I have analyzed how the standard of being fashionable differs in Japan and in the U.S. Three years ago, when I was 16 years old, I lived in Atlanta, Georgia, and went to a public high school there as an exchange student. Unlike most of Japanese high schools, most American high schools do not have school uniform, so that the students can wear whatever they want to. Japanese kids wear their own clothes only when they are off school. I noticed during my stay in the. U.S. that what the American high school students wear is different from the Japanese counterpart, and I decided to analyze why they are different on the premise that people wear clothes that they think will make them look good.

There is a considerable difference between American fashion and Japanese fashion. For example, in the states, many boys that are called “cool” and seem popular among the American teenagers wear their sport wear, especially the one of the sport team that they belong to, and a sweat shirt with their school’s name on it. Those who do not belong to any sport teams wear a simple plain t-shirt and jeans. Some people wear what Japanese would call pajama in school. One thing that the clothes that American boys wear have in common is that they are focused on comfortableness rather than appearance. Obviously, sport wear is made very comfortable; otherwise, it is not suitable for sports. The sweat shirt is nice and soft and warm. In Japan, on the other hand, if a boy comes to school with his sport wear or very plain clothes, he will be asked by his friends, “why are you wearing that kind of clothes today? Did you have no time to change after club activity?” or “are you wearing pajama today?” Japanese boys are very concerned about their fashion, so they usually wear fashionable clothes rather than comfortable ones. Not only clothes but hairstyle is different in the U.S. and Japan. In Japan, many young men dye, perm, and style their hair with men’s cosmetics, whereas few American men, if any, in the states do.

My insight is that the standard of being fashionable is different in Japan and in America because what the media portray fashionable boys is different. People tend to wear what others wear; you do not want to wear something that is completely different from what others wear, otherwise, you will look strange. People have a common sense of being fashionable, and it is highly influenced by the media, in a sense that what they are wearing is basically the same as what people in the media, e.g. TV actors wear.

As a conclusion, we can say that it is obvious that what makes people look good in Japan and in the U.S. are different, but there is one thing common to both the countries: people want to look good in society, and their sense of being good-looking or fashion comes largely from the media.

by Yutaro Nishioka