Photo: Pakutaso
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Manga artist wants Japanese teachers to feel how dumb their girls’ dress code is

24 Comments
By Casey Baseel, SoraNews24

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 Pokemon-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 too 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?”

Screen-Shot-2023-02-02-at-8.10.02.png

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

Read more stories from SoraNews24.

-- Japanese schoolgirl points out an especially dumb part of her school’s “no tights” dress code

-- Petition to allow students to choose what they wear to school gathers almost 19,000 signatures

-- Public schools in Japan’s Saga Prefecture will no longer regulate/check students’ underwear color

© SoraNews24

©2024 GPlusMedia Inc.

24 Comments
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That Japan Public Schools in some areas regularly check students underwear for color violations is beyond nuts and borders on sexual deviancy.....as does requiring female students to wear skirts in cold weather. The old men that dream up these rulings obviously read too much racy manga in their "spare" time. I'm surprised that female lawmakers haven't called this spade a spade.

14 ( +16 / -2 )

This is my school girl uniform. There are many others like it, but this one is mine.

1 ( +4 / -3 )

I hate that we have come to the point where tradition is put before the safety and concerns of human lives.

10 ( +16 / -6 )

disgusting. not only fetishizing the HS girls but making them suffer in the winter.

“One of my classmates got hives on her legs because of how cold they were.”

Seriously?? Seriously??

That Japan Public Schools in some areas regularly check students underwear for color violations is beyond nuts and borders on sexual deviancy.....as does requiring female students to wear skirts in cold weather. The old men that dream up these rulings obviously read too much racy manga in their "spare" time. I'm surprised that female lawmakers haven't called this spade a spade.

Hear! Hear!

5 ( +12 / -7 )

The private high school that I teach at is quite lenient. We live in Iwate, which can get pretty cold in the winter and pretty hot and humid in the summer. There is a uniform, of course, but girls have the option to wear slacks or tights. There has even been talk of allowing guys to wear skirts, though I can't imagine many would do so. In summer, the students are often allowed to change into their undogi with shorts, though they are supposed to wear the uniform when going to and returning from school. Plus, we got air conditioners in all the rooms. I have only said something to a student once in my 15 years plus here about his uniform because he was wearing his pants around his ankles with his undogi shorts on. That was too much. I told him he could take off the pants or pull them up, but having them around his ankles was just too weird. I have never commented to a girl for fear of being considered a pervert, though I have seen many "violations" of the uniform rule. I get the impression that there are only a few teachers here that say much of anything about it.

4 ( +6 / -2 )

“Never, I repeat ever, question the rules.” In fact, don’t question anything.

Thanks. J education system.

2 ( +12 / -10 )

This is Japan, tradition ALWAYS trumps common sense.

-4 ( +10 / -14 )

This is Japan, tradition ALWAYS trumps common sense.

Yet the article and the comments both provide numerous examples of common sense trumping idiotic tradition at schools which have ditched these stupid overly strict dress codes. So clearly common sense sometimes does prevail.

11 ( +12 / -1 )

"Why don’t men understand?”

They understand perfectly well. They just place being able to ogle underage girls' legs over the health and safety of those girls.

3 ( +13 / -10 )

Why don’t men understand?”

That's not how the tweet ends. Translate it properly, please.

3 ( +4 / -1 )

Only about 10% of lower house members in Japan are women. It is no guarantee, but if there were more women in government, they might be able to do something about the HS dress codes. I am not against dress codes as such, only ones that don't make much sense.

6 ( +10 / -4 )

PerformingMonkey

"Why don’t men understand?”

That's not how the tweet ends. Translate it properly, please.

Why didn't you, as long as you were posting?

-3 ( +0 / -3 )

Why don’t men understand?”

That's not how the tweet ends. Translate it properly, please.

I thought the same! But ChatGBT says differently:

I thought JK was tough and had guts because of their bare feet, but my daughter's school has strict rules and she can only wear specified socks. There's nothing she can do about it because she gets scolded by the teacher who wears tights, heattech, and fuzzy socks to keep her whole body warm. If an adult walks outside with just a flimsy pair of socks, they'll fall apart in two seconds! Why don't men understand this? It's a criticism based on practical experience! (ChatGBT, 2023).

0 ( +2 / -2 )

jadefeldtopheliaToday  01:12 pm JST

In Germany there are no school informs. I find it disturbing that little girls/young women are made to wear short dresses at most of Japanese schools. There is only one reason for this, but will not write it here, so guess. All females at school shoud be allowed to wear whatever they want to cover their bodies, especially the legs and higher up. Quite frankly if I was a girl (I am a 23yr female) at a Japanese school I would refuse to attend school if my only option was a short skirt, and my parents feel the same way. I have seen so many pictures of young Japanese schoolgirls on subways, buses, and busy streets wearing these things, it is just so gross. But then, we all know who likes them like that.

In the US parochial schools even plant their short-skirted girls as decoys to nail the perv suspects who give them rides. It's twisted, warped and disgusting. Hate to say it but American culture is perverted and sick. 'Beauty pageants'/Jon Bon Ramsey, father-daughter dances in elementary school gyms, and then there's DEE-Jay-Tee. It's exploitative and it's revolting. .

And if people can't tell males from females then that's their problem. This ain't the 50's anymore. We have women's jeans made just for them.

There's nothing she can do about it because she gets scolded by the teacher who wears tights, heattech, and fuzzy socks to keep her whole body warm. If an adult walks outside with just a flimsy pair of socks, they'll fall apart in two seconds! Why don't men understand this? It's a criticism based on practical experience! 

Sounds like the teacher is being a hypocrite. Do as I say, not as I do.

David K AndersonToday  09:53 am JST

"Why don’t men understand?”

They understand perfectly well. They just place being able to ogle underage girls' legs over the health and safety of those girls.

lordoflysToday  07:33 am JST

That Japan Public Schools in some areas regularly check students underwear for color violations is beyond nuts and borders on sexual deviancy.....as does requiring female students to wear skirts in cold weather. The old men that dream up these rulings obviously read too much racy manga in their "spare" time. I'm surprised that female lawmakers haven't called this spade a spade.

That's gross, sick and grody to the max. That is NOTHING short of a violation to satisfy some pervert. Before the pandemic there have been women's marches and the 'MeToo/Time's Up' movement greatly (but not entirely) sparked by Caligula we call Donald Trump. But it goes deep down even further. It's 2023, folks. The older 'traditional' ways for nearly everything in this modern life don't work anymore. It's time for a change.

2 ( +4 / -2 )

The uniform codes are set by the education boards. All female students should be allowed to wear pants or skirts and tights.

5 ( +5 / -0 )

When my daughter was in high school the main problem was that the girls themselves would insist on rolling up the waistbands of their skirts to make them as short as possible, at the same time pushing their knee socks down to ankle level. Worn as officially envisaged, the skirt came down past the knees and there should have been no bare leg showing at all, and any girl who wanted to wear tights for extra warmth could do so without any teacher being any the wiser.

But the girls wanted to wear short skirts, and some parents even expressed the opinion that the skirts should be shorter so that their daughters didn't 'have to' roll them up.

8 ( +8 / -0 )

If the school boards had any iota of sense and logic bouncing around in their empty heads, they would have implemented a summer and winter uniform - this means allowing boys to wear shorts and short sleeve shirts in humid summers and girls to wear slacks or tights/leggings in winter. Honestly, every time I read about the lunacy that surrounds school uniforms in Japan, it always manages to reach a new level of ridiculous nonsense.

4 ( +5 / -1 )

How about the young boys in those ridiculous shirt shorts?

-3 ( +0 / -3 )

Short shorts

-2 ( +0 / -2 )

@starpunk,

what’s wrong with father daughter dances?

0 ( +0 / -0 )

Further to cleo's point, our eldest goes to a senior high without a school uniform. She's going to Disneyland this month and both her and her best mate have bought fancy dress school uniforms on Mercari to wear when they go. The skirt is tartan and is really short, so I told her to not wear it on the Tokyo subway. Anyway this is two girls without a uniform cosplaying as regular high schoolers who wear one. Its easy to look at school uniforms and be critical but some people do like em.

-2 ( +0 / -2 )

that personFeb. 9  08:07 am JST

@starpunk,

what’s wrong with father daughter dances?

You take a lover/mare/date/whatever to a dance - esp. when it's held in a school gym. NOT a relative. That's incestuous and just plain SICK. And so are those so-called 'chastity balls'. Blasphemous!

Its easy to look at school uniforms and be critical but some people do like em.

You know there's a fetish for that, don't you? There is one in America, have no doubt about it. It's time for girls to wear what they want to - like women's jeans. Welcome to 2023.

0 ( +0 / -0 )

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