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For young and fashionable Japanese, London has become
not just a place to visit but "the only" place to live. Riwa,
a Japanese journalist, says that there are at least 30,000 of them living in England's
capital. She says that they can be divided into two
groups; the smaller group enjoys traditional English culture such as afternoon
tea at the big hotels, cashmere sweaters and gardening; the larger group consists
of art and fashion students, musicians and people who want to be DJs. Most
of them study English and work part-time selling clothes or running stalls in
London's many markets. But although they study English
in the day, it is the music or fashion scene that attracts them. In
London, Japanese have the opportunity to choose elements of British culture and
mould a new identity which is very fashionable and unique to these "New Londoners". However,
not everybody is so enthusiastic. Fumio, a 48-year-old
businessman living in London, is less impressed with the young generation's new
British lifestyle. "They're trapped in London,"
he says. "They've become addicted to the fashion,
music and freedom in this country. They'll wake up
when they're 30 and realize that they've wasted their time when they should have
been getting started in a career doing something responsible. I
feel sure that they will regret their wild times in London." | 
