Japan for the Uninvited

Kogals (or “kogyaru”), Japan’s teenage urban subculture, have become one of the country’s most powerful consumer groups.

Forced to wear plain high-school uniforms, they accessorise them with short skirts, Burberry scarves, and long, white, baggy socks (”rususokusu”) that make their legs look like tree trunks.

Although most of them don’t have jobs, they constantly seem to be spending money - from the latest mobile phones (which they use constantly) to extortionate designer clothes.

This rampant materialism is might be funded by huge allowances or, more infamously, by enjo kosai.

• The Kogal Fanlisting