When people go hiking, practicality and durability usually trumps cuteness for obvious reasons. Not so in Japan, where the latest craze among "yama girls" is hiking in a miniskirt and leggings. Local and international chains are responding quickly and introducing new lines of mountain skirts for the young female hiker. In a country that's well-known for its conservative attitude toward gender roles, for many young women hiking is seen as a sort of liberation. Leave it to a Japanese economist to belittle the movement:
“Single women are spending their spare time on something fashionable and good for their health, as they can’t do it once they get married,” said Toshihiro Nagahama, chief economist at Dai-Ichi Life Research Institute in Tokyo. “Mountaineering is luring in female fans.”
Indeed. It remains to be seen whether this miniskirt hiker trend will spread across the globe like Pokemon and Hello Kitty.
"Miniskirts on Mount Fuji...." (Bloomberg)
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