News

May 23, 2023

How Japanese School Uniforms Are Getting Pervert

For some in Japan, schoolgirls are an object of fetish. That can manifest itself

For some in Japan, schoolgirls are an object of fetish. That can manifest itself in their appearance in mainstream media, whether that's cartoons or video games, or in far more unsettling and immediate ways, such as creeps trying to take photos up female students’ skirts.

To combat these sorts of unsavoury actions and to protect students, an academic institution in Nagoya is rethinking schoolgirls’ uniforms. Nagoya Keizai University's feeder schools, Nagoya Keiza University Takakura Junior High School and High School, are rolling out new pervert-proof skirts, reports Asahi.

Dubbed the "culotte skirt" (キュロットスカート), the new threads look like pleated skirts but are actually shorts. The term "culottes" refers to clothes that appear to be skirts but are actually shorts, and they are fairly common in uniforms outside of Japan. In modern French, however, "culottes" refers to women's panties. These types of skirts are currently popular in Japan — and elsewhere.

In Japan, around 95 per cent of high schools require uniforms. Many of the remaining 5 per cent who don't have to wear uniforms want to wear them. Because each school's uniform is different, the way the outfit looks often factors in when students are selecting schools.

For Nagoya Keiza, it was important that the female's uniforms looked "cute" but still protected the schoolgirls while they, for example, rode their bicycles. Another obvious solution would be replacing the skirts with slacks, which one school in Hokkaido did, or instituting angle length skirts, as some schools have. Female students, however, often call these uniforms "dorky".

Many schoolgirls already wear athletic shorts under their uniform to protect themselves. And the culotte skirt, a style already popular with young Japanese women, appears to be a smart, safe alternative.

制服キュロット、かわいさと防犯性両立　愛知の女子中高 [朝日]

Picture: David Davis/Shutterstock

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I like shorts. They’re comfy and easy to wear!

Well played.

"This dress is comfy and easy to wear…"

Take your caterpie and scram kid.

Pleated shorts?? Oh you wacky Japanese!

‘Angle‘ length skirts? I can see how those might be uncomfortable…

How is this a safe alternative to wearing athletic shorts underneath?

Because they are actually shorts with the appearance of a skirt.. unless the person is in an awkward pose, such as the above picture with the girl on the bike, you wouldn't know they were shorts. That's the whole point.. they still look like the traditional skirts but because they are actually shorts, there's no way for the perverts to look up their skirts.

I hate this game.

That looks like a man on the bike oi.o

I expect new DLC for games like Lollipop Chainsaw to adopt these new Pleated Shorts

there is nothing Japanese in that school uniform, it is a classic private English uniform

After Worls War 2, Japan adopted western style uniforms. Boys often wear slacks with blazers and ties or the short, rounded collar type military uniform jackets. Girls usually wear pleated skirts, often in tartan with white blouses, knee high socks and usually a ladies tie.

As British as it is, it's been standard Japanese fare for 60 years or so. It's Japanese as hell.

Why not, I dunno, get rid of the skirt look all together? Or let girls wear proper shorts that don't look like skirts. Long pants even. Or just give them a choice! (I’m assuming they don't have one. If they do, I’m mistaken and apologise)

It says in the article that some schools have adopted all the things you mentioned but the girls themselves find them dorky. The uniform being a cute skirt kind of thing is very much a part of fashion culture. They want skirts but they don't want people seeing their cotton whites everytime they walk up stairs.

"They want skirts but they don't want people seeing their cotton whites every time they walk up stairs."

Amirite?

I’m sure there's a time and place where they want someone to see. Just not that old man drinking 100 yen sake from a box on the train at 8am

"In Japan, around 95 per cent of high schools require uniforms. Many of the remaining 5 per cent who don't have to wear uniforms want to wear them. Because each school's uniform is different, the way the outfit looks often factors in when students are selecting schools."

As cute as skirts are, I don't see why more schools don't make slacks an option. As a matter of equality, I think that a really good solution would be to replace skirts with kilts (as they did in my high school) and allow both boys and girls to choose to wear either kilt or slacks at their option.

Am I the only one thinking this? But when you have to design pervet proof uniforms for your school children to wear there is something SERIOUSLY wrong with your society. Tackle the issue, not the symptom. They can start by getting rid of all that dodgy anime starring young underage girls in scant clothing and stop providing a bottle of coconut oil and a box of tissues with every season box set.

First of all I love anime so keep your reading opinion to yourself

Culottes are not new. I had them when I was a kid in the 60's, also a time when very short skirts were in fashion, and modesty was a little hard to come by. (Wearing tennis dress shorts also worked.) But the origin of the word ‘culottes’ goes back at least as far as the French Revolution, when the poorest of the poor were the sans-culottes, probably as someone said earlier, meaning that they hadn't the funds to buy underwear.

if my daughter wearing mini skirt as her uniform… i’ll be worrying her all day

Here I used to think the uber shirt skirts was the idea from the rich old men, only to discover it's the girls who want to show their knickers ‘on accident’. Smh