Party dresses

Watching the fashion at Academy Award, I thought how American culture is attached to the dresses. From high school to the friend’s wedding party, they wear lots of dresses, and I always wonder why such nice custom was not imported to Japan from the US. Neither do we have dance parties, nor do any occasions that have us wear the dress except friend’s weddings. Maybe the Bon dance was supposed to be the one where a man and a woman meet in the ancient Japanese custom. I merely see it recently. Wearing Yukata (casual Kimono) is not common for Japanese anymore.

Anyhow, we buy a cheap looking dress which is made of polyester only for those occasions that hardly happen once or twice a year. I have ever attended the friend’s weddings less than ten times. Buying dresses do not worth just for sitting, eating and watching the bride and bloom. We do not dance at the party. There is no chance to come into direct contact with other person at the wedding party.

When I was a child, we were taught how to dance at elementary school, which is called “folk dance”. They said that this “folk dance” was introduced by GHQ (occupying forces of the Allies after the WWII). So we had a possibility to have similar dance party if things went well then. But the Japanese government forced us to do the “folk dance” as a course of physical education. Consequently the dance was going to be the most boring exercise in my life. Why did the 8 to 12 year old boys and girls have to dance by order? Moreover, the dance itself was not the one American people do, and we danced Hungarian or Ukrainian. And here’s the worst thing. Since I was a tall girl in the class, and the number of girls were over than boys, I sacrificed myself to act boy’s part for girls. It was a tragedy. I wonder that recent elementary school students have been forced dancing. I hope this nonsensical curriculum has been vanished forever.