I woke up this morning and wasn’t feeling the whole “bike to school” thing.  Luckily, public transportation is just a hop skip and a jump away.  There is a bus that drops off directly in front of my high school, so I thought I would give it a try.  The bus itself worked just fine – it was me and about 15 of my students.  Interestingly enough, they were all girls, and even more interesting, many of them had the skirts rolled up high.  Which lead me to this entire post.

I have yet to see a high school here in Japan without uniforms.  In fact, you can tell all the high schoolers on the train by their blazers, slacks and skirts, all emblazened with their schools’ logo abreast.  For women, Japan has embraced the British pleated skirt, now having its name attached with some sense of regularity to that which might be called a costume: the Japanese schoolgirl.  These outfits are absolutely compulsory.  Strict guidlines are enforced, most noticably that these skirts must be worn down to the knee.  I recall a conversation a few weeks ago where a girl mended her skirt as it had been damaged, and since she didn’t get permission from the school beforehand, got in trouble for “altering” her skirt when it was  minor fix.  Perhaps what boggles my mind even more is that these guidelines are expected to be followed outside of school.  That’s why you see so many people in uniform on the train, even on the weekend.

Now, getting to what I find even more absurd about this whole situation: rebellion.  When you take regulations and add them on top of a group of teenagers, the natural response is to push back a little.  For guys, this is easy; they untuck shirts, take of ties.  Simple.  For girls, as soon as both feet are off of schools grounds, as if by magic, skirts are shorter.  Of course there is a whole range, from those who hike it all the way up, to those who just give a little more breathing space.  No doubt, there must be some sort of sexual fetish behind this for the women themselves, but why in the world did we come to this in the first place?  Who in the world thought it was a good idea to put kids up in an outfit many people fantasize about?  I’ve asked a few Japanese and the resopnse I get is very strange: “It is the Japanese way.”  Well, the tradition isn’t that long-standing and is imported, so that doesn’t really cut it for my curiousity.  I’m still not entirely sure.

I start to wonder how much of this is the girls themselves trying to put out sex appeal, and how much of it is actually rebellion.  Regardless of the reason, it comes as no surpise that Japan’s number one fetish is stockings.  I really don’t understand any of this.  The students are very aware of what they’re doing, and sometimes I can only laugh.  Last week, after school, one of my first years was asking a few questions when her homeroom teacher walked by and adjusted her skirt down an inch for her, much to the disgust of the student.

Personally, I really enjoy many things about the collectivism here in Japan, but school uniforms are not something I’m entirely keen upon.  Especially if the end result is girls who try to maximize the amount of skin visible above the knee.  I’m more thankful I have leeway on what I can wear for work – no skirts or uniforms for me.