TR Review: Japanese Schoolgirl Confidential

?First things first: this is not a dirty book. Despite its salacious title, Japanese Schoolgirl Confidential is a fun, thoughtful examination of the Japanese cultural phenomenon that is the sailor-suited schoolgirl. Written by Kotaku‘s Brian Ashcraft and his wife (and actual former Japanese schoolgirl) Shoko Ueda, the book covers the major schoolgirls in all forms of media; pop music, idols, anime, videogames, movies, etc, which is great for those not intimately knowledgeable of Japanese cultural. As a guy who’s actually interested in the inner workings of pop culture, I think the historical look at the schoolgirls — everything from the first school to dress its students in western-style sailor suits to the first high school-aged pop star, who appeared on her album cover in her school uniform — is the strongest part of the book, but then, I’m a bit past Japanese pop culture 101. The only part of the book that is actively bad is commentary by actual Japanese girls at the end of each chapter; I understand the theory behind it, but all their comments are so maddeningly bland and general that the girls don’t even seem vapid, they sound little their dialogue was scripted by some hopelessly uncool middle-aged man somewhere.

That said, it’s a solid, informative, fun book, especially for people who enjoy studying pop culture like myself; at the very least, it makes a great mini-art book of famous Japanese schoolgirls of the last 50 years. You can order Japanese Schoolgirl Confidential at Amazon right here for a mere $11.53.