During the late Showa Era (1926-1989), every junior high and high school student in Japan essentially wore the same uniform and had a regulation hairstyle — not necessarily by choice, but because the school rules said so. A student caught breaking the rules would be severely reprimanded.
“I used to think that this was just the way it was in junior high schools,” said Takayuki Midorikawa, 60, who runs a photo studio in Iwaki, Fukushima Prefecture, looking back at the days he spent attending Ueda Junior High School in the late 1970s.
Male students had to wear black socks. Female students had to wear skirts that were neither too long nor too short — a teacher would stand guard at the school gate, holding a ruler to make sure the skirts were the proper length.