[sarasi]

You bring up some very interesting points. I'll just comment on a couple because I have to go out soon. Gym classes at my first high school in New Zealand were segregated, and do you know, I never gave it a thought at the time, it just seemed normal to me.

I will have to think about it, but I don't know how non-segregated gym classes would have worked- school boys in NZ spend a lot of time on rugby, and you really don't want boys and girls playing proper rugby together, people are going to get crushed!

We actually didn't have a trouser option with our uniform although some schools do these days (uniforms are the norm in NZ in public as well as private schools, right from primary school), but boys not being able to wear skirts isn't just a school uniform thing, is it- a salaryman wearing a skirt suit to work here would cause mayhem as well. That's just a societal thing, in no way limited to Japan, so I can't really say it's something I don't like about Japan.