Three little girls from school ...

I spotted these fembots the other weekend while out shopping for a wedding dress with Satoko. They certainly look about as far removed from an actual Japanese schoolgirl as is physically possible, save perhaps for their brown irises. Presumably this is a sales pitch directed at the parents, and thus reflects what they wish their children to look like. Hands up those who want western featured cartoon characters for kids! Self-image training probably begins earlier than this in Japan anyway.

The first dose of reality we can inject into the picture is to make those eyes Japanese. After all, almond eyes really are almond shaped, and lovelier the closer you get. I'm talking about eyes here; not schoolgirls, ok? ;-) The next dose of reality depends on the nature of the schoolgirl, but generally follows two styles: (a) the hair is long and black, as nature intended, with perhaps a hair-tie or two. In time, these girls might grow up to be onei-kei "older sister types" - sensible young women, like Satoko. In case (b) the hair is dyed anywhere from brown to blond, and the skin is dyed and tanned. After leaving school they might retain this ko-gyaru "school-girl" look, or progress to the extreme yamamba "mountain hag" stage, where lack of pre-teen youth is concealed with a combination of tanning, make-up, and Playboy brand pyjamas. The BBC has a brief but interesting pictorial round-up of some of these Tokyo fashion tribes.

Since it's winter, and I've just popped outside to reaffirm that sleet hitting the eyeballs is indeed unpleasant, I might as well add a seasonal note. The colder it gets, the shorter the skirts. This applies to both schoolgirls and other young women, because nama-ashi ("bare/young legs") differentiate the young from the not so young. I suppose it might be hard to tell the mice from the shrews otherwise, since most Asians are so blessed with youthful complexions. Still, it's a wonder they don't die from exposure in this cold. Some wear leg-warmer like looz-soksu ("loose socks") to protect themselves, but that's another story ...