Girls Mountain Climbing in Mini-Skirts a New Trend in Japan!

Wow! One thing I really like about Japan is that women still dress like women. I mean, on any given day, just about all the girls riding the trains are wearing dresses and are dressed up to kill.


Now Bloomberg reports that these sexy fashions are now trends for mountain climbing too as Japanese girls are mountain climbing in mini-skirts?

Forget the ice ax and $500 climbing boots. The mode du jour for today’s female mountain hikers in Japan is a miniskirt and leggings.

Not in the winter!

The North Face, a maker of Gore-Tex waterproof jackets, andAlpine Tour Service Co. are targeting “yama girls,” or mountain girls, the nickname for the growing number of women who are taking to the hills of Japan wearing short pants or fleece skirts with leggings and designer trekking boots.

“I want to wear something cute like a skirt,” said Machiko Miyauchi, 25, who made her first ascent of Mount Fuji, Japan’s highest peak, earlier this year after buying new equipment and shoes. “Climbing is healing. You can breathe fresh, clean air

Who would have guessed that mountain climbing would be a place to pick up girls? The article continues:

Japan’s fashion scene has a record of establishing cult trends that sweep the industry, typically for a few years, such as the “ganguro” look that mixed deep fake tans with white lipstick, brightly colored clothes and orange-to-blond hair. Tokyo ranked 14th this year in Global Language Monitor’s annual list of world fashion capitals, trailing Hong Kong and Shanghai in Asia.

The nation’s top climbing spot is the 3,776 meters-high (12,388 feet) Mount Fuji, within sight of Tokyo, where the number of trekkers rose 9.9 percent to 320,975 in July and August, according to a report by the Environment Ministry. About 12.3 million people hiked Japan’s mountains last year, compared with 590,000 in 2008, according to a 2010 Japan Productivity Center White Paper on Leisure, published in July.

“Mount Fuji seems to be a catalyst for many people,” said Machiko Ito, who plans trekking tours at Yama-kei Publishers Co. “It’s like going to Tokyo Disneyland -- people get this feeling that everyone else is going, so they will too.”

Alpine Tour and Yama-kei offered a women-only tour to Fuji for 28,000 yen ($347) in July, and plan two more all-female tours to other locations in December.

“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.”

Mountaineering is luring in females fans!? Really? There's no way my wife would climb a mountain like that. She is a typical Tokyo girl of her generation: that means boutiques and shopping centers are the extent of her recreational activities.


Wow! Maybe there more to going outdoors and just nature views too? Wow! Mountain climbing with girls in mini-skirts? Forgive me but this is definitely a case of "Ladies first!"


Read more at Bloomberg