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The Great Tokyo Pompadours

by Hella Cliques
September 23, 2026

If you visit Yoyogi Park in Tokyo on any given Sunday, you'll find the Tokyo Rockabilly Club (specifically groups like the Strays and Bonnies), who have been dancing in heavy leather jackets, cuffed denim, and towering pompadours since the late 1970s.

Because traditional pomade doesn't always hold up to hours of intense jiving and swing-dancing in humid summer weather, early members began using industrial-grade wax, black grease, and even glue to keep their quiffs standing. The unintended side effect? Dancers would emerge from a session with melted, black grease streaming down their faces like war paint, ruining pristine white shirts. To fight this, many started carrying emergency cans of aerosol hairspray and pocket combs mid-dance, leading to synchronized comb-outs during song breaks that became a permanent part of their routine.

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