Kamikaze Girls (2005)

Turns out, Japan has its very own New Jersey. Beyond the bounds of swank Tokyo live the ''Yanki,'' suburbanites known for their tracksuits, dyed hair, and tricked-out mopeds. In Kamikaze Girls loner Momoko (actress–pop star Kyôko Fukada) rejects this world for the equally Western-inflected ''Lolita'' subculture, which prizes rococo frills over punk posturing. But when Yanki biker girl Ichigo (pop star-actress Anna Tsuchiya) gets under Momoko's lace bonnet, the two embark on a hyperstylized, supercute female-bonding odyssey, set to a J-pop soundtrack. For the Western viewer, the cultural divide acts as a saccharine filter, and Kamikaze, a cult hit in Japan, becomes a mesmerizing lesson in otherness.