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In a year like no other, school insists on enforcing same old dress code even while temperature in classrooms is anything but normal.

Japanese schools don’t have the best reputation for flexibility regarding student conduct regulations, or even all that much common sense in the formation of the rules to begin with. In a year with circumstances as unusual as 2020, that presents a lot of potential problems, and it looks like one school in Kyushu has dropped the ball pretty badly.

In talking with newspaper Nishi Nippon Shimbun, a mother shared her frustrations about the municipal junior high school her daughter attends in Fukuoka City. As part of the school’s coronavirus precautions, classroom windows are being left open during lessons, in order to keep them ventilated and lower the chance of infection. In and of itself, that seems like a wise decision, but the high in Fukuoka this week is only about 13 degrees Celsius (55 Fahrenheit) with a low of around 5 degrees, and things are only going to get colder until spring comes.

In the meantime, the open-window policy means students are basically spending the day in outdoor-level coldness, but while still being required to wear their school uniforms, which aren’t designed with warmth as a major priority, especially the girls’ version, which has a skirt. So can they at least bundle up during class? Nope. The school’s dress code allows for only the addition of a specific sweater or cardigan designated by the school as part of the uniform. Want to wear a heavier sweatshirt, or maybe a high-necked undershirt to keep the draft off your neck? Sorry, not allowed. Oh, and if you walked to school wearing gloves or a scarf, you’re required to take them off in the school’s entryway, please, and keep them off until you leave at the end of the day. No wearing them during class time.

▼ There’s just no way anyone could learn anything while dressed like this, is there?

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While the potential discomfort and health risks of keeping the windows open all day can be arguably justified as a coronavirus countermeasure, there doesn’t seem to be any rationale for the “no extra warm clothing” rule other than an unwillingness to rethink the pre-existing dress code, even while adding the open-windows-in-winter protocol.

Making the situation especially aggravating is that Japan’s Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology has specifically asked schools to consider relaxing their dress codes this winter due to drops in classroom temperatures caused by increased ventilation requirements. However, the ultimate decision on whether to allow students to wear warmer, non-regulation articles of clothing is being left up to individual schools, leaving the door open to situations like the one the upset mother and daughter now find themselves in.

Considering that Japanese schools can be uncomfortably cold for uniform-wearing students even with the windows closed, here’s hoping that the daughter’s school eventually comes around on the matter, especially since neighboring Saga Prefecture seems to be taking a more enlightened stance on dress codes by no longer checking what color bra schoolgirls are wearing.

Source: Nishi Nippon Shimbun via Yahoo! Japan News via Hachima Kiko
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New dress code allows choice of bottoms for female students only.

Though the word uniform literally means “one form,” on any given day at a school in Japan you’ll see two different uniforms: one for boys and one for girls. For example, at Yokota Prefectural High School in Shimane Prefecture the boys’ uniform has slacks, while the girls’ has a skirt.

However, when next school year starts in the spring, Yokota will no longer have boys’ uniforms and girls’ uniforms. That’s not because they’re going to a single identical uniform that all students will wear, though, but because the school is renaming them as Type I and Type II, as part of its evolving acknowledgment of gender identity diversity.

For the 2021 school year, Yokota’s female students will be able to choose between wearing a skirt or slacks, and the school says that a number of them have already expressed a desire to wear the latter. While no doubt some of those choices are being prompted by the greater warmth long pants provide, Yokota has made it clear that the primary reason for instituting the slacks/skirt option is not Japan’s infamously chilly classrooms, but to allow students to wear garments that they feel adequately align with how they identify in terms of gender.

Yokota will become the 13th of Shimane’s 34 full-time prefectural high schools to allow female students to wear slacks. However, the freedom to choose between wearing pants or a skirt is not being extended to the male student body. “At this stage, we are only changing the dress code [to allow students to choose] for female students,” said Kyoko Mitani, a humanities teacher at Yokota. However, she added “Taking into consideration the various opinions of students and their guardians, I want us to continue thinking about gender diversity,” implying that the school may allow male students to wear skirts before long.

Source: Mainichi Shimbun via Yahoo! Japan News via Jin
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Pressured to review outdated prohibitions, an entire prefecture says goodbye to “relics of the past”.

Controversial school regulations have been under the spotlight in Japan recently, with an overwhelming number of people calling for reviews to be made after it was revealed that students were being forced to dye their hair and even show their underwear to teachers.

These rules, which have been in place at a wide number of schools across the country for decades, ultimately aim to uphold uniformity amongst students. However, when students with naturally brown hair are forced to dye their hair black to align with a school’s no-dyed hair colour policy, and student handbooks advise that pupils’ underwear must be white or beige for “hygiene reasons”, basic human rights start becoming a legitimate concern.

▼ If you were a student born with this hair colour, chances are you’d be accused of dyeing it, and would have to dye it black.

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Because of these concerns, schools and prefectural boards of education are now under pressure to review outdated regulations, dubbed “black school rules” for their negative nature. Thankfully, this pressure is slowly leading to change, with Saga Prefecture recently announcing it would do away with underwear and hair checks, and now Western Japan’s Mie Prefecture has revealed it’s followed suit.

According to Mie’s prefectural board of education, as of this spring all public high schools in the prefecture have abolished school rules regarding hairstyles, the colour of underwear, and also dating. The changes came into effect after a 2019 survey found that out of 54 public high schools in the prefecture, 24 had provisions banning the “two-block” undercut hairstyle (short back and sides), 17 required students to submit a form stipulating their hair colour and quality (to check for dyed hair), and 18 schools prohibited dating amongst students.

In addition, two schools required that clothing underneath uniforms should be light-coloured to make them less visible.

▼  No more checking the colour of my underwear!

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All these rules have now been abolished, with a representative from the board’s Student Guidance Division describing the regulations as relics of the past, and unsuitable for current times.

The prefectural education board played an instrumental role in bringing about the changes, asking schools and principals’ associations to review school regulations at meetings with guidance counselling staff in attendance.

The Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology is now encouraging other education boards to ask schools to review their policies, sending out notifications to boards around the country earlier this month. These moves look set to bring about wide-sweeping change throughout the education system to bring it up to speed with the changing times, and put to rest concerns expressed by pupils, parents, teachers and members of society as a whole.

Because a step forward for students’ rights is a step forward for individual rights, which helps to create a happier, healthier, safer path for everyone, especially the adults of tomorrow.

Source: Mainichi Shimbun via Livedoor News via Jin
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There’s a very thin line between lurking and guarding.

As a child I was always in such a rush to get out of school. I imagined they turned into ghost towns overnight because no one wanted to stay longer than they had to. But it seems much like a forest, schools can sometimes transform into a whole other ecosystem after dark.

At about 9:30 p.m. on 15 June, 55-year-old office worker Tamio Ueda entered a public high school in Wakayama City. He then stole a sailor-style school uniform that was stored in one of the rooms and put it on. Ueda must have been having a whale of a time with his ill-gotten uniform because he was reportedly frolicking in there for hours, well into the early morning of the 16th.

▼ We’re hardly ones to judge, but please acquire your uniforms legally

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Then things got even stranger.

At approximately 2:40 a.m. Udea, still wearing the sailor uniform, entered a restroom inside the school. While in there he bumped into another man in his thirties. The man restrained Ueda and called the police to come and arrest him.

In custody Ueda admitted to burglarizing the school for its uniform, but the rest of the world is left wondering: Who the hell was that guy in a school bathroom at 2:40 in the morning?

There are a number of rational explanations such as the man being a security guard, maintenance worker, or teacher working late. However, the report simply described him as a “man in his 30s who lives in Wakayama City.” Clearly, they didn’t omit his job for brevity because they took the time and word-count to bother telling us the pointless fact of where this guy lives.

▼ Perhaps he was researching the gravitational effects of a full moon on mildew

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Readers of the news agree that this omission of information is making the supposed “hero” of this case look more suspicious that the actual burglary suspect.

“Just a guy hanging out in the school restroom at night…”
“Who is this guy?!”
“He’s in the school restroom at 2 a.m.”
“In the bathroom in the middle of the night. What is the situation here?”
“If this happened in the girls’ room then there is some dark stuff going on.”
“This is scary.”
“These kinds of thefts are happening a lot in schools so they probably have patrols. I hope that’s what this is.”
“That restroom is a happening place.”
“It must have been a guard, but why did the report just call him ‘a man?'”
“This is like Jason vs. Freddy.”
“If he wasn’t a guard then he was trespassing, right?”

There is no mention of the other man facing trespassing or any other charges, and since he seemed confident enough to call in the police himself, he clearly felt his presence in the school restroom at that time was lawful.

The only remaining explanation I can think of is that this man is a part of an elite covert counter-school-theft unit. They dig deep to catch those who steal shoes and tennis rackets in the act, but their very existence must be kept secret to stay one step ahead of the criminals at all times.

That might seem like overkill, but those piano covers are expensive and can really add up.

Source: WTV News, Hachima Kiko
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Switch would solve a lot of school uniform-related problems, but not everyone thinks it’s a great idea.

Among the things the staff of Saitama City’s Omiya Kita High School discussed with parents at its last orientation session was the school’s uniform policy. That’s pretty standard for Japan, since parents want to know what their kids will have to wear and where they can purchase it.

And for the 2022 school year, they just might be able to purchase their uniforms at Uniqlo.

As iconic as they may be, Japanese school uniforms come with some serious downsides, and the biggest one is how much they cost. Price-wise, buying a teenager’s school uniform is similar to buying a business suit, and up until now parents of Omiya Kita students have been dropping around 40,000 to 60,000 yen (roughly US$370 to US$550)for their kids’ uniforms, which consist of a black gakuran jacket and slacks for boys and a blazer and skirt for girls. “We started wondering if there wasn’t a way to move away from the assumption that uniforms have to cost so much,” vice-principal Kenji Tsutsui says, and now the school in considering letting students put together their school uniforms with items from Uniqlo.

▼ Omiya Kita’s current uniforms (left) and some of their proposed Uniqlo-sourced replacements (right)

←旧制服 ㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤ ユニクロ制服→ pic.twitter.com/pQnMCALfit

— チケットを確認しろ (@Driving__force) October 1, 2021

While Uniqlo is best known for their casual fashions, they also carry dressier items like blazers and dress shirts, which are still affordably priced. The ensembles Omiya Kita is considering would allow students to put together a uniform for about 10,000 yen, a much smaller hit to the wallet than the current uniforms.

Another potential plus: the current 100-percent wool uniforms have to be dry cleaned, and the time and expense involved means that uniforms can go weeks, or even months, without being cleaned. Uniqlo’s lighter fabrics and more washing machine-friendly, and probably also much more comfortable to wear during a hot, humid Japanese summer.

Omiya Kita is even mulling the open-minded idea of giving students some leeway in the exact colors they choose for their uniform components on a day-by-day basis.

Reactions to the proposal, though, have been mixed on Twitter, with comments ranging from:

“Affordable uniforms that you can wash? I’m jealous.”
“When I was in school, I hated how hot my uniform was in summer, and how I couldn’t wash it when it got dirty or smelly.”
“Aren’t those Uniqlo outfits they put together kind of lame-looking?”
“I understand parents think regular uniforms are too expensive, but what about the kids who want to wear cute uniforms?”
“Uniforms are also a security measure. If the uniforms are made up with commercially available items from Uniqlo, how will the school be able to spot an intruder?”
“The only people complaining about this idea are people who aren’t students at the school or parents.”
“I bet Workman will start making school uniforms next.”

Omiya Kita says it will be leaving the ultimate decision of whether or not to switch over to Uniqlo uniforms up to the parents and students, but if that decision is reached, the new outfits would become the dress code starting with the new academic year in April.

Source: Saitama Shinbun via Yahoo! Japan News via Golden Times, Twitter
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Having trouble making manga character’s pleated skirts look good? You can solve it with three things you probably have within arm’s reach.

For aspiring manga and anime artists, it’s not so much a question of if they’re going to draw a character in a skirt, but when. With so many stories having teen protagonists or school settings, it’s really only a matter of time until most illustrators find themselves crafting a scene that includes a female character wearing a skirt as part of a school uniform.

Pleated skirts aren’t necessarily easy to draw, though, since they’re actually a complex shape made up of a large number of fabric planes. Sure, if the character is standing straight up and still, all of those lines will be going in the same direction, but as soon as you’re working with more dynamic and expressive body language, or environmental factors such as dramatically blowing wind, the various folds and creases of the skirt need to start bending in their own individual ways, which can be hard to correctly envision in your mind’s eye and lead to awkward, unengaging artwork.

Thankfully, Japanese illustrator and Twitter user @simodasketch has an extremely quick and clever method to make a reference model for yourself, and all you’ll need is some tissue paper, a piece of tape, and a pair of chopsticks or a similarly sized cylinder substitute.

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To start, take a piece of tissue paper and fold a series of creases. The exact number isn’t important, but you want to make sure the creases go all the way across the paper, mimicking the fabric of a pleated skirt. Once you’ve formed all the folds, take a piece of tape and attach it along the top edge.

Next, grab your chopsticks or substitute cylinder (pen, pencil, etc.) and start rolling paper around the top. Once it gets thick enough, wrap the folded tissue paper around it, and your skirt model is complete!

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Ideally, you want to be able to wrap the “skirt” around the wad of paper at the top of the chopsticks (which is representing the character’s waist) without any overlap, so you can adjust the thickness of the wad or trim the skirt accordingly. It’s important to make sure the wad is noticeably thicker than the chopsticks, though, so that you can see how the skirt should billow and bend as it hangs down below the wearer’s hips. As long as you do that, all that’s left to do is to arrange the model so that it matches what you want to draw, then refer to how the tissue pleats look as you start your art’s linework.

The simple solution to a challenging illustration dilemma has other Twitter users impressed and grateful, with responses such as:

“I’ve always had so much trouble drawing skirts, to I wanna make one these right away!”
“This is going to be a huge help with a major roadblock I’ve been running into.”
“Are you a god?”
“The amazing power of tissues!”
“The model is pretty cute!”

スカートのシワが見たくてティッシュで作ってみた。 pic.twitter.com/yCKuYAYuEy

— 下田スケッチ【絵の描き方】 (@simodasketch) November 16, 2021

Theoretically, it seems like @simodasketch’s technique should work for skirts without pleats too, just as long as you don’t fold the tissue skirt before attaching it to the chopsticks, and it might even be helpful when drawing characters in kimono for historical manga, as long as you account for the reduced amount of drape compared to a skirt.

Of course, drawing characters and their costumes is only part of what goes into illustrating a scene, but this skirt model should help you get off to a good start, and if you need help keeping the background art consistent, this other clever idea might do the trick.

Source, images: Twitter/@simodasketch
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Schoolgirl uniform manufacturer diagrams four major variations.

The sailor-style school uniform has practically become a symbol of Japan itself, and part of the reason why is that the uniform is, well, more or less uniform. Female students at a countless number of schools in Japan wear a blouse with a wide sailor collar and ribbon tied below it.

However, while the students at any one school might all be wearing the same uniform, the design from one school to the next can have all sorts of subtle differences, as pointed out by Okayama Prefecture’s Akashi School Uniform Company. In a recent tweet from its official account, the company explained that there are all sorts of collar variations for schoolgirl uniforms, and that four of the most common are named after different parts of Japan.

セーラー服といっても様々な型があることをご存知でしょうか？

巷では関東襟・関西襟・名古屋襟などとも言われているようです。

とはいえ、関東だから浅め、名古屋だから深めという決まりがあるわけではなく…。
なぜ地域によって傾向が偏っているのか実は謎なのですImage may be NSFW.
Clik here to view.#制服豆知識 pic.twitter.com/QvgNclt5v7

— 明石スクールユニフォームカンパニー (@akashi_suc) November 29, 2021

Starting with the bottom left illustration, the Kanto Collar (“Kanto-eri” in Japanese) takes its name from the Kanto, or East Japan, region, which includes Tokyo. The Kanto Collar’s distinguishing characteristics are that the sailor collar (colored blue in the picture) is slightly narrower than the wearer’s shoulders and has a rounded hem at its bottom. The collar itself is short and ends above the wearer’s bust, so there may or may not be a section of the blouse showing in the middle of the collar opening (when a portion of the blouse is present in this space, the designers refer to it as muneate, the same word used for for “breastplate” or “bib” in Japanese).

Moving to the top left example, the Sapporo Collar, named after the capital city of Hokkaido Prefecture, is similar to the Kanto, but wider, stretching to the end of the shoulders. It’s also shorter than the Kanto Collar, with the neck opening high enough that there’s no need for the blouse to extend above it.

Things start to look very different with the Kansai Collar, which refers to the part of Japan that includes Osaka, in the upper right drawing. With this style, the collar reaches the edge of the shoulders, but plunges down in straight lines that stretch down past the top of the wearer’s bust. Because of this, a muneate is a must.

And finally, the Nagoya Collar, at the bottom right, is in many ways an extreme version of the Kansai Collar. The collar reaches past the edge of the shoulders and is deeper than any of the other three styles, so there will always be a large section of blouse above the opening, and the ribbon is also likely to be smaller because of its lower placement.

▼ By these criteria, this sailor suit-style roomwear our reporter Meg is wearing has a Kanto collar.

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Akashi School Uniform Company goes on to explain, though, that while these collar types are called Kanto, Kansai, Sapporo, and Nagoya, they’re not exclusive to, or universal in, those parts of Japan. The exact reason they came to be called by those names isn’t 100-percent clear, but the company speculates that those might simply have been the respective areas where the styles initially became common. Regardless of their linguistic origins, though, the company says they’ve now become part of the uniform industry jargon, and they’re just one example of how there’s more variety to Japanese school uniforms than there might seem to be at first glance.

Source: Twitter/@akashi_suc via Otakomu
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Mr. Sato sparks some changes to our office attire.

Otoko Juku translates to “Man School,” and that’s a very fitting title for the anime/manga series. First published in Weekly Shonen Jump in 1985, with an anime TV series and movie coming not long after, Otoko Juku follows its cast of young lads as they enter a spartan academy that will teach them how to become the manliest of men, which generally leads to the putting their pride and honor on the line in various rumbles, duels, and showdowns.

▼ Some collected volumes of the Otoko Juku manga, with protagonist Momotaro Tsurugi on the cover

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Our ace reporter Mr. Sato is a big fan of Otoko Juku, but there’s something that’s always struck him as strange about its artwork: Momotaro and his classmates don’t look anything like high school students. Sure, their standard outfits are gakuran, the straight-collared jackets often worn as boys’ school uniforms in Japan. Many members of the Otoko Juku cast, though, have  heavily lined faces and ample facial hair, things not usually associated with still-growing teen boys.

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In Mr. Sato’s eyes, a lot of them look like full-grown, middle-aged adult men. So he wondered, if he, a full-grown, middle-aged, adult man, were to put on a gakuran, would he look like an Otoko Juku character?

His inquisitive mind had to know the answer. Since Mr. Sato is now too old to enroll in real-world high school and be issued a gakuran, instead he dashed off to the nearest branch of Japanese discount retailer Don Quijote to grab a facsimile from their cosplay corner.

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Once back at SoraNews24 headquarters, he slipped out of his clothes and into his gakuran.

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Hmm…not bad, but not quite the critical mass of testosterone he’d been hoping for.

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Something was missing, but what? As a man (otoko in Japanese), had he not totally nailed the otoko part of Otoko Juku?

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That’s when it dawned on him. No matter how manly he may be, no man, by himself, is a whole school. To really get the Otoko Juku atmosphere going, he’d need a crew of similarly manly classmates.

So lucky for him a macho-man classmate was on the way.

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“Yeah, kept ya waitin’, but I’m here now, dude.”

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▼ SEIJI NAKAZAWA!

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Stepping through the door was fellow reporter Seiji Nakazawa, and he wouldn’t be the last applicant looking to enroll in Mr. Sato’s Otoko Juku.

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“You got room for one more, right bros?”

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▼ MASANUKI SUNAKOMA!

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Masanuki was the next to stride in, cutting a dashing figure in his choran (long-length gakuran).

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“Hey, you ditzes aint forgotten about me, have ya?”

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▼ P.K. SANJUN!

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P.K. also opted for the choran style, which just oozes old-school ruggedness.

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“Is it OK if I join too?”

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▼ AHIRU NEKO!

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With his smooth skin and babyface features, Ahiru Neko didn’t look so much like an Otokojuku character as he did an actual current high school student. Still, he’s a loving father, which is about the manliest thing a guy can be, so he too was admitted to Mr. Sato’s Man School.

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Though the original Otoko Juku manga ended in 1991, various spinoffs and video games have kept the franchise alive. There was even a live-action movie adaptation in 2008, and Mr. Sato is sure the producers will be calling to offer him and his gakuran brothers starring roles in a sequel any moment now.

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Shizuoka road continues to be one of the most photogenic spots in all of Japan.

Two years ago, Japanese photographer Shinnosuke Uchida, who goes by @SinPictures on Twitter, took the Internet’s breath away with a photograph of two smiling young ladies in schoolgirl uniforms walking along a road in the Miho neighborhood of Shizuoka City. “Miho high school girls have the most photogenic daily lives in Japan,” Uchida tweeted along with the photo, in which Mt. Fuji stands majestically in the not-so-far-off background, towering over Miho’s modestly sized buildings.

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But though Mt. Fuji is the most dynamic part of the composition, what really made an impression on people was how the photo immediately established a feeling of friendship between the two girls. With one of them striking a pose while perched on the divider between the street and sidewalk, the other holding her arm so she doesn’t lose her balance, and both of them laughing in the soft light of the late afternoon, the photo perfectly captures the kind of silly random fun that good friends share in the unhurried days of youth, moments that are at once both pointless in purpose but deeply meaningful in memories.

Those are the kind of experiences we have less and less chances to enjoy as we get older and busier. Adding an extra dash of bittersweetness it that the photo was taken in March, shortly before the end of the Japanese school year, and it’s not uncommon for even the closest of high school friends to lose touch with one another and drift apart after graduating and moving away for college or work.

But Monday was Coming of Age Day in Japan, when people who have turned 20 during the past year come back to their home towns to attend celebratory ceremonies in their honor, and Uchida had a new picture to share.

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Yes, that’s the exact same two people, in the exact same poses at the exact same spot along the section of Shizuoka Prefectural Road 199 called the Miho Kaido. Instead of school uniforms, this time they’re wearing kimono with flowing furisode sleeves, the customary attire for women at coming of age ceremonies, but though their clothing may be different, the feeling of friendship is unchanged from two years ago.

▼ “It’s been two years. The Miho schoolgirls are having the most photogenic Coming of Age Day in Japan.”

あれから二年。
三保の女子高生は
日本一映える
成人の日を迎えた pic.twitter.com/cpcsUawPsm

— うちだしんのすけ | 夏色フォトグラフィー発売中Image may be NSFW.
Clik here to view. (@SinPictures) January 9, 2023

The sense of heartwarming reunion in the new photo has touched Twitter commenters, who have reacted with;

“I still remembered the photo of them in uniform, so it’s such an emotional moment to see them together again.”
“Ah man, I think I’m going to cry.”
“That photo is too amazing. Can’t look at it directly.”
“So many feels.”
“I hope you’ll take another photo of them in that spot 10 years from now, then another in 20, and on and on forever.”

Other commenters also pointed the new tempura bowl set meal (天丼セット) sign the restaurant they’re standing next to has put out, and also that there seems to be more snow at the top of Mt. Fuji in the March/school uniform photo than the January/kimono one. However, Uchida says that this has always been the case with Mt. Fuji, and that it gets its densest snowpack in April of each year.

富士山の積雪量を見て昨年3月に比べて今年1月の積雪量が少ないことから「温暖化」等を心配される声がありますが、実はこれ通常の量です。
富士山と共に暮らす静岡民でも意外と気づいてない事実。
一年のうち4月の積雪量が一番多いとこちらに書かれていますでご参考まで！https://t.co/pi3wwTQJgR pic.twitter.com/lYecKgLUSa

— うちだしんのすけ | 夏色フォトグラフィー発売中Image may be NSFW.
Clik here to view. (@SinPictures) January 9, 2023

▼ Another shot of the pair

別バージョンも撮りました！
モデルの二人はこちらの写真の方がお気に入りとのことでした^_^
新成人の皆さん、本当におめでとうございますImage may be NSFW.
Clik here to view. pic.twitter.com/RRhRmQE8OQ

— うちだしんのすけ | 夏色フォトグラフィー発売中Image may be NSFW.
Clik here to view. (@SinPictures) January 9, 2023

Uchida refers to the women in the photos as “models,” though without specifying if that’s in the sense of “people who earn money by being in photographs” or just “people who agreed to be in a photograph.” As such, it’s unclear whether they’re actually high school friends reuniting for the first time in years on Coming of Age Day or simply two talented professionals. Either way, we’re not going to be forgetting either picture anytime soon, and hopefully we’ll see them again at another of life’s major milestones.

Source: Twitter/@SinPictures via IT Media
Images: Twitter/@SinPictures
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Changes also coming to blazer buttons at Hyogo school.

As adjectives, “uniform” and “diverse” are complete opposites. All the same, Yamasaki Prefectural High School, in the town of Shiso, Hyogo Prefecture, has made a number of revisions to its student dress code over the last few years to accommodate evolving attitudes about gender, and the latest is the introduction of culottes of culottes to its school uniform.

Like most high schools in Japan, Yamasaki traditionally required male students to wear slacks as part of their uniform, and girls skirts. In response to feedback from students, in 2020 the school revised its policy, allowing all students to freely choose whether they want to wear slacks or a skirt, as well as the choice between a necktie (traditionally worn by boys) or a ribbon (traditionally worn by girls). Following a speech from a transgender resident of Shiso at the school last summer, though, it came to light that a number of students feel uncomfortable wearing slacks as well as skirts, and so the school proposed culottes as an alternative.

▼ Yamasaki High School uniform with culottes

スカートもスラックスもはきたくない…生徒の意見に応えた高校、制服に「キュロット」導入へ 生徒の7割が「賛成」（神戸新聞NEXT） - Yahoo!ニュース https://t.co/S8QG9nqdIj
これ普通に欲しい pic.twitter.com/RdIS0NrY2h

— めむ@北海道〜1/14 (@memuset) January 12, 2023

An opinion survey found that 70 percent of the school’s students are in favor of offering the option, even if they don’t necessarily plan to choose to wear culottes themselves. With such widespread support, all students, regardless of their gender identity, will be allowed to wear culottes from the start of the 2023 academic year, which beings this spring. At that time Yamasaki High School will also be introducing new uniform blazers with buttons that can be configured on either the left or right side of the jacket, so that students can dress in the way they feel best matches their identity.

Source: Kobe Shimbun Next via Otakomu
Top image: Pakutaso
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Masayuki Ishikawa is fed up with a rule that keeps schoolgirls cold all winter long.

Manga creator Masayuki Ishikawa is best known for his series Moyashimon. Also known as Moyasimon: Tales of Agriculture, the story follows a freshman at an agricultural university who has the ability to communicate with microorganisms, all of which are rendered as cute Pokémon-like characters.

With its scientific references and in-jokes, Moyashimon is considered a treat for the intellectual anime/manga fan. Right now, though, it’s Ishikawa’s comments on school uniform dress codes, and their unfair treatment of female students, that the Japanese Internet is seeing shining intelligence in.

Ishikawa, who has a high school-age daughter of his own, recently tweeted his thoughts about the school rules she has to deal with.

“I used to think high school girls were really tough, what with how they walk around with bare legs [in the winter], but the rules at the school my daughter attends include that the only leg coverings they’re allowed to wear [other than their skirt] are the socks specified by the school. If they wear anything more than that, they get yelled at by the teachers, who are all bundled up in tights, [Uniqlo] Heat-Tech, and other lined inner wear. If those adults had to walk around outside for even two seconds wearing just a pleated skirt and socks, they’d be completely wrecked! Why don’t men understand?”

Jkは生脚で根性あるなあと思っていたけど、うちの娘のとこは校則で指定の靴下しか履いてはいけないのだとか。タイツだヒートテックだ裏起毛だで全身固めた先生に怒られるから仕方ないのだ。大人がペラペラプリーツに靴下のみで外歩いたら2秒で腹壊すよ！なぜ男にわかるんだだと？実践の上での批判だ！

— 石川雅之 (@isk_ms) January 25, 2023

Setting aside the issue of whether or not such school policies are put in place only by male administrators, Ishikawa raises some valid points. While many schools in Japan have dress codes that severely limit students’ options for guarding themselves against the cold, the teachers and administrators enforcing those policies are generally free to use whatever innerwear they wish in order to feel more comfortable. Some schools rationalize having no-tights rules for students by saying that being too warm and cozy will make it harder for students to concentrate, but if that’s true, shouldn’t they also be worried about that phenomenon dulling teachers’ mental sharpness while they’re at work too?

Ishikawa isn’t alone in his frustration, as evidenced by the 30,000-plus likes his tweet has racked up along with comments such as:

“They should start making teachers wear uniforms too!”
“Yeah! Uniforms with sort pants!”
“One of my classmates got hives on her legs because of how cold they were.”
“When I was in high school, I made sure to wear beige skin-colored tights, and my homeroom teacher, who was a guy, never noticed.”
“We weren’t allowed to wear a second layer of socks [underneath the school-mandated ones] at my school either.”
“This morning, I saw a high school girl walking in the cold with her legs bare…I felt so sorry for her.”

Thankfully, some commenters showed that not every school is as strict as Ishikawa’s daughter’s.

“So there are still old-fashioned schools out there. 24 years ago the female students at my school kept giving presentations [about changing the dress code], and they convinced the school to let us wear tights and longer socks.”
“The junior high school in my neighborhood now has a rule requiring female students to wear tights in winter [in order to keep warm]…on the recommendation of the school nurse. I think it’s a rare example, though.”
“Aside from gender issues, I think this is another reason more schools are allowing female students to choose to wear slacks as part of their uniform.”
“Recently, I think some schools are changing their attitude and trying to base their rules on more logical ideas.”

Hopefully Ishikawa daughter’s school will reevaluate its no-tights rule in the near future. With most school rule changes being implemented at the start of the Japanese academic year, which takes place in April, though, it looks like this winter is still going to be a cold one for her.

Source: Twitter/@isk_ms via Jin
Top image: Pakutaso
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Men’s and women’s uniforms offered to add an extra youthful fun aura to your Tokyo Disney photos.

If you’re at a Japanese school, obviously you’re going to see a lot of school uniforms. Logically, the same goes for if you’re on the train or in a major rail station, since students get dressed at home and commute in their uniforms too.

But one place where you might be surprised at all the school uniforms? Tokyo Disneyland. Sure, kids who are on official school trips to the Happiest Place on Earth in Japan are usually required to wear their uniforms, since it’s a school function. But even teens who are going independently with their friends, with no involvement by their school’s teachers or administrators, often choose to wear their uniforms. In Japan, school uniforms aren’t seen as just a symbol of school, but also of youth, and the hopes, dreams, and friendships associated with it, making it the ideal outfit for a Disney group photo, many feel.

But what if your student days are done, and you don’t have your uniform anymore? Or what if you never went to a school that had uniforms in the first place? No problem, because right outside the entrance to Tokyo Disneyland is the newly opened Kanko Shop Select Square, a shop that rents Japanese school uniforms.

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Technically, these are what Kanko calls “nanchate uniforms,” or “quote, unquote, ‘uniforms.’” In other words, they have all the distinct characteristic design elements of Japanese school uniforms without actually being the official uniforms of any actual institute of learning, so you can wear them without concern of, say, the P.E. teacher from Tenshigahama High School bumping into you and accusing you of being a student playing hooky.

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Kanko Shop Select Square has just opened its newest location at Ikspiari, the shopping/entertainment complex situated between Tokyo Disneyland and Tokyo Disney Sea. The store is stocked with roughly 1,000 different women’s and men’s items to mix and match into your personalized uniform, including skirts, slacks, blazers, shirts sweaters, ribbons, and shoes. They even have old-school straight-collared gakuran jackets, and the staff is happy to assist customers in coordinating their look if all the options start to feel overwhelming.

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Since the expectation is that customers will be wearing their uniforms for visits to the Disney parks, Kanko allows you to rent your uniform for anywhere from one to three days, accommodating both day-trippers and long-weekend travelers. In addition to in-store changing rooms, for additional fees they also offer lockers and a makeup room.

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Individual item rentals start at 400 yen (US$3.10) and multi-item sets at 2,000, making them a fun and not budget-busting way to add a little extra Japanese flair to your visit to Tokyo Disneyland, even if you don’t make it in time for the Haunted Mansion’s anime-style re-theme.

Shop information
Kanko Shop Select Square (Ikspiari branch) / カンコーショップイクスピアリ
Address: Chiba-ken, Urayasu-shi, Maihama 1-4, Ikspiari 2nd floor
千葉県浦安市舞浜1-4　イクスピアリ2F
Open 10 a.m.-10 p.m.
Website

Source, images: PR Times
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Student suffers fever after being told to take off extra layer on coldest day of the year.

We recently took a look at the frustrations of a father in Japan whose daughter goes to a school where the dress code doesn’t allow girls to wear tights underneath their skirts to keep their legs warm in the winter. Now an incident in Hiroshima is drawing attention to unaccommodating school rules above the waistline too.

On the morning of January 25, the people of Hiroshima City woke up to heavy snow and the coldest day of the winter so far. The forecast called for a midday high of just 3.1 degrees Celsius (37.6 degrees Fahrenheit) and a low of minus-4.2 Celsius (24.4 Fahrenheit). So before heading to class at a public junior high school, one second-year boy decided to bundle up by wearing a sweatshirt over his uniform shirt.

He didn’t even make it to his classroom before being stopped for a dress code violation.

As the boy approached the school’s entrance gate, he was stopped by a teacher, who told him that he’d have to remove the sweatshirt, as they aren’t allowed under the school’s rules. The boy complied, attending his classes without wearing the garment and also keeping it off as he left school to return home. Sure enough, the next evening he started running a fever which wound up requiring him to stay home from school until February 1 to recover from.

The boy’s parents are, predictably, upset about the situation, and say they want the school to revise its dress code. The school, meanwhile, says that it believes that its current policies allow students to dress warmly enough to cope with the cold, barring any pre-existing medical conditions of other special situations.

The fact that the student got sick after being told to take off his sweatshirt would seem to imply that the rules, in fact, do not allow students to dress warmly enough. However, the school’s dress code explicitly states that students are allowed to wear sweaters, gloves, and scarves. Coats and sweatshirts, meanwhile, are not on the list of allowed clothing items, so the problem, in the teacher’s eyes, seems to have been more that the boy was wearing a sweatshirt instead of a sweater, as opposed to an additional warm garment of any kind being a violation.

That said, it seems like there should have been some other course of disciplinary action other than exposing the boy to the cold and increasing his risk of getting sick. Ostensibly, schools require uniforms because they believe they create an atmosphere that helps children learn better, but enforcing the rules in a way that leads to a student missing a week’s worth of classes doesn’t really seem like it’s contributing to that objective.

Source: NHK News Web
Top image: Pakutaso
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