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Heavy Pop, Harajuku fashion club night! Tokyo Japan Halloween Goth parties.

types of harajuku fashion, style

Halloween 2014 is creeping closer… do you have your costume ready yet? How will you be celebrating?

If you’re in Tokyo, Japan for Halloween, there are a number of dark and alternative events this year. These include Midnight Mess’s 12th anniversary Goth dance party on Oct 25, and Tokyo Dark Castle Zombie Halloween on the same day. In OsakaFarplane Night is having a cabaret festival on Nov 1st.

But for Japanese spooky kids, Halloween is every day of the year! So every month, they congregate at Heavy Pop (へびぽ), a club night that celebrates cyber, Goth, Lolita, drag and other alt fashion tribes. As you can see from the group photo, it’s one colorful party.

tokyo club fashion, makeup

Heavy Pop changes its location and exact date each time, so check their Facebook for the next event (I’m not sure yet if they’re having a Halloween extravaganza). I went to the anniversary celebration at Hell’s Bar in Sangenjaya. The tiny space was packed, hence the face-fanning.

cute japanese costume girls, cosplayers

“Hebipo” generally takes place on the last Sunday of the month, around 3pm to 11pm (so that partygoers can take the last train home, as it stops running around midnight). Come here if you want to dance to Jpop while surrounded by youths, dressed in experimental-kawaii fashion.

japanese maid idols dancing, jpop singing

Each event features a roster of DJs and performers. I watched these two cute Japanese girls dressed as French maids, singing and dancing a frenetic “para-para” on stage.

へびぽ hebipo

One of the regular artists is… Yukiro, in his evil guise as drag queen Die Schwarze Frau! That’s reason enough to check out the club night, don’t you think?

crazy monster costumes japan

Most of the guests dressed in some sort of alternative street style like kawaii, fairy kei, or Gothic. I saw some wild makeup and hair in the crowd. This lizard-monster, made of full body rubber, gets my medal for “craziest costume.”

heavy pop, hell's bar

As you can see, there isn’t much room to make giant hand motions. Wear layers so that you can take something off if the room gets too hot. (Even the reptile took off his head at one point.)

harajuku club, nightlife

Everyone’s welcome at Heavy Pop, but I suggest you join the Jpop spirit of the party, and dress up. Wigs, crowns and hats add a fun touch.

japan photographer dj ray ochiai

Don’t forget to take a picture at the photobooth, and say hi to Die Schwarze Frau (she won’t bite) and organizer / DJ Ray Ochiai. He started this party a few years ago, and it’s built up quite the following.

cute japanese girl singing

You can’t help but smile at the theatrical performances on stage. The event alternates between DJ sets and performers.

independent stores tokyo fashion

The side of the room has a line-up of vendor booths, run by independent designers. Shop here for neon face masks and other oddities.

japanese living dolls

Light colors, lace and living-dolls abound.

funny famous japanese dj

Can you feel the energy of the music? All these images are by Said Karlsson — give him a shout if you need a photographer in Tokyo.

goth dancing

The drag theatrics of Die Schwarze Frau always get attention. Stand too close to the front, and you might get whipped by her flailing skirts.

harajuku eye makeup, horns hairstyle

Love the hair-horns, pink eyebrows and layers of eyelashes on this girl.

tokyo drag queen dancer

The queen in motion. DSF performs drag at other events in Tokyo, which you can see on her Facebook.

nanette lepore striped dress

I’m wearing a feathered crown from my friend King Vulcanus Levi (remember when we teamed up in NYC?) and a Nanette Lepore striped dress (here’s where you can purchase it.)

cross dress performer japan

Don’t you want to be at this fabulous club night too? Keep track of the next Heavy Pop party on their Facebook page. Entry fee varies; it’s generally 1500 yen and a drink if you RSVP on Facebook.

cute blonde asian girl

How do you like the Harajuku fashion and makeup featured in this post? Do you have Halloween plans yet?

If you’re in Tokyo in late October, be sure to check out the Gothic nightclubs and bars, listed here and at the top of this post.

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39 Comments

  1. Charlie
    Posted October 15, 2014 at 9:09 pm | Permalink

    I wish to go so bad. Looks fun!

  2. Abel
    Posted October 15, 2014 at 9:10 pm | Permalink

    Yes! Great round up.

  3. lolo
    Posted October 15, 2014 at 9:10 pm | Permalink

    o, fantastic!

  4. annie c
    Posted October 15, 2014 at 9:11 pm | Permalink

    wonderful tokyo

    annie c

  5. yukiro
    Posted October 15, 2014 at 10:44 pm | Permalink

    thanks! darling!! so nice memories! come back to Tokyo soon! Halloween Heavy pop was last weekend! it was a blast, it moved from Bar HELL to Aoyama EVER >D

    • lacarmina
      Posted October 17, 2014 at 3:46 am | Permalink

      Awww miss you! Thanks for the additional info, can’t wait to see your costumes this yearrr

      • yukiro
        Posted October 20, 2014 at 11:32 am | Permalink

        Cant wait to see yours! where are you around Halloween btw? XD

  6. Raivyn dK
    Posted October 15, 2014 at 10:57 pm | Permalink

    Looks like it was a fun night. The lizard man is awesome!

  7. Siren
    Posted October 16, 2014 at 2:41 am | Permalink

    (≧∇≦)

  8. Ursula
    Posted October 16, 2014 at 2:42 am | Permalink

    happy halloween!

  9. dandy
    Posted October 16, 2014 at 6:19 pm | Permalink

    freaking coolness

  10. Kristan
    Posted October 16, 2014 at 6:20 pm | Permalink

    Halloween this is Halloween ^_^

  11. Jenele
    Posted October 16, 2014 at 7:32 pm | Permalink

    I love Japon.

  12. Blue
    Posted October 17, 2014 at 3:41 am | Permalink

    Gothic Tokyo.

  13. Ben
    Posted October 17, 2014 at 3:41 am | Permalink

    hey! Me and @CharliCohen are in Tokyo from 15th-25th October, are there any good alternative club nights happening in the area?

    • lacarmina
      Posted October 17, 2014 at 3:46 am | Permalink

      Yes those 2 parties are on the 25th! There is also the new location of Tokyo Decadance bar.

  14. Su
    Posted October 17, 2014 at 7:53 pm | Permalink

    Sweet!

  15. Bryan
    Posted October 17, 2014 at 11:27 pm | Permalink

    Thanks for the link and the outfit photos! Looks great!

  16. Jai
    Posted October 17, 2014 at 11:27 pm | Permalink

    さて、とりあえず飲みにいこうか。

  17. tonyhost
    Posted October 18, 2014 at 1:02 am | Permalink

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  18. BD
    Posted October 19, 2014 at 7:54 pm | Permalink

    Awesome!

  19. Aurelio
    Posted October 19, 2014 at 7:54 pm | Permalink

    Mmmmmmmmmmmm…

  20. Noriho
    Posted October 19, 2014 at 7:54 pm | Permalink

    =^-^= Happy Halloween!

  21. Brad
    Posted October 19, 2014 at 7:54 pm | Permalink

    And a silly good time was had by all.

  22. Justine
    Posted December 17, 2014 at 7:10 am | Permalink

    Heavy Pop looks so awesome!! I’m so excited for the next one on Sunday – just got my ticket in my inbox! I’ll be the blonde in pink fur, hahaha :D

    • lacarmina
      Posted December 17, 2014 at 6:59 pm | Permalink

      Exciting!! <3 Let me know how it goes!

      • Justine
        Posted January 13, 2015 at 7:33 am | Permalink

        Hey! Heavy Pop in December was really awesome! I danced sooo much! It’s very different to Goth nights in the UK!
        I was surprised it was so busy early – I arrived 45 minutes after the 3pm opening time and the place was packed!! Is that typical of Goth nights here? In UK/Europe, often places are empty 2 hours after they open!
        Stopping the music for a group photo of everyone there was strange for me – is that normal?!
        I really liked how open everyone was to all kinds of music – people danced to pretty much everything! In Britain, if you played anything non Goth (pop/dance etc) the dancefloor would empty!
        The way everyone danced the same to any anime tune was really funny – I think I need to learn the moves!!

        Thank you so much for all your info on your blog – I hope I can get out to another night very soon! :)

        • lacarmina
          Posted January 13, 2015 at 8:09 pm | Permalink

          Aww I’m so glad to hear you had fun! Yes this party is PACKED, there aren’t many alt parties going on any more so ppl come out for this one… hah and yeah, photo taking moments are key, even at events like the Pecha Kucha speech and more. I’ll have more coming up from Tokyo soon, thank you for reading
          xoxo!

          • Justine
            Posted January 15, 2015 at 8:30 am | Permalink

            There was a Pecha Kucha speech about Heavy Pop?? Wow awesome! My friend presented in November, it was so interesting and fun! I hope to go to the one this month :) Hopefully there’ll be some alt scene talks! And teeheehee, I quickly learned about Japan’s “photos or it didn’t happen” attitude! It’s fun :)

          • lacarmina
            Posted January 16, 2015 at 9:03 pm | Permalink

            I gave a Pecha Kucha speech too! Here it is – https://lacarmina.com/2014/08/pecha-kucha-japan-speaker-slideshow-presenter/

            xoxox

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