Kicks Japan: Japanese Sneaker Culture - Tapa blanda

Kicks Japan is the first English-language book to document fashionable and sexy sneakerrelated cultures in Japan. The Japanese tend to takes things to extremes and become aficionados. Given that many of the worlds top sneaker designers reside in Japan, it should come as no surprise that Japanese sneaker culture goes to a whole new level, especially in Tokyo. All over the world, Japanese sneakers are renowned for design and craftsmanship, generating a culture of sneaker obsession. Kicks Japan celebrates this obsession. This fashionable book features fantastic photography of Tokyo sneaker-related scenes, interviews with famous international artists that have collaborated with Japanese sneaker labels, local graffiti and tattoo artists, designers, and skateboarders. There are also amazing examples of interiors of Japanese sneaker shops: sneakers on sushi conveyor belts, swimming pools filled with bananas, art made of sneakers. Put together, these images and interviews provide a comprehensive look at all the colorful and sexy glory of Japanese sneaker culture.

Manami Okazaki is a Tokyo-based writer and fixer, with connections from the gutters to the straws, with a focus on Japanese subcultures. Her writing has appeared in countless Japanese and international publications, including Time Out Tokyo, Skin Deep, CNN Traveller, Japan Times, FHM, and Acclaim.

Photographer Geoff Johnson has been shooting Japanese subcultures for over two decades and his work has been published extensively in such high-profile outlets as Time, The Economist and Wall Street Journal.