New school in Futaba, new fancy uniforms

January 4, 2015

New Fukushima school has uniforms created by AKB48 costume designer

Uniforms by AKB48 designer Shinobu Kayano for the Futaba Future School. (Image courtesy of the Fukushima Prefectural Board of Education)

拡大写真

http://mainichi.jp/english/english/features/news/20150104p2a00m0et001000c.html

Shinobu Kayano, the woman behind all-girl pop group AKB48's flamboyant costumes, has designed the student uniforms for the Futaba Future School, a combined junior-senior high school set to open in Hirono, Fukushima Prefecture, in April 2015.

The Futaba Future School is part of local efforts to restore the educational framework for residents of Fukushima Prefecture's Futaba district, host to the crippled Fukushima No. 1 nuclear plant.

The school's logo was proposed by award-winning advertising creative director Hiroshi Sasaki, who is also a member of the "Futaba no kyoiku fukko oendan" (Futaba education recovery support group). The uniforms were commissioned by Fukushima Prefecture after AKB48 founding producer Yasushi Akimoto -- also a member of the Futaba education group -- introduced Kayano to the project.

The uniforms for both girls and boys are anchored by navy blue, with jacket collars bordered in white. The trousers are a checkered grey pattern, while the skirts are done a green and light blue tartan -- designs intended to "look smart, stylish and elegant." Kayano also used cloth with elastic properties, making sure the uniforms would be comfortable as well as nice to look at.

For the logo, Sasaki transformed the kanji characters for "future" (mirai) into a pattern resembling the complex frame of a building. Swooping around the graphic is "Futaba Future School" in all-caps English, making the entire logo look somewhat like a fuzzy dandelion head. The resemblance is not accidental. The design apparently includes "the desire for the students' academic success to reach the entire world."

The Futaba Future School will have about 120 places, and junior high school students from the Futaba district will be given preferential admission for 70 percent of those spots. The remaining 30 percent will be filled by children from outside Futaba in a single-round application and screening process. Applications will be accepted from Jan. 20-23, 2015, and the entrance exam will be conducted on Feb. 3. Successful applicants will be notified on Feb. 6.

January 04, 2015(Mainichi Japan)