Japanese Fashion and Lifestyle Magazines: A Bible
Japanese fashion was taught by magazines. The dated list below sets out who published what, when, and what each title was for. Where the record is thin, we say so and wait for a source rather than guess.
This page belongs to the Reference Shelf of The Fashionista Bible. Dates are checked against published accounts, and where accounts disagree the page says so.
Magazine House and its family
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Popeye. First issue July 1976, from Magazine House, formerly Heibon Shuppan; subtitle “Magazine for City Boys”; biweekly at launch and monthly now. It introduced American youth culture to Japanese readers, and its first issue featured Los Angeles fashion. Wikipedia credits Jirō Ishikawa as founding editor and Yoshihisa Kinameri as launch editor; our Encyclopedia names Kinameri first. Seiichi Horiuchi created the logo. A 40th-anniversary issue in July 2016 reprinted the 1976 edition in full.
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Brutus. May 1980, a companion to Popeye for trend-conscious men aged 20 to 50, focused on pop culture and lifestyle. Its spin-off Casa Brutus began as a special in 1998 and became a monthly in 2000. The first English-language editions appeared in November and December 2025.
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Olive. Began on 5 November 1981 as a Popeye supplement and became a separate magazine on 3 June 1982; the final issue, number 442, appeared in August 2003. Billed first as a “Magazine for City Girls” and from 1983 as a “Magazine for Romantic Girls”; its readers were the Olive girls, with a French-leaning, layered style. It reportedly passed 470,000 copies in 1985.
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Hanako. 2 June 1988, for unmarried women in their twenties with disposable income; it covers shops, fashion, restaurants and theatre in Tokyo and abroad and gave its readers the name Hanako-zoku.
Other houses
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Men’s Non-no. Shueisha; founded 1986, first issue 1987, an offshoot of the women’s Non-no. Monthly, for young men and university students, with lifestyle, music and football and a special focus on fashion. It reported 370,000 copies in 1999.
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Hot-Dog Press. Kodansha’s 1979 answer to Popeye; one critic called it a nearly identical rip-off. It outsold Popeye for the first time in 1982 and ran from 23 May 1979 to December 2004.
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Men’s Club. Launched in 1954 as Otoko no Fukushoku; its street-snap column began in 1963.
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Heibon Punch. 1964, from Heibon Shuppan.
The street magazines
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STREET. Shoichi Aoki, 1985.
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FRUiTS. June 1997 to February 2017, 233 issues, photographing Harajuku street style; Aoki’s TUNE ran from 2004 to 2015.
What is a mook?
A mook, from magazine plus book, looks like a magazine but is meant to stay on the shelf longer. The term was first used at a publishers’ convention in 1971; Wikipedia says the format has been in use in Japan since at least the 1970s. The number of new mooks peaked in 2013 at more than 8,000 and was about 6,000 in 2019; revenue peaked in 1997. The sources we have used do not name individual titles, so this page does not either.
Thesis Discussion
The magazine is the thesis’s collect verb in print. Every title above is a catalogue: a reader’s index of what to wear, where to buy it and whom to follow. They also show edit, since the best of them taught by juxtaposition: a Los Angeles trend beside a Tokyo shop, a street portrait beside a designer’s name.
And they are the first draft of keep. The back issues are now the primary record of fashion that left little else behind, which is why collectors read them for dates, tags and prices. The thesis page sets out why such records matter. See The Japonista Thesis.
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The Hunting Salon™
If you are looking for a particular back issue or a catalogue from the Made in U.S.A. era, edition and condition are part of the search. The Hunting Salon™ can assist discreetly with search, verification and shipping.
Frequently Asked Questions
Which magazine started it all?
Men’s Club and Heibon Punch come first, but Popeye in July 1976 is the usual start of the modern story.
Is Olive still published?
No. The final issue was in August 2003.
Is FRUiTS still published?
No. It ended in February 2017 after 233 issues.
Where are the other titles?
We add titles when we have a source for their dates and subject.
Notes on Dates
Popeye is dated July 1976 by Wikipedia and 1976 or summer 1976 elsewhere. Olive is dated 1981 as a supplement and 1982 as a magazine. Circulation figures are as reported.
This volume belongs to the Japonista Universe, Volume VII. The argument behind it is set out in The Japonista Thesis.
Index terms: japanese fashion magazines · popeye magazine · brutus magazine · olive magazine · hanako · mens non-no · fruits magazine · hot-dog press · mook japan · magazine house · shoichi aoki
