Many people hold a “mystical” image of all-girls schools in Japan, often referring to them as “secret gardens.” But the reality of life inside these schools can be quite different from what most imagine. Take the popular idol group Nogizaka46 as an example—they are designed with the theme of an all-girls school, complete with school uniform-style costumes. Yet, the romanticized and holy image associated with these schools doesn’t always match what’s happening inside. Here’s a closer look:
1. PE Class: A Battlefield
People may imagine that PE in an all-girls school is gentle and soft, but in reality, it’s anything but. Girls are fiercely competitive, especially during the annual sports festival. It’s not a peaceful event—it’s an all-out war!
2. Cooling Down: Flapping Skirts
Summers in Japan can be brutally hot, and while you might think skirts would keep the girls cool, they’ve got their own way of dealing with the heat. With no boys around to worry about, they casually flap their skirts to cool down. This practical, if unglamorous, habit clashes with the pristine image many have of all-girls schools.
3. It doesn’t have to be a guy
The image of lesbian couples turned out to be slightly true. In most all-girls schools, there is a girl that is very boyish and she becomes very popular among the rest of the girls. Although they may not go out, the boyish girl gets chocolates on Valentine’s Day, and sometimes even confessed to by other girls. Some have fan clubs and they are treated as if they were actually the hottest man on earth.
4. Big Appetites: No Small Lunchboxes
The stereotype that girls don’t eat much doesn’t hold up in all-girls schools. Without boys around, there’s no need to maintain a “cute” image. Some girls even practice “Hayaben,” which means eating lunch before lunchtime because they’re just too hungry to wait.
5. Men Become Instant Stars
In a school full of girls, any man becomes instantly popular, no matter his appearance. Some schools even have fan clubs dedicated to male teachers. So, if you’re a guy working at an all-girls school, you’ve got a good shot at being adored by the students.
6. Tons of Otaku and Fujoshi
Within society, Otaku and Fujoshi are considered to be a bit “special” even though there are many people that are Otaku and Fujoshi. Some people hesitate to tell others they are one, but within an all-girls school it’s totally different. As nothing in reality gives them the sparks and throbs of love, they end of trying to find them in the 2-dimensional world. They are very open about saying they are one too.
7. Pretty desperate to find love
Of course not all girls are fine with just adoring male teachers and boyish girls. Although we have an image that the students of all-girls schools tend to stay within the all-girls school community, there are actually many girls who take action to find love by themselves. During the school festival season, they go to other all-boys schools and regular schools just to meet guys.
8. No Filter: Dirty Jokes Welcome
When there are no guys around, there’s no need to pretend to be innocent. In all-girls schools, dirty jokes are common, and since many girls don’t have much experience, they let their imaginations run wild during these conversations.
9. Drying Socks in Class
Rainy days in Japan are a pain, and girls’ high socks often get soaked. At all-girls schools, it’s common for students to take off their wet socks and hang them in the classroom to dry—something you definitely wouldn’t expect from the idealized image of these schools.
10. Too much freedom during class
Japanese girls have an image that they would be very serious about taking classes and of course these kinds of girls exist in all-girls schools too. However some are a bit different. They feel free to do whatever they want to do during class, they go to sleep (without any intention to hide the fact that they are sleeping), they are tweezing their hair from their fingers with their hands (at least use tweezers), and so on.
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