「ギャル文化」と「渋谷」をめぐる歴史を紐解く】<