Popeye is a monthly fashion and men's magazine based in Tokyo, Japan. It is one of the oldest magazines featuring articles about men's fashion. Its tagline is "Magazine for City Boys".[1][2] The magazine is considered to be the Japanese version of Nylon magazine.[3]

Popeye
Editor in ChiefTakahiro Kinoshita
CategoriesMen's fashion magazine
FrequencyMonthly
PublisherMagazine House Ltd.
Founded1976
First issueJuly 1976
CountryJapan
Based inTokyo
LanguageJapanese
WebsitePopeye

History and profile edit

Popeye was started in 1976 as a male version of an an, a women's magazine.[1][4][5] It is successor of two publications, Ski Life and Made in U.S.A.[6]

The first issue of Popeye appeared in July 1976[7] which featured the dominant fashion trends in Los Angeles.[6][8] Yoshihisa Kinameri is the launch editor of the magazine.[6] The publisher is Magazine House Ltd., a Tokyo based publishing company.[9][10] The company, which is also the founder of the magazine, was previously named Heibun Shuppan.[11] The magazine was formerly published on a biweekly basis.[12] It is now published on a monthly basis.[9] It focuses on fashion,[1] and its content mostly is about clothes, bags, shoes and accessories.[13] It targets young educated urban men.[9]

In 2012 Takahiro Kinoshita became the editor-in-chief of the magazine.[7] The same year the magazine was redesigned.[2]

Popeye has several sister publications, including an an, Brutus and Croissant.[9] In 2013 Popeye and Brutus received best magazine award.[14] In July 2016 Popeye celebrated its 40th anniversary.[6][7] Later that decade, Popeye celebrated its 46th anniversary with the launch of a limited run of streetwear merchandising.[15]

In 1999 Popeye sold 220,000 copies.[16]

References edit

  1. ^ a b c "A Guide to Japanese Fashion Magazines". Hypebeast. Retrieved 30 April 2016.
  2. ^ a b Matthew Klassen. "Takahiro Kinoshita". Public Pool. Retrieved 30 April 2016.
  3. ^ "I Kid You Not….. Some of the Best Men's Magazines in Japan". The Sartorialist. 11 December 2008. Retrieved 30 April 2016.
  4. ^ Barbara Németh (2014). Masculinities in Japan (MA thesis). Palacký University Olomouc.
  5. ^ Brian Moeran (1996). A Japanese Advertising Agency: An Anthropology of Media and Markets. Honolulu: University of Hawaii Press. p. 304. ISBN 978-0-8248-1873-9.
  6. ^ a b c d Julie Makinen (19 July 2016). "What's hot in Japan right now? Los Angeles, circa 1976". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved 6 February 2017.
  7. ^ a b c Chais Mingo (9 June 2016). "POPEYE Magazine 40th Anniversary Issue & Issue 01 Re-Print". Intelligence. Retrieved 6 February 2017.
  8. ^ "Japan's Popeye Magazine Is A Surprising Relic of the Not-So-Distant Past". Real Clear Life. 25 November 2016. Retrieved 6 February 2017.
  9. ^ a b c d "Popeye". Japanese Streets. Retrieved 30 April 2016.
  10. ^ Fiona Wilson (November 2015). "Press ahead". Monocle. 9 (88).
  11. ^ Keiko Tanaka (May 2003). "The language of Japanese men's magazines: young men who don't want to get hurt". The Sociological Review. 51 (S1): 222–242. doi:10.1111/j.1467-954X.2003.tb03613.x. S2CID 143669392.
  12. ^ Europa World Year. London; New York: Europa Publications. 2004. p. 2357. ISBN 978-1-85743-254-1.
  13. ^ Masafumi Monden (2014). Japanese Fashion Cultures: Dress and Gender in Contemporary Japan. London: Bloomsbury Publishing. p. 26. ISBN 978-1-4725-8673-5.
  14. ^ "The Fifth Best Magazine Award Winners Including BRUTUS and POPEYE Announced". Fashion Headline. 19 March 2013. Archived from the original on 3 June 2013. Retrieved 30 April 2016.
  15. ^ Nicolaus Li (26 April 2022). "Iconic Japanese Magazine 'POPEYE' Launches Online Store With Merch Release". Hypebeast. Retrieved 14 July 2023.
  16. ^ Laura Miller (2004). "You are doing Burikko!". In Shigeko Okamoto; Janet S. Shibamoto Smith (eds.). Japanese Language, Gender, and Ideology: Cultural Models and Real People. Oxford; New York: Oxford University Press. p. 150. ISBN 978-0-19-029026-9.

External links edit