Every year, on the train platforms early in the morning or late at night, I am befuddled and bemused befreakedout to see girls, women, and ladies wearing skirts and *thin* tights in temperatures below freezing. And I'm not just talking about a few, I mean at times a majority of people I see. And with the stigma against weighing more than most breeds of large dog still in effect, these ladies have little-to-no flesh on their legs to retain warmth. And every year, I--bundled in two sweaters and jeans--ask myself the same question... WHY?!
Do they do it for fashion? Is it expected of them? Is looking "just pretty good, decent" worth freezing? The answer is yes to all of them. You'd think they want to keep a few of the important things up there warmer. Or that they'd at least have on long jackets. But no! Women over here are apparently immune to 'temperature'. Oh the irony when they wear the "don't get sick" face masks but go out with half their body exposed and one shade of pale away from turning blue.
But here's the thing--actually, they've been ready for this for a long time, and have long since killed off all the nerve endings in their legs. Why? Because rules regarding uniforms in middle school and high school. Although a lot of my students wear jersey suits all throughout the school day, most schools _mandate_ that girls come to school in their uniform, meaning girls _must_ wear skirts with socks below the knee as they walk or bike to school, without exception or regard to temperature. *Most all do* however wear gym shorts or jersey shorts under their skirt, so they get some mild insulation, but you still wouldn't catch me going out like that (for a number of reasons). I think there should be a cold weather alternative, I'm in three layers and feel colder just looking at these girls on their way to school.
This isn't without its own bit of ridiculousness added on top like a crazy frozen cherry. Uniform skirts all are meant to be worn at the waist and extend just past the knees. However, social protocol for almost all girls is--by default--to roll the waist and pull them up so the end of the skirt sits halfway up the thigh, sometimes higher. This means that, just to walk to school, they are *doing something that purposefully makes their body temperatures lizard-like, just because they feel like they should be fashionable* which starts to explain a vicious cycle of expectations and short skirts and dead leg nerve endings.
So there's the answer to my question of why so many older girls and women continue to go out in near nothing with frost on the ground. They've been trained from a young age to accept frostbite as a way of life, and take it to the next level themselves to "look good" by societal standard and freeze their butts off.
This may also help explain why 80% of conversations in Japan during the winter consist entirely of "samui ne" ("cold, isn't it?), as they haven't been trained or allowed to put on more clothes when they feel cold, so they just have to deal with it and say samui ne one thousand times a year in mutual commiseration.
