Gwen Stefani is standing by her conviction of not appropriating Japanese culture in the early 2000s. In a recent interview with Allure magazine, Stefani was asked about how she was receiving the backlash from people commenting on her using Asian culture as profit while promoting her 2004 album Love.Angel.Music.Baby.

“That was my Japanese influence and that was a culture that was so rich with tradition, yet so futuristic [with] so much attention to art and detail and discipline and it was fascinating to me,” she said. “I said, ‘My God, I’m Japanese and I didn’t know it.’”

She then explained that she is a super fan of the culture and is innocent. “If [people are] going to criticize me for being a fan of something beautiful and sharing that, then I just think that doesn’t feel right,” she told me. “I think it was a beautiful time of creativity… a time of the ping-pong match between Harajuku culture and American culture.” She elaborated further: “[It] should be okay to be inspired by other cultures because if we’re not allowed then that’s dividing people, right?”

During the promotional run, Stefani had a four-girl group entourage named the Harajuku girls. Shortly after her Harajuku Lovers Tour, she then went on to make her own clothing line labeled Harajuku Girls clothing line, fragrances and dolls. She earned over $27 million combined.

Photo Credit: Owen Ela