View source for Kogal

{{Short description|Japanese women's fashion culture of schoolgirl uniforms with short skirts}}
{{About|the fashion style|the song|Co Gal}}
{{Italic title}}
{{Original research|date=September 2016}}
[[File:制服 (5346443876).jpg|thumb|''Kogal'' girls, identified by shortened [[Japanese school uniform]] skirts. The two leftmost girls are also wearing [[loose socks]].]]

In [[Culture of Japan|Japanese culture]], {{nihongo|'''''Kogal'''''|コギャル|kogyaru}} refers to the members of the [[Gyaru]] subculture who are still in [[high school]] and who incorporate their [[School uniforms in Japan|school uniforms]] into their dress style.<ref>{{Cite web |last=makoto |title=コギャルたちの制服の着こなし方 {{!}} ギャルチャー |url=https://galture.com/fashion/kogal.html |access-date=2023-12-31 |website=galture.com |language=ja}}</ref> These high school girls are characterized by the typical bleached hair, make-up, shortened skirts, and wearing of [[loose socks]].<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2003/11/12/business/man-who-gave-us-loose-white-socks-eyes-comeback/ |title=Man who gave us loose white socks eyes comeback |first=Taiga |last=Uranaka |date=12 November 2003 |via=Japan Times Online}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.independent.co.uk/news/japans-schoolgirls-set-the-trend-1295844.html |title=Japan's schoolgirls set the trend |website=[[Independent.co.uk]]|date=23 November 1997 }}</ref> The word ''kogal'' is anglicized from {{Transliteration|ja|kogyaru}}, a contraction of {{Transliteration|ja|kōkōsei gyaru}} ("high school gal").

Aside from the [[miniskirt]] or microskirt, and the [[loose socks]], kogals favor platform boots, makeup, and [[Burberry]] check scarves, and accessories considered ''[[kawaii]]'' or cute on bags and phones.<ref>{{Cite web |title=What Is Kogal Fashion, Gyaru's More Subtle Style Subculture? |url=https://cooljp.co/article/kogal-fashion-japanese-gyaru-subculture-cj-8336 |access-date=2023-01-23 |website=Clozette}}</ref> They may also dye their hair brown and get artificial suntans. They have a distinctive slang peppered with [[wasei-eigo|English words]]. They are often, but not necessarily, enrolled students. Centers of kogal culture include the [[Harajuku]] and [[Shibuya, Tokyo|Shibuya]] districts of [[Tokyo]], in particular Shibuya's [[109 (department store)|109 Building]]. [[Pop music|Pop]] singer [[Namie Amuro]] promoted the style. Kogals are avid users of [[photo booth]]s, with most visiting at least once a week, according to non-scientific polls.<ref>{{cite book |first1=Laura |last1=Miller |first2=Jan |last2=Bardsle |title=Bad Girls of Japan |page=130}}</ref>

==Etymology==
The word ''kogal'' is a contraction of {{nihongo3|"high school gal"|高校生ギャル|kōkōsei gyaru}}.<ref name="Miller">Miller, Laura, "Those Naughty Teenage Girls: Japanese Kogals, Slang, and Media Assessments", ''Journal of Linguistic Anthropology'': Volume 14: Number 2 (2004).</ref> It originated as a code used by disco bouncers to distinguish adults from minors.<ref name="Miller" /> The term is not used by the girls it refers to. They call themselves {{nihongo3||ギャル|[[gyaru]]}},<ref>{{Cite web |title=» The History of the Gyaru – Part One:: Néojaponisme » Blog Archive |url=https://neojaponisme.com/2012/02/28/the-history-of-the-gyaru-part-one/ |access-date=2023-01-23}}</ref> a Japanese pronunciation of the English word "gal".<ref name="Miller" /> The term {{Transliteration|ja|gyaru}} was first popularized in 1972 by a television ad for a brand of jeans.<ref name="Shiro">"[http://www.style-arena.jp/en/tribe/0016.html Shiro Gal (Light Skin Gal)] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090501011547/http://www.style-arena.jp/en/tribe/0016.html |date=2009-05-01 }}"</ref> In the 1980s, a {{Transliteration|ja|gyaru}} was a fashionably dressed woman.<ref name="Shiro" /> When written {{lang|ja|子}}, {{Transliteration|ja|ko}} means "young woman", so {{Transliteration|ja|kogyaru}} is sometimes understood in the sense of "young gal".<ref>"[http://www.fecielo.com/osaka-japan Osaka - Japan]"</ref>

==Character==
{{multiple image
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| image1            = Loosesockswp.jpg
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| footer            = A {{Transliteration|ja|kogal}} identified by her [[loose socks]] and shortened skirt
}}

Kogals have been accused of [[conspicuous consumption]], living off their parents and {{Transliteration|ja|[[enjo-kosai]]}} (amateur prostitution/dating service).<ref>{{Cite web |title=Kogal Fashion Style: Japanese Youth Subculture |url=https://japadventure.com/kogal-fashion |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200809090845/https://japadventure.com/kogal-fashion |archive-date=9 August 2020 |url-status=live |website=japadventure.com |date=26 August 2018 |access-date=27 September 2023 |language=en-US}}</ref> It is unclear how many girls were actually involved in prostitution.<ref name=Néojaponisme>{{Cite web |title=The History of the Gyaru – Part Two |url=https://neojaponisme.com/2012/05/08/the-history-of-the-gyaru-part-two/ |archive-url=https://archive.today/20130129151448/http://neojaponisme.com/2012/05/08/the-history-of-the-gyaru-part-two/ |url-status=dead |archive-date=29 January 2013 |work=Néojaponisme |access-date=27 September 2023}}</ref> 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.<ref name="Sky">Sky Whitehead, "[http://www.giantrobot.com/issues/issue11/kogals/index.html K Is for Kogal]" ({{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110724052558/http://www.giantrobot.com/issues/issue11/kogals/index.html |date=2011-07-24 }})</ref> Though brand-name accessories are part of the kogal look, many kogal may buy these cheaply as knock-off versions of a high-brand item from stalls in back-alley markets like {{Transliteration|ja|ura}} Harajuku.<ref>{{Cite book |last1=Miller |first1=Laura |date=2012 |chapter=Youth fashion and beautification |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Y4K2D1O5tkQC&pg=PA87 |editor1-last=Mathews |editor1-first=Gordon |editor2-last=White |editor2-first=Bruce |title=Japan's Changing Generations: Are Young People Creating a New Society? |publisher=Routledge |pages=87–88 |isbn=9781134353897}}</ref><ref>''[https://books.google.com/books?id=fdHZAwAAQBAJ&q=japanese+schoolgirls+fashion+magazine Japanese Schoolgirl Confidential: How Teenage Girls Made a Nation Cool]'' (Tuttle Publishing, 2014), {{ISBN|9781462914098}}.</ref> Some feminists "saw the young women as cleverly negotiating their own position in a male patriarchal world".<ref name=Néojaponisme/>

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.<ref name="Kinsella" /> "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."<ref name="Sky" /> Others state the kogal look was used alongside the ''enjo kōsai'' panic of the 1990s. A former editor of [[Egg (magazine)|''egg'' magazine]], a gyaru fashion magazine, said "enjo kōsai began as a mischievous but relatively innocent way of playing pranks on middle-aged men." This included exchanged small amounts of money for dates that lasted a few minutes. It was reported that the media coverage was framed as if all high school girls "were rushing to Shibuya and having sex with men in karaoke boxes just to buy luxury goods." Years later, it was debunked as a stereotype.<ref name=Néojaponisme/>

The kogal phenomenon has never represented a majority of teenage girls. Rather, it largely symbolizes the evolution of the role of women in capitalist Japan. As such, the kogal style rejects not only tradition which Japan is known for but the spirit of nationalism, seeking to embody stateless [[consumerism]]. This consumerism is communicated through knock-off designer goods, trips to photo booths, singing karaoke, partying, the use of love hotels, and incorporating new loanwords into everyday speech. Kogals also take a transactional approach to sexual activity, employing more risque language or referring openly to sex. Kogal [[hedonism]] and impolite language serve to assert self-hood of young Japanese women. Kogals' expertise in criticizing men, particularly older men, demonstrates their revolt against traditional gender norms. Kogal publications like ''Egg''{{'}}s artwork gallery of male anatomy show that kogal culture can also empower young women to express displeasure and value their own pleasure. Overall, kogal language, behavior, and images reflect an urge to usurp an orderly society.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Miller |first=Laura |date=December 2004 |title=Those Naughty Teenage Girls: Japanese Kogals, Slang, and Media Assessments |url=https://www.researchgate.net/publication/216842416 |journal=Journal of Linguistic Anthropology |volume=14 |issue=2 |pages=225–247 |doi=10.1525/jlin.2004.14.2.225}} [https://www.academia.edu/941077 At Academia.edu].</ref>

==History==
[[File:AKB48 20090703 Japan Expo 55.jpg|thumb|upright|[[Japanese idol]] girl group [[AKB48]] performs in kogal uniforms.]]

Japanese fashion began to divide by age in the 1970s with the appearance of {{Transliteration|ja|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]]), {{Transliteration|ja|gyaru}} publications promoted a sexy aesthetic.<ref name="Kinsella146">Kinsella, Sharon, "Black faces, witches and racism", ''Bad Girls of Japan'', edited by  Laura Miller, Jan Bardsley, p. 146.</ref> Top {{Transliteration|ja|gyaru}} magazines, including ''Popteen'', ''Street Jam'' and ''[[Happie Nuts]]'', were produced by editors previously involved in creating pornography for men.<ref name="Kinsella146" />

Also in the 1980s, a male-and-female motorcycle-oriented slacker culture emerged in the form of the "Yankiis" (from the American word "Yankee") and [[Bosozoku]] Gals. 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.<ref>"[http://www.pliink.com/mt/marxy/archives/2007/01/the-misanthropo.html The Misanthropology of Late-Stage Kogal] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071016100416/http://www.pliink.com/mt/marxy/archives/2007/01/the-misanthropo.html |date=2007-10-16 }}"</ref> 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 [[Mobile phone|cellular phone]].<ref name="Evers">Evers, Izumi, Patrick Macias, (2007) ''Japanese Schoolgirl Inferno: Tokyo Teen Fashion Subculture Handbook'', p. 11. {{ISBN|0-8118-5690-9}}.</ref>

The 1993 television special {{Transliteration|ja|Za kogyaru naito}} (''The Kogal Night'') introduced the kogal to a mass audience and provided a model for aspiring kogals to follow.<ref name="Miller" /> Platform shoes were popularized by singer [[Namie Amuro]] in 1994.<ref>Miller, Laura, "Youth Fashion and changing beautification practices," ''Japan's Changing Generations: Are Young People Creating a New Society'' edited by Gordon Mathews, Bruce White, p. 89.</ref> ''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 {{Transliteration|ja|[[enjo kōsai]]}} ("paid dating") supposedly engaged in by bored housewives and high school students, thus linking kogals to prostitutes.<ref name="Kinsella">Kinsella, Sharon, "What's Behind the Fetishism of Japanese School Uniforms?", ''Fashion Theory: The Journal of Dress, Body & Culture,'' Volume 6, Number 2, May 2002, pp. 215-237(23)</ref> The movie {{Transliteration|ja|Baunsu ko gaurusu}} (''[[Bounce Ko Gals]]'') (1997) by [[Masato Harada]] depicts kogals prostituting themselves to buy trendy fashion accessories.<ref>Nix, [http://www.beyondhollywood.com/bounce-ko-gal-aka-leaving-1997-movie-review/ Bounce ko Gal aka Leaving (1997) Movie Review] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20091003060706/http://www.beyondhollywood.com/bounce-ko-gal-aka-leaving-1997-movie-review/ |date=2009-10-03 }}</ref><ref>[http://wlt4.home.mindspring.com/fafr/reviews/bounce.htm Bounce KoGALS (1997)] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110714095556/http://wlt4.home.mindspring.com/fafr/reviews/bounce.htm |date=2011-07-14 }}</ref>

Kogal culture peaked in 1998. Kogals were then displaced by another style that gained popularity through ''Egg'': {{Transliteration|ja|[[ganguro]]}}, a gal culture that first appeared in the mid-1990s and used dark makeup combined with heavy amounts of tanning.<ref name="autogenerated1">"[Japanese Schoolgirl Inferno: Tokyo Teen Fashion Subculture Handbook]"</ref> {{Transliteration|ja|Ganguro}} evolved into another extreme look (though less extreme than {{Transliteration|ja|ganguro}}) called {{Transliteration|ja|[[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.

[[File:Mirai Suenaga with summer school uniform by Hagure Yuuki 20120316.jpg|thumb|upright|[[Mirai Suenaga]], a mascot for Japan tourism, is dressed in a kogal summer school uniform.]]

Gal fashion later reemerged in the form of the skin-whitening {{Transliteration|ja|Shiro Gyaru}}, associated with ''Popteen''.<ref name="Resurge">{{cite web|url=http://www.mekas.jp/en/trends/181.xhtml?page=2#2|title=Gyaru Resurgence|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110722113408/http://www.mekas.jp/en/trends/181.xhtml?page=2#2 |archive-date=2011-07-22 |website=Mekas}}</ref> One such example of this is the {{Transliteration|ja|Onee}} Gal, who take their fashion cues from Hollywood. Clad in stilettos and jewels, these gals parade the streets of Shibuya. The women opting for this style are often gals of previous generations that are returning for this style, which is sexy yet more adult. Unlike their younger counterparts, there is less clubbing and more projecting an image of sky-high social status. Despite this, the {{Transliteration|ja|Onee}} Gals are more serious about their lives than other gal groups, with their age placing them in college or the workforce. One of the driving forces behind this is [[Sifow]], a singer and idol that subscribes to the {{Transliteration|ja|Onee}} Gal style.<ref name="autogenerated1" />

The ''Hime gyaru'' (literally "lady gal", also translated as "princess gal"), also part of the {{Transliteration|ja|Shiro Gyaru}} style, first appeared in 2007. The girls in this subculture seem to want to live as princesses like out of fairy tales, complete with over-glamorous lifestyles and items. They wear princess-like dresses (usually in pink or other pastels), and sport large, curly brown hair, usually in bouffants. Popular brands for this subsection of Gal include Liz Lisa and Jesus Diamante.<ref name="autogenerated1" /><ref name="Resurge" /><ref>"[https://www.wsj.com/articles/SB122713804938242481 Japan's Latest Fashion Has Women Playing Princess for a Day]", ''Wall Street Journal'', November 20, 2008.</ref><ref name="livejournal1">{{cite web|url=http://gal-handbook.livejournal.com/3663.html |title=The Gyaru Handbook - Casual hime gyaru style DEBUNKED! |publisher=Gal-handbook.livejournal.com |date=2007-11-19 |access-date=2013-04-22 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081217145823/http://gal-handbook.livejournal.com/3663.html |archive-date=2008-12-17 }}</ref>

The waves of changing female Japanese beauty culture such as the kogal represent a growing diversity in female beauty which contrasts with the focus on docility and cuteness perpetuated previously. Kogal and its predecessors visually chronicle the evolution of Japan into a consumer culture, visibly displaying the changing values and norms within Japanese culture as consumerism necessitates the displacement of the identity to surface features.<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Miller|first=Laura|date=2000|title=Media Typifications and Hip Bijin|journal=US - Japan Women's Journal|volume=19|issue=19|pages=176–205|jstor=42772168}}</ref>

==Language==
Kogals are identified primarily by looks, but their speech, called {{nihongo||コギャル語|kogyarugo}}, is also distinctive,<ref name="Miller" /> including, but not restricted to the following: {{nihongo3|"Cool dude"|イケ面|ikemen}}, {{nihongo3|"totally cute"|超かわいい|chō-kawaii}},<ref name="Miller" /> {{nihongo3|"do the gal thing"|ギャルやって|gyaru-yatte}}, {{nihongo3|"gal clothes"|ギャル服|gyaru-fuku}}, {{nihongo3|"gal-style shop"|ギャル系ショップ|gyaru-kei shoppu}}, {{nihongo3|"increasing her degree of galness"|ギャル度アップのために|gyaru-do appu no tame ni}}, {{nihongo3|"really super frustrating"|超マジでむかつく|chō maji de mukatsuku}}.<ref name="Miller" /> As a way to celebrate their individuality, gals might say {{nihongo3|"long live the self"|ビバ自分|biba jibun|derived from [[:wikt:viva|Viva]] and the Japanese word for "self"}}.<ref name="Miller" />

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.<ref name="lang">"[http://members.at.infoseek.co.jp/pontamiki/p4/p2.htm コギャル語&ギャル語辞典] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071215182140/http://members.at.infoseek.co.jp/pontamiki/p4/p2.htm |date=2007-12-15 }}"</ref> Gal words may also be created by adding the suffix {{Transliteration|ja|-ingu}} (from English "-ing") to verbs, for example {{nihongo3|"getting"|ゲッティング|gettingu}}.<ref name="lang" /> Roman script abbreviations are popular, for example "MM" stands for {{Transliteration|ja|maji de mukatsuku}} ("really frustrating"). "MK5" stands for {{nihongo3|"on the verge of {{lit|five seconds away from}} going ballistic"|マジでキレる5秒前|maji de kireru go byoumae}}.<ref name="lang" /> Another feature of gal speech is the suffix {{Transliteration|ja|-ra}}, meaning "like" or "learned from", as in {{nihongo3|"like singer [[Namie Amuro]]"|アムラー|Amura}}.<ref name="lang" />

The English used in kogal speech is often a combination of two or more English words which have taken on new meaning in Japan.<ref name="Miller" />

==See also==
* ''[[Gals!]]'' &ndash; a {{Transliteration|ja|shōjo}} manga by [[Mihona Fujii]] about kogals 
* {{Transliteration|ja|[[Gyaru]]}}
* ''[[My First Girlfriend Is a Gal]]'', a {{Transliteration|ja|shōnen}} manga by Meguru Ueno
* [[Japanese street fashion]]
* [[Modern girl]]
* [[Preppy]]
* [[Uniform fetishism]]
* {{Transliteration|ja|[[Zettai ryōiki]]}}

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==Further reading==
* {{Cite book |last1=Ashcraft |first1=Brian |last2=Ueda |first2=Shoko |date=2014 |title=Japanese Schoolgirl Confidential: How Teenage Girls Made a Nation Cool |publisher=Tuttle Publishing |isbn=9781462914098}}
* {{Cite book |author1=Macias, Patrick |author2=Evers, Izumi |year=2007 |title=Japanese Schoolgirl Inferno: Tokyo Teen Fashion Subculture Handbook |location=San Francisco |publisher=Chronicle Books | isbn=978-0-8118-5690-4}} 147 pp.
* Miller, Laura (December 2004). [http://www.stanford.edu/~eckert/PDF/miller2004.pdf "Those Naughty Teenage Girls: Japanese Kogals, Slang, and Media Assessments"]. ''Journal of Linguistic Anthropology'': Volume 14: Number 2. {{JSTOR|43102647}}.

{{Japanese subcultures}}

[[Category:Gyaru]]
[[Category:Japanese subcultures]]
[[Category:Japanese words and phrases]]
[[Category:Slang terms for women]]
[[Category:Society of Japan]]

[[ja:コギャル]]