Tokyo’s “Magical Girl” Fashion Trend

Tokyo’s “Magical Girl” Fashion Trend

Every year, a new microtrend floods our feeds— blokette, angelcore, balletcore and whatever “-core” . Blink, and it’s gone. Meanwhile, in Japan, globally recognized fashion subcultures like gyaru, lolita and jirai-kei are more long-standing community-based microgenres. Somewhat of a crossover between these fashion paradigms—at least, that’s how I see it—Magical Girl is 2025’s latest aesthetic…

Read More
My Take | Hong Kong’s stablecoin ambitions offer Beijing a channel to bring yuan into crypto world

My Take | Hong Kong’s stablecoin ambitions offer Beijing a channel to bring yuan into crypto world

China is not a fan of cryptocurrencies. Over the past decade, the Chinese government has built up one of the world’s most hostile regulatory frameworks against cryptocurrency-related activities, including trading and mining. Beijing views digital assets like bitcoin as a threat to the country’s financial stability and capital account controls, and even a challenge to…

Read More