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Japan: Two 'moga' or 'modern girls' on the streets of Tokyo, c. 1928

Japan: Two 'moga' or 'modern girls' on the streets of Tokyo, c. 1928

Modern girls ('modan gaaru', also shortened to 'moga') were Japanese women who followed Westernized fashions and lifestyles in the 1920s. These moga were Japan's equivalent of America's flappers, India's kallege ladki, Germany's neue Frauen, France's garconnes, or China's modeng xiaojie.

The period was characterized by the emergence of working class young women with access to money and consumer goods. Modern girls were depicted as living in the cities, being financially and emotionally independent and choosing their own suitors.

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