Japan Station: Deep Dives into Japanese Culture, Language & Society

Japan's Most Scandalous Shorts EXPLAINED (ブルマ/buruma)

August 27, 2026·52 min
Episode Description from the Publisher

On this episode, we ask: Whar are buruma? This is a rebroadcast of episode 53 of Ichimon Japan. Topics Discussed What buruma/bloomers are A brief overview of the history of school uniforms in Japan About the gakuran style school uniform About the supposed link between gakuran uniforms and Prussian military uniforms About sailor uniforms (sērā fuku) About "blazer" style uniforms The controversy over whether it was a school in Kyoto or Fukuoka that first introduced the sailor uniform in Japan The "second button" tradition The story behind why schools across Japan began having female students wear bloomers in the 1960s and why they stopped in the 1990s The urban legend that bloomers became popular due to the Japanese women's volleyball team wearing them in the 1964 Olympics The 1993 incident in Singapore that was the final straw that led to the disappearance of bloomers from schools in Japan About girls being able to wear slacks instead of skirts as part of their school uniforms About koromogae (changing school uniforms in accordance with the change of the seasons) And much more! Listen to Ichimon Japan on [btn btnlink="https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/ichimon-japan-a-podcast-by-japankyo-com/id1492400997" btnsize="medium" bgcolor="#0568bf" txtcolor="#ffffff" btnnewt="1" nofollow="1"]Apple Podcasts[/btn] [btn btnlink="https://podcasts.google.com/?feed=aHR0cHM6Ly9pY2hpbW9uamFwYW4ubGlic3luLmNvbS9yc3M" btnsize="medium" bgcolor="#0568bf" txtcolor="#ffffff" btnnewt="1" nofollow="1"]Google Podcasts[/btn] [btn btnlink="https://www.stitcher.com/podcast/japankyocom/ichimon-japan-a-podcast-by-japankyocom" btnsize="medium" bgcolor="#0568bf" txtcolor="#ffffff" btnnewt="1" nofollow="1"]Stitcher[/btn] [btn btnlink="https://open.spotify.com/show/1ZVgnljVM8gcR1ar98eK0D" btnsize="medium" bgcolor="#0568bf" txtcolor="#ffffff" btnnewt="1" nofollow="1"]Spotify[/btn] [btn btnlink="https://www.iheart.com/podcast/263-ichimon-japan-a-podcast-by-59510504/" btnsize="medium" bgcolor="#0568bf" txtcolor="#ffffff" btnnewt="1" nofollow="1"]iHeartRadio[/btn] [btn btnlink="https://www.podbean.com/podcast-detail/mv3zr-ad2df/Ichimon-Japan-A-Podcast-by-Japankyo.com" btnsize="medium" bgcolor="#0568bf" txtcolor="#ffffff" btnnewt="1" nofollow="1"]PodBean[/btn] [btn btnlink="https://tunein.com/podcasts/Arts--Culture-Podcasts/Ichimon-Japan-A-Podcast-by-Japankyocom-p1290988/" btnsize="medium" bgcolor="#0568bf" txtcolor="#ffffff" btnnewt="1" nofollow="1"]Tunein[/btn] [btn btnlink="https://ichimonjapan.libsyn.com/rss" btnsize="medium" bgcolor="#0568bf" txtcolor="#ffffff" btnnewt="1" nofollow="1"]RSS[/btn] Support If you enjoy Ichimon Japan and want to ensure that we're able to produce more episodes, then please consider becoming a patron on Patreon.com. You can join for just $1 a month and that comes Support the show by joining the Patreon, donating to Ko-fi or getting a t-shirt! Join PatreonL https://japankyo.com/patreonSupport on Patreon:  Donate to Ko-fi: https://ko-fi.com/japankyo Get a t-shirt from Mecha Neko Sushi: https://mechanekosushi.com/ Mobal Get 10% off the Mobal Voice & Data plan! Mobal Affiliate Link: http://mobal.com/tonyjapan   Sources, Links, Videos, Etc. Here are some of the Japanese language articles found when researching the topic of this episode. 高校の制服の歴史 昔の制服を試着!椙山歴史文化館 学校制服としてのセーラー服の歴史 学院の歴史資料 This is the website of Kyoto Heian Jogakuin. This is one of the schools th

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