Neighborhood Hirakata

If you pass by Hirakata station in the morning on a week day, it is impossible not to notice students, all in a hurry to get to their classes. Even in a rainy weather, uniforms of middle and high school students undoubtedly will catch the eye, especially that of a foreigner.

Of course we all know that the “school girl” look became famous mainly because of Japanese, but it is a different experience to see teenagers wear these uniforms in a natural environment, so to say. Most of the middle schools and also many high schools in Hirakata require their students to wear uniforms, which differ from school to school. However, shift your gaze towards one of the bus stops, and the picture changes: you will see a long line of college students waiting to get on a bus going to Kansai Gaidai Nikamiya Campus*.

Here, distinctive and bold clothing styles substitute innocent (or not so much) school uniforms. It is quite overwhelming to see over one hundred girls looking (or trying to look) unique and stylish. Near all of them wear heels and own something of kirakira**. As for me, every time I see this crowd of dressed up college girls standing there ready to impress and show off all kinds of imaginable accessories, my immediate thought is “Oh my Gosh, I need to get to get new clothes and some nice kirakira!”

*yearly enrollment of this University constitutes about 10,000 people. At that, majority of the students are female (http://www.kansaigaidai.ac.jp/asp/01_the_university/02.html)

** kirakira refers to cute and shiny accessories very popular in Japan