Goth queen: blogger puts a subculture up front

Described by Andrea Walker in The New Yorker as "kind of adorable in a somewhat bizarre way", popular blogger, author, journalist and TV host La Carmina is bringing subculture to the forefront.

She specialises in goth and Harajuku fashion and Japanese pop culture, and has written three books: The Cosmos in a Carrot, Crazy, Wacky Theme Restaurants: Tokyo and Cute Yummy Time.

Canadian-born with Hong Kong parents, La Carmina writes on travel for CNN, AOL and The Huffington Post, and hosts TV shows in countries including Japan, France and Norway. She has also appeared on popular TV programmes such as Bizarre Foods, Oddities and Taboo. With a large and passionate online following, La Carmina writes a regular online travelogue and is now filming a documentary in Japan.

Even as a child, I felt dissatisfied with the dominant culture and people around me. In my early teens, I began exploring alternative, punk and goth fashion, music and lifestyle - I felt much more at home in this "spooky" world. Subcultures gave me a space to fully express myself and find like-minded friends.

Appearing on TV show Bizarre Foods with Andrew Zimmern ranks at the top. A few years ago, a travel channel producer found my blog and read Crazy, Wacky Theme Restaurants: Tokyo. She asked me to appear on the show as Andrew's guide to strange Japanese theme cafes. We visited a schoolboy cafe in Harajuku [where the waiters dress as boarding school students] and a jail-horror restaurant where you eat behind bars and monsters run around screaming.