Men’s and women’s uniforms offered to add an extra youthful fun aura to your Tokyo Disney photos.
If you’re at a Japanese school, obviously you’re going to see a lot of school uniforms. Logically, the same goes for if you’re on the train or in a major rail station, since students get dressed at home and commute in their uniforms too.
But one place where you might be surprised at all the school uniforms? Tokyo Disneyland. Sure, kids who are on official school trips to the Happiest Place on Earth in Japan are usually required to wear their uniforms, since it’s a school function. But even teens who are going independently with their friends, with no involvement by their school’s teachers or administrators, often choose to wear their uniforms. In Japan, school uniforms aren’t seen as just a symbol of school, but also of youth, and the hopes, dreams, and friendships associated with it, making it the ideal outfit for a Disney group photo, many feel.
But what if your student days are done, and you don’t have your uniform anymore? Or what if you never went to a school that had uniforms in the first place? No problem, because right outside the entrance to Tokyo Disneyland is the newly opened Kanko Shop Select Square, a shop that rents Japanese school uniforms.
Technically, these are what Kanko calls “nanchate uniforms,” or “quote, unquote, ‘uniforms.’” In other words, they have all the distinct characteristic design elements of Japanese school uniforms without actually being the official uniforms of any actual institute of learning, so you can wear them without concern of, say, the P.E. teacher from Tenshigahama High School bumping into you and accusing you of being a student playing hooky.
Kanko Shop Select Square has just opened its newest location at Ikspiari, the shopping/entertainment complex situated between Tokyo Disneyland and Tokyo Disney Sea. The store is stocked with roughly 1,000 different women’s and men’s items to mix and match into your personalized uniform, including skirts, slacks, blazers, shirts sweaters, ribbons, and shoes. They even have old-school straight-collared gakuran jackets, and the staff is happy to assist customers in coordinating their look if all the options start to feel overwhelming.
Since the expectation is that customers will be wearing their uniforms for visits to the Disney parks, Kanko allows you to rent your uniform for anywhere from one to three days, accommodating both day-trippers and long-weekend travelers. In addition to in-store changing rooms, for additional fees they also offer lockers and a makeup room.
Individual item rentals start at 400 yen (US$3.10) and multi-item sets at 2,000, making them a fun and not budget-busting way to add a little extra Japanese flair to your visit to Tokyo Disneyland, even if you don’t make it in time for the Haunted Mansion’s anime-style re-theme.
Shop information
Kanko Shop Select Square (Ikspiari branch) / カンコーショップイクスピアリ
Address: Chiba-ken, Urayasu-shi, Maihama 1-4, Ikspiari 2nd floor
千葉県浦安市舞浜1-4 イクスピアリ2F
Open 10 a.m.-10 p.m.
Website
Source, images: PR Times
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