Ura Hara’s Forgotten Co-Founder

Take a look back at the 90s in Tokyo and you’ll be presented with arguably the most progressive era in the history of fashion. A time when Hiroshi Fujiwara, Jun Takahashi and NIGO were roaming the backstreets of Harajuku in their 20s, igniting youth counterculture in every medium possible and planning on how to fuel that fire through fashion. Tsuyoshi Nakano was there too, a name overshadowed by the all-star collective of legendary designers that were eager to make a name for themselves on a global scale. Nakano, however, preferred to work his magic in the shadows. 

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Primarily an artist and illustrator, Nakano put his craft to practise when he helped to design the famed NOWHERE in 1993, a concept store run by Takahashi and NIGO which would later become the roots for Undercover and BAPE. He then started designing for NGAP in 1998, a multi-disciplinary brand that was heavily influenced by graffiti culture, before deciding that he was more interested in making his own apparel that would fulfil his thirst for creative freedom. The result was SKOLOCT, a graphic-based streetwear brand that took inspiration from his favourite cartoon artist, Hanna Barbera. Since its launch, he’s had a helping hand with many big names, including old friends, such as Undercover, Stussy and TAKAHIROMIYASHITATheSoloist. 

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Despite having a profound resume of collaborators that even well-known designers could only dream of, his name and brand appear sparingly online. I caught up with Reggie, the man behind the YouTube channel The Casual that covers everything you could possibly want to know about Japanese fashion, to discuss his conversations with Nakano himself, his impact in the 90s and his loyalty to the Ura Hara culture. 

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Jotaro Joden: What are your opinions on Nakano as a personality from 90s Ura Hara? 

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Reggie Casual: Under-appreciated. But I believe that he is the prime example of an individual that is so dedicated to the old school Urahara movement that years after working with the likes of Hiroshi Fujiwara, Jun Takahashi and NIGO, he’s still doing almost the same exact thing. I had a small conversation with him and he was telling me about how one of his goals was to bring the old school Ura Hara back. And it’s not just him, a lot of individuals feel that way. Japan lost its local vibe that made it special in the first place. What ended up happening was all the international brands came and at first it was a good thing but then it became a thing where all these places that the Japanese used to shop aren’t there anymore, they disappeared. They were replaced by these big big brands and a lot of them are Western brands. That used to be where all these vintage shops were. That used to be where up-and-coming brands were and where young people would frequently go. That’s what the Ura Hara movement was. Everybody was there, trying different things from styles and cultures. So I think for him, it’s more of a why can’t we have that again? When is this next evolution going to come? And that’s why Japan put so much cachet into individuals like Verdy, who’s like the spirit of the Ura Hara, it lives on through him. But he’s one designer. He’s one, and as big as he’s gotten, he’s nowhere near as big as what NIGO became, nowhere close to that. He’s not really a bombastic personality and I met Verdy too. So you look at these individuals, like Tsuyoshi Nakano, and you kind of feel bad. He was under-appreciated. Back then, I don’t think a lot of people understood him because he’s a graphic designer at heart; an illustrator, graphic designer. So him and SK8THING, together, they were like, the primary bulwark of early Japanese street, like hardcore street graphic design. It’s one of those things where it’s just unfortunate but I hope that in the future, people just realise what part he played. I think he’s a savant that never really got his just due because everybody moved on and he wanted to remain. He wanted to keep the culture where it was. 

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Why do you think his name never made it out to the west? 

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He never became friends with famous people. I think in his case, he was extrapolating what the foundations of what Fujiwara and NIGO were bringing to the table. What Hiroshi Fujiwara and NIGO did was befriended those in the west, and thought, ‘I’m going to bring that to Japan but I want to have this connection with the west.’ Whereas with Nakano, I don’t think that was his focus. I think he wanted to make sure that the culture was distinctly Japanese. I’m not sure if that was the same kind of goal that Hiroshi Fujiwara or NIGO had but just looking from how they moved, it just seemed like Nakano was more of a student because he is younger. It’s hard because you’re talking about an individual who designed for the early parts of Bape, the early parts of the NOWHERE store, was a roommate of Jun Takahashi. This is his cache. He wasn’t really concerned with being huge or worrying about finances or anything like that, he just wanted to do cool shit, do his art but under no illusions of being this big entity. So what ends up happening is that he just does a lot of work with other brands. He does work with Hysteric glamour, Undercover, BAPE. He shows some of his work out there but almost in the background. I don’t think it’s that he’s disrespected, I just think that it was never his point because he didn’t have this huge brand that was worn by famous people. So that’s what it really turns into, it’s just who you know or who you hang around and I don’t think Nakano was really bothered by that. 

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How would you describe Nakano’s impact? 

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I think his impact is huge in Japan but globally, I think there are individuals, especially rich, Hip- Hop guys who come to Japan, who had this idea that they could make him more known. They knew about him via NIGO, they don’t know about this guy unless it’s NIGO or Takahashi that tells them about him. I think his impact is huge for the Japanese, especially in that circle, but I think his impact is quite meddling for anybody who doesn’t know who he is. That’s the worrying part because he’s such a big part of that entire movement from NOWHERE. That’s the NOWHERE store, everybody knows NOWHERE. But his impact is large in the sense of what he has accomplished, considering that most people don’t even know who he is. 

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What kind of people wear SKOLOCT in Japan? 

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Funny enough, I saw somebody wearing SKOLOCT this past weekend. The person that I saw had a more post hip-hop, trap kind of style: slim pants with not an oversized t-shirt - the sleeves are above the elbows. If I were to put an individual on it, kind of like that Travis Scott look. But in Japan, it obviously comes with a whole different cachet. [That person] was also wearing boots that day. So you do get a bit of a hip-hop, post punk vibe going on. The thing about Japan is it’s more about the entire aesthetic of what you’re going for, rather than the brand itself. 

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What would you say is the intention and attitude behind SKOLOCT? 

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I think the attitude behind the brand is the same spirit of discovery and to do cool things that was part of the Ura Hara identity. It really is a classic Ura Hara brand, the idea of it is just to do cool things that no one else is doing and make it unique. 

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Do you think he could still make a name for himself in the west if he wanted to? 

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Absolutely. But he’s the type of individual that doesn’t invoke the names of the people that he knows. He won’t be like, yeah, I worked with Jun Takahashi. If it comes in in a conversation, he’s like, yeah, I know Jun, I had coffee with Jun yesterday. It’s just this attitude of not stepping on each other that is very persistent in Japanese culture. I don’t need to be bigger, I don’t need to be famous, I just need to do my work. It’s something that I admire but also something that’s incredibly confusing to me, even living in Japan for like nine years; knowing that you have this thing in your back pocket and you can easily make a name for yourself. Nakano could easily call NIGO and say, hey, you mind if I do some artwork for Human Made or do something for Kenzo? Jun Takahashi does it all the time. Nakano’s done collaborations with Takahashi, Hysteric Glamour; all the people respect him as an artist so obviously he could become bigger. He just chooses not to. He’s more concerned with doing what he wants to do.

 

Do you see his career as a wasted opportunity? Because we share Western ideologies and having such a trump card that you can pull out anytime, a part of me finds it a little bit frustrating that he’s in such a privileged position and not doing anything with it.

 

From my perspective, being completely real, yes. I think it’s only because I have a very capitalist mind and I haven’t completely succumbed to the Japanese collectivist attitude. Nakano is just sitting there and at any time he wants, he can work with Undercover, come up with some ideas, have his stuff in Beams and United Arrows whenever he wants and he just doesn’t do it. It’s only a wasted opportunity because I think he should be far more respected. I think more people should know who he is. But it’s so hard to present this guy because even he doesn’t give that many interviews. When you read articles on him, it’s just the same thing over and over again. So people would ask, how much did he really do? He did a lot. He just didn’t have much to show for it. 

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Yeah, he was such a background, sixth man sort of player. You can’t really explain to someone why he’s so crucial. 

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Exactly, but you always want him on your team. He’s the dude that’s an integral part of the run but because he’s such a background figure, you don’t really get to see his contributions and that’s unfortunate. What’s crazy is that every other person did it. Tetsu Nishiyama with WTAPS, Shinsuke Takizawa with Neighbourhood, Hiroki Nakmura with Visvim, all these other individuals became huge. I think that there is an opportunity but it has to come from somebody who really has a vested interest in making sure that people wear or at least present his stuff. I hope maybe one day but he is quite old.