One More Reason to Love Japan

Ah, Japan. Home of tempura, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, Hello Kitty, and all thing cute. Now we have one more reason to love Japan: the haramaki. Apparently, as I discovered while randomly stumbling craft blogs, the haramaki is a new fashion trend over in Japan, and one I think we should import over here to the good ol' U. S. of A. and use for our own purposes. It's also been called a belly warmer or a tummy warmer, which is rather descriptive of what it is. Basically it's a tube of fabric or knitted material that wraps around your stomach, waist, and hips to provide a little extra warmth and coverage. This can be especially useful since sometimes the only pants you can buy are of the low-rise variety (a fashion pet-peeve of mine). Here are some pictures of some cute haramaki I found online:







As you can see, there's a lot of potential for spicing up an outfit, providing color, adding modesty, or just adding texture to whatever you're wearing! I gotta get me one of those. It's been a bit frustrating, because I can't seem to find anywhere to buy them on the internet, but I did find a tutorial for how to make one on Planet June (a fun, crafty blog to visit in your free time). Go here to access that.