Kogal
Encyclopedia
The kogal fashion involves wearing an outfit based on a Japanese school uniform
, but with a shortened skirt, loose socks
, and often dyed hair and a scarf as well. The phenomenon was prominent in the 1990s, but has since declined. The word "kogal" is anglicized from kogyaru, a contraction of kôkôsei gyaru (high school gal). The girls refer to themselves as gyaru
(gals), although this word is applied to several other fashion looks as well.
Aside from the pinned-up skirt and the loose socks, or rusu sokusu, kogals favor platform boots, makeup, and Burberry scarves. They may also dye their hair brown and get artificial suntans. They have a distinctive slang peppered with English words. They are often, but not necessarily, enrolled students. Centers of kogal culture include the Harajuku
and Shibuya
districts of Tokyo
, in particular Shibuya's 109 Building
. Pop
singer Namie Amuro
promoted the style. Kogals are avid users of photo booths, with most visiting at least once a week, according to non-scientific polls. While critics condemned the gyaru as shallow, materialistic, and devoted to conspicuous consumption
, admirers describe them as, "kindhearted, active young women in exuberant health, the women of today."
, living off their parents and enjo-kōsai (amateur prostitution/dating service). Critics decry their materialism
as reflecting a larger psychological or spiritual emptiness in modern Japanese life. Some kogals support their lifestyle with allowances from wealthy parents, living a "parasite single" existence that grates against traditional principles of duty and industry. "The modern school girls' uniform, embellished with loose socks and a cellular phone, has come to be perceived as the dress code for promiscuity, easiness, greed, and stupidity," according to one commentator.
Others have charged that the kogal phenomenon is less about the girls and their fashions than a media practice to fetishize school uniforms and blame those required to wear them. "I wish that I were in high school at a different time," said one schoolgirl. "Now, with kogal being such an issue in Japan, nobody can see me for me. They only see me as kogal, like the ones they see on TV." As for the accusation of conspicuous consumption, careful gal shoppers may know a thing or two about fashion that the male journalists and movie directors who accuse them do not. For every high-priced brand-name accessory, there is an off-brand version that goes for a fraction of the price. These are sold at stalls in back-alley markets like ura Harajuku.
, of the 1920s, adopted Western fashions. The hard-partying "Mambo girl" arose in the late 1950s.
Japanese fashion began to divide by age in the 1970s with the appearance of gyaru magazines aimed at teens. Popteen
, the most widely read of these magazines, has been publishing monthly since 1980. While mainstream fashion in the 1980s and early 1990s emphasized girlish and cute (kawaii), gyaru publications promoted a sexy aesthetic. Top gyaru magazines, including Popteen, Street Jam and Happie, were produced by editors previously involved in creating pornography for men.
Also in the 1980s, a male-and-female motorcycle-oriented slacker culture emerged in the form of the "Yankiis". The original kogals were dropouts from private school who, instead of lengthening their skirts like androgynous Yankii girls, created a new form of teen rebellion by shortening them. These middle school dropouts were thus taking their cues from high school students and attempting to justify their independence by looking and acting older. The gals added their own touches like loose socks and a cellular phone. Amateurs can create fashion in Japan by dressing up and hanging around places like Harajuku and Shibuya, where magazine photographers may take their pictures.
The 1993 television special Za kogyaru naito (The Kogal Night) introduced the kogal to a mass audience and provided a model for aspiring kogals to follow. Platform shoes were popularized by singer Namie Amuro
in 1994. Egg, a fashion magazine for kogals, was established in 1995.
In the mid-1990s, the Japanese media gave a great deal of attention to the phenomenon of enjo-kōsai (amateur prostitution) supposedly engaged in by bored housewives and high school students, thus linking kogals to prostitutes. The movie Baunsu ko gaurusu (Bounce Kogal) (1997) by Masato Harada
depicts kogals prostituting themselves to buy trendy fashion accessories.
Kogal culture peaked in 1998. Kogals were then displaced by ganguro
, a gal culture that first appeared in 1999 and used blackface makeup (as opposed to tanning). The deliberate ugliness of the look may reflect a desire to discourage chikan
(subway perverts) and men seeking enjo-kōsai. Ganguro evolved into an even more extreme look called yamanba (mountain hag). As looks grew more extreme, fewer girls were attracted to gal culture. Although there are still female students who sexualize their uniforms, the kogal is no longer a focus of fashion or media attention.
Gal fashion recently reemerged in the form of the skin-whitening shiro gyaru, associated with Popteen. The hime gyaru (literally "lady gal," also translated as "princess girl") first appeared in 2008 and wears a print dress and sports curly brown hair.
Gals words are often created by contracting Japanese phrases or by literal translation of an English phrase, i.e. without reordering to follow Japanese syntax. Gal words may also be created by adding the suffix -ingu (from English "-ing") to verbs, for example (getting). Roman script abbreviations are popular, for example "MM" stands for maji de mukatsuku (really disgusting). "MK5" stands for , meaning "on the verge of [lit. five seconds away from] going ballistic." Another feature of gal speech is the suffix -ra, meaning "like" or "learned from," as in (like singer Namie Amuro).
Japanese school uniform
Japan introduced school uniforms in the late 19th century. Today, school uniforms are common in many of the Japanese public and private school systems. The Japanese word for this type of uniform is .-Usage:...
, but with a shortened skirt, loose socks
Loose socks
are a style of baggy sock popular with Japanese high school girls.They were adopted as a fashion which flattered plump calves and also expressed rebellious deviation from Japan's strict dress code for school uniforms...
, and often dyed hair and a scarf as well. The phenomenon was prominent in the 1990s, but has since declined. The word "kogal" is anglicized from kogyaru, a contraction of kôkôsei gyaru (high school gal). The girls refer to themselves as gyaru
Gyaru
is a Japanese transliteration of the English word gal, that of girl being . The name originated from a 1970s brand of jeans called "gals", with the advertising slogan: "I can't live without men", and was applied to fashion- and peer-conscious girls in their teens and early twenties. Its usage...
(gals), although this word is applied to several other fashion looks as well.
Aside from the pinned-up skirt and the loose socks, or rusu sokusu, kogals favor platform boots, makeup, and Burberry scarves. They may also dye their hair brown and get artificial suntans. They have a distinctive slang peppered with English words. They are often, but not necessarily, enrolled students. Centers of kogal culture include the Harajuku
Harajuku
Harajuku is the common name for the area around Harajuku Station on the Yamanote Line in the Shibuya ward of Tokyo, Japan....
and Shibuya
Shibuya, Tokyo
is one of the 23 special wards of Tokyo, Japan. As of 2008, it has an estimated population of 208,371 and a population density of 13,540 persons per km². The total area is 15.11 km²....
districts of Tokyo
Tokyo
, ; officially , is one of the 47 prefectures of Japan. Tokyo is the capital of Japan, the center of the Greater Tokyo Area, and the largest metropolitan area of Japan. It is the seat of the Japanese government and the Imperial Palace, and the home of the Japanese Imperial Family...
, in particular Shibuya's 109 Building
109 (department store)
is a department store in Shibuya, Tokyo, Japan The store is operated by the Tokyu Malls Development , a company under the Tokyu Group.-History and description:...
. Pop
Pop music
Pop music is usually understood to be commercially recorded music, often oriented toward a youth market, usually consisting of relatively short, simple songs utilizing technological innovations to produce new variations on existing themes.- Definitions :David Hatch and Stephen Millward define pop...
singer Namie Amuro
Namie Amuro
is a Japanese R&B and pop singer, entertainer, and former actress who at the height of her popularity was referred to as the "Teen Queen" and the title "Queen of Japanese Pop Music". Born in Naha, Okinawa, Amuro debuted at the age of 14 as an idol in the girl group Super Monkey's...
promoted the style. Kogals are avid users of photo booths, with most visiting at least once a week, according to non-scientific polls. While critics condemned the gyaru as shallow, materialistic, and devoted to conspicuous consumption
Conspicuous consumption
Conspicuous consumption is spending on goods and services acquired mainly for the purpose of displaying income or wealth. In the mind of a conspicuous consumer, such display serves as a means of attaining or maintaining social status....
, admirers describe them as, "kindhearted, active young women in exuberant health, the women of today."
Etymology
The word "kogal" is anglicized from , a contraction of (high school gal). It originated as a code used by disco bouncers to distinguish adults from minors. The term is not used by the girls it refers to. They call themselves , a Japanese pronunciation of the English word "gal." The term gyaru was first popularized in 1972 by a television ad for a brand of jeans. In the 1980s, a gyaru was a fashionably dressed woman. When written 子, ko means "young woman," so kogyaru is sometimes understood in the sense of "young gal." However, if this was the meaning originally intended, (young gal) would be more logical.Character
Kogals have been accused of conspicuous consumptionConspicuous consumption
Conspicuous consumption is spending on goods and services acquired mainly for the purpose of displaying income or wealth. In the mind of a conspicuous consumer, such display serves as a means of attaining or maintaining social status....
, living off their parents and enjo-kōsai (amateur prostitution/dating service). Critics decry their materialism
Materialism
In philosophy, the theory of materialism holds that the only thing that exists is matter; that all things are composed of material and all phenomena are the result of material interactions. In other words, matter is the only substance...
as reflecting a larger psychological or spiritual emptiness in modern Japanese life. Some kogals support their lifestyle with allowances from wealthy parents, living a "parasite single" existence that grates against traditional principles of duty and industry. "The modern school girls' uniform, embellished with loose socks and a cellular phone, has come to be perceived as the dress code for promiscuity, easiness, greed, and stupidity," according to one commentator.
Others have charged that the kogal phenomenon is less about the girls and their fashions than a media practice to fetishize school uniforms and blame those required to wear them. "I wish that I were in high school at a different time," said one schoolgirl. "Now, with kogal being such an issue in Japan, nobody can see me for me. They only see me as kogal, like the ones they see on TV." As for the accusation of conspicuous consumption, careful gal shoppers may know a thing or two about fashion that the male journalists and movie directors who accuse them do not. For every high-priced brand-name accessory, there is an off-brand version that goes for a fraction of the price. These are sold at stalls in back-alley markets like ura Harajuku.
History
Kogals were far from the first generation of Japanese girls who oya o nakaseru (made their parents weep) and inspired salacious media exposés. The daraku jogakusei (degenerate schoolgirls) of the early 1900s violated taboos against dating, while the moga, or modern girlModern girl
were Japanese women who followed Westernized fashions and lifestyles in the 1920s. These moga were Japan's equivalent of America's flappers, India's kallege ladki, Germany's neue Frauen, France's garçonnes, or China's modeng xiaojie...
, of the 1920s, adopted Western fashions. The hard-partying "Mambo girl" arose in the late 1950s.
Japanese fashion began to divide by age in the 1970s with the appearance of gyaru magazines aimed at teens. Popteen
Popteen
is a monthly teenage fashion magazine published by the Kadokawa Haruki Corporation in Japan. The first issue was published on October 1, 1980 by Kadokawa Shoten. Later issues were published by Asuka Shinsha who bought the magazine for 200 million yen...
, the most widely read of these magazines, has been publishing monthly since 1980. While mainstream fashion in the 1980s and early 1990s emphasized girlish and cute (kawaii), gyaru publications promoted a sexy aesthetic. Top gyaru magazines, including Popteen, Street Jam and Happie, were produced by editors previously involved in creating pornography for men.
The 1993 television special Za kogyaru naito (The Kogal Night) introduced the kogal to a mass audience and provided a model for aspiring kogals to follow. Platform shoes were popularized by singer Namie Amuro
Namie Amuro
is a Japanese R&B and pop singer, entertainer, and former actress who at the height of her popularity was referred to as the "Teen Queen" and the title "Queen of Japanese Pop Music". Born in Naha, Okinawa, Amuro debuted at the age of 14 as an idol in the girl group Super Monkey's...
in 1994. Egg, a fashion magazine for kogals, was established in 1995.
In the mid-1990s, the Japanese media gave a great deal of attention to the phenomenon of enjo-kōsai (amateur prostitution) supposedly engaged in by bored housewives and high school students, thus linking kogals to prostitutes. The movie Baunsu ko gaurusu (Bounce Kogal) (1997) by Masato Harada
Masato Harada
Masato Harada is a Japanese film director, critic, and sometimes an actor; he is best known to Western audiences as Omura in The Last Samurai and as Mr Mita in Fearless...
depicts kogals prostituting themselves to buy trendy fashion accessories.
Kogal culture peaked in 1998. Kogals were then displaced by ganguro
Ganguro
Ganguro is an alternative fashion trend of blonde or orange hair and tanned skin among young Japanese women that peaked in popularity around the year 2000. The Shibuya and Ikebukuro districts of Tokyo were the centers of ganguro fashion...
, a gal culture that first appeared in 1999 and used blackface makeup (as opposed to tanning). The deliberate ugliness of the look may reflect a desire to discourage chikan
Groping
When used in a sexual context, groping is touching or fondling another person in a sexual way using the hands; it generally has a negative connotation, and is considered molestation in most societies. The term 'frotteurism' may be applied when a person rubs up against another person, typically...
(subway perverts) and men seeking enjo-kōsai. Ganguro evolved into an even more extreme look called yamanba (mountain hag). As looks grew more extreme, fewer girls were attracted to gal culture. Although there are still female students who sexualize their uniforms, the kogal is no longer a focus of fashion or media attention.
Gal fashion recently reemerged in the form of the skin-whitening shiro gyaru, associated with Popteen. The hime gyaru (literally "lady gal," also translated as "princess girl") first appeared in 2008 and wears a print dress and sports curly brown hair.
Language
Kogals are identified primarily by looks, but their speech, called , is also distinctive. Her boyfriend is an (cool dude) who is naturally (totally cute). She, meanwhile, will gyaru-yatte (do the gal thing) by buying her gyaru-fuku (gal clothes) at a gyaru-kei shoppu (gal-style shop) thereby gyaru-do appu no tame ni (increasing her degree of galness), unless of course she simply cannot find anything that isn't (real super nauseating). In a land obsessed with self-sacrifice and group identity, the gals proclaim, biba jibun (long live the self).Gals words are often created by contracting Japanese phrases or by literal translation of an English phrase, i.e. without reordering to follow Japanese syntax. Gal words may also be created by adding the suffix -ingu (from English "-ing") to verbs, for example (getting). Roman script abbreviations are popular, for example "MM" stands for maji de mukatsuku (really disgusting). "MK5" stands for , meaning "on the verge of [lit. five seconds away from] going ballistic." Another feature of gal speech is the suffix -ra, meaning "like" or "learned from," as in (like singer Namie Amuro).
Media
- Kogals appear in the movie Kill Bill: Vol. 1 (2003).
- The RibonRibonis a monthly Japanese shōjo manga magazine published by Shueisha. First issued in August 1955, its rivals are Nakayoshi and Ciao. Its target audience is young girls roughly 9–13 years old. In 2009, the magazine's circulation was 274,167, down from the previous year's circulation numbers of 330,000...
manga Gals!Gals!Gals! is a shōjo manga written and illustrated by Mihona Fujii. The manga was serialized in Ribon and published in the U.S. by CMX.An anime adaptation, , aired in Japan on TV Tokyo between 2001 and 2003, running a length of 52 episodes...
chronicles the life and times of Ran Kotobuki, "the greatest gal in Shibuya." Published 1999-2002. It spawned a 52-episode Japanese/English dubbed anime series named Super GALS! Ran KotobukiGals!Gals! is a shōjo manga written and illustrated by Mihona Fujii. The manga was serialized in Ribon and published in the U.S. by CMX.An anime adaptation, , aired in Japan on TV Tokyo between 2001 and 2003, running a length of 52 episodes...
.
- Episode six in the third season of BBCBBCThe British Broadcasting Corporation is a British public service broadcaster. Its headquarters is at Broadcasting House in the City of Westminster, London. It is the largest broadcaster in the world, with about 23,000 staff...
's JapanoramaJapanoramaJapanorama was a series of documentaries presented by Jonathan Ross, exploring various facets of popular culture and trends of modern-day Japan....
documentary series covers kogal, ganguroGanguroGanguro is an alternative fashion trend of blonde or orange hair and tanned skin among young Japanese women that peaked in popularity around the year 2000. The Shibuya and Ikebukuro districts of Tokyo were the centers of ganguro fashion...
(blackface), and yamanba (extreme blackface) "bad girl" culture.
- A Japanese drama titled Gal Circle prominently features gals.
- Usamaru FuruyaUsamaru Furuyais a Japanese manga artist. He graduated from Tama Art University where he majored in oil painting and developed an interest in sculpting and Butoh dance....
's manga Short Cuts (1998-1999).
- In Detective Conan, there's a case (manga volume 29, anime episodes 217-218) in which four ganguroGanguroGanguro is an alternative fashion trend of blonde or orange hair and tanned skin among young Japanese women that peaked in popularity around the year 2000. The Shibuya and Ikebukuro districts of Tokyo were the centers of ganguro fashion...
girls are severely beaten by a man for wearing boots similar to those of the girl who accidentally killed his son. The fourth girl is actually the culprit and ends up bludgeoned to death. A parallel is made with young female delinquent schoolgirls, known as SukebanSukebanmeans delinquent girl or boss girl in Japanese, equivalent to the male banchō. A dictionary of says that sukeban only refers to the leader of a girl gang, not any member of the girl gang.-Characteristics:...
, since according to the storyline there was a similar case involving Sukeban 20 years ago.
See also
- GyaruGyaruis a Japanese transliteration of the English word gal, that of girl being . The name originated from a 1970s brand of jeans called "gals", with the advertising slogan: "I can't live without men", and was applied to fashion- and peer-conscious girls in their teens and early twenties. Its usage...
- Modern girlModern girlwere Japanese women who followed Westernized fashions and lifestyles in the 1920s. These moga were Japan's equivalent of America's flappers, India's kallege ladki, Germany's neue Frauen, France's garçonnes, or China's modeng xiaojie...
- Essex girlEssex girlAn Essex girl is a pejorative stereotype in the United Kingdom of a female who is said to be promiscuous and unintelligent, characteristics jocularly attributed to women from Essex. It is applied widely throughout the country and has gained popularity over time, dating from the 1980s and 1990s...
- Valley girlValley girlValley Girl is a stereotype leveled at a socio-economic and ethnic class of American women who can be described as colloquial English-speaking and materialistic...
- BimboBimboBimbo, in its popular English language usage, describes a woman who is physically attractive but is perceived to have a low intelligence or poor education. The term can also be used to describe a woman who acts in a sexually promiscuous manner...
- Enjo kōsaiEnjo kosaimeans "compensated dating" and is a practice which originated in Japan where older men give money and/or luxury gifts to attractive women for their companionship and, possibly, for sexual favors. The female participants range from primarily school-aged girls to housewives. A common misconception is...
- Trixie
Further reading
- Complete list of Gyaru GAL styles with photos.
- "Those Naughty Teenage Girls: Japanese Kogals, Slang, and Media Assessments", by Laura Miller. Journal of Linguistic Anthropology: Volume 14: Number 2 (2004).
- Metropolis – Feature – "No heels, no life"
- Discussion of Japanese High School Girls and the poetry they inspire
External links
- "Girl student very cute" That's a matter of opinion, but she is a classic kogal with a shortened uniform skirt, dyed hair, scarf, and loose socks.
- "Bounce Ko Gals (Title Sequence) from the movie Baunsu ko gaurusu (1997) by Masato Harada.