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OBSERVINGTYO·JST--:--:--
/RECORD NO.098
記録 / REC098
BREAKINGKyotanabe, Kyoto Prefecture, Japan

3 June 2026 — Tanabe Junior High School in Kyotanabe, Kyoto Prefecture, will become the first public junior high school in Japan to adopt a hoodie as part of its official uniform.

Students designed it themselves; at 9,000 yen, it costs about half the price of a traditional gakuran jacket.
Logged 2026-06-28 22:48:00 (JST)
Tanabe Junior High School in Kyotanabe, Kyoto Prefecture, will become the first public junior high school in Japan to adopt a hoodie as part of its official uniform.

Tanabe Junior High School in Kyotanabe, Kyoto Prefecture, will introduce a zip-up gray hoodie as an official uniform option ahead of the school's 80th anniversary next year. It is described as the first public junior high school in Japan to include a hoodie among its recognized uniform choices.

Kyotanabe is a city of roughly 70,000 people about 20 kilometers southeast of Kyoto. The school has traditionally required boys to wear gakuran and girls to wear sailor-suit uniforms. In polls over the past three years, students repeatedly chose to keep those uniforms over switching to blazers. The new hoodie — a gray zip-up with black trim and the school emblem on the left chest — was decided on by the students themselves.

The school stated the change was made taking into account that this is a diverse and genderless era. The hoodie may be worn at formal occasions including graduation and enrollment ceremonies, and is machine washable. Priced at 9,000 yen, about half the price of a gakuran or sailor-suit top, it will be available from November 2026.

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