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Kyoto University Allows Students To Wear Anything For Graduation, Here Are 35 Most Amazing Outfit Ideas
College graduation is one of the most memorable days of your student life. Solemn speeches, joy that years of study are already behind, sadness from parting with classmates, strict elegant suits and dresses …
Wait wait… are we really talking about the graduation ceremony? It depends a lot on the university. For example, Kyoto University, one of the second oldest and largest universities in Japan after the University of Tokyo, has a long tradition of gathering hundreds of photographers and journalists as well as relatives of students each year for its graduation ceremony. .
There are good reasons for this – Kyoto Universitycollaborates with Kyoto City University of Arts to officially allow students to wear whatever they like to the graduation ceremony. Pikachu or Darth Vader? you’re welcome! A power ranger or a couple of funny zombies? With great pleasure! Samurai, Mona Lisa or Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles? We just said – anyone or anything!
bored panda has collected the best, most creative, silly, and funniest outfits from Kyoto University’s graduation ceremony over the years. Please scroll to the end of this list and mark your favorite submissions. College students, please try to propose the same tradition at your university. Maybe you too will go down in history.
More information: Kyoto University
Japanese students usually wear suits, dresses and traditional women’s hakama for their graduation ceremony, but Kyoto University has taken its own path, and this path cannot but be admired. After all, universities have always been the center of creative thinking since ancient times. Why not give your graduates a chance to express themselves after graduation?
“Universities have a long tradition of being kind of anti-authoritarian, so even though they don’t endorse it officially, I guess its roots go way back,” says David Hajime Kornhauser. says. Director of International Affairs, Kyoto Universitywith who bored panda I got in touch. “I didn’t wear a gown at my graduation ceremony in America. So for me, it’s rather natural. In other words, it’s kind of a personal preference, and people want to be kind of traditional.” or are you simply doing something to express yourself in some other way?”
“For a long time, students at this university seem to choose to be who they want to be. But it’s really not a lot. Mainly, it’s less than 10 %. , they try to sit in the front, so they stand out. Yes,” says David.
“Because the school has a strong anti-authoritarian tradition, which manifests in many other ways, there are other areas in which the university is known to be anti-authoritarian. In November, when there is a big festival and a group of students try to climb the building, the university hates it and tries to prevent it from happening.
“But this is nothing compared to the ’70s, when students were occupying buildings. There were riot police and water cannons, just a riot and fires burning, all sorts of things on top of that. There were students all the time, helmets on and riot shields on and roofs on, so if you look back in the last 50 years, you can see things were a lot more, well, colorful than they are now,” David said. recalls.
“There are some pretty interesting novels written about college, and some of these have also been made into popular animated series and films about the culture of the student environment. Appearances and mysteriously decorating statues of former presidents, this is a different kind of traditional event. And all of this is not tolerated. …but it’s part of the school tradition,” says David Hajime Kornhauser.
“The costume tradition definitely goes back to the early ’70s, when student protests were commonplace, so basically all over the world. Partly because of the Vietnam War In the United States, the Mutual Defense Treaty was being renegotiated, and it was very popular among students to protest against it. So it’s just a combination.”
“I think that dressing up for graduation is not watered-down, but a current manifestation of the spirit of defying authority,” speculates David.
“The opportunities students are given to express themselves and to demonstrate their individuality and fantasies to others are not only a phenomenon of self-presentation of the alumni personality, but also a system for managing public attention. As an institution that encourages exclusivity, originality and creativity in its students, it is also important to promote the university’s unique brand in the educational services market.” CMO of Odessa State University of EconomicsBored Panda asked me to comment on this tradition among Japanese colleagues.
“Such a pedagogical approach is undoubtedly very highly, both in terms of educating students as bright and original personalities, and in creating a non-standard image of a university whose traditions the whole world knows. We are successful, ”says Yanislava Goncharenko.
“It has enormous cultural power. But at the same time, most people who work in administrative departments at universities, like this kind of conservative group I’m talking about, I don’t know, they don’t And in line with that, most of the office staff aren’t college graduates, so they don’t come from this kind of tradition, they don’t feel that way, and maybe they’re missing out on one of the most powerful forms of marketing. So are the tools,” thinks David.
“They will see this as a copyright issue, because the manga and its main characters are intellectual property impersonators like publishers, animation companies, etc.,” continues David Hajime Kornhauser. “That’s one of the reasons they’re hesitant, because they can’t get approval from anyone, and they worry about copyright claims from publishers, TV studios, etc. And they don’t.” Well, that’s one of the reasons they’re hesitant.”
Interestingly, in 2011 the university authorities tried to finish Tradition by officially warning future graduates that only classical or folk costumes are allowed at the ceremony. The result was public outrage, not only in Kyoto, but throughout Japan, and interest in the university plummeted, until the following year everything was back to normal.
“Rectors and other top officials are usually alumni themselves and are usually more attuned to student sentiments than university administrators. No, it’s kind of anti-authoritarian,” explains David Hajime Kornhauser.
“Maybe a group of students or someone went upstairs and said they had to do it. So these things actually happen a lot. It’s pretty common,” David said. says.
“Our university is very conservative in many ways. When it comes to dress code at the ceremony, graduates receive their diplomas in traditional gowns. But it is interesting to try the same idea. It is It could be an interesting and successful experiment, one that would help bring originality to the image of a classical university with centuries of well-established traditions,” argues Yanislava Goncharenko.
Kyoto University was founded in 1897, but it’s not afraid to challenge established classical trends. Such an approach fully justifies itself – after all, among university graduates there are a lot of truly creative people. 2019 Nobel Prize Winners in Chemistry Akira Yoshino (don’t forget to thank him for his inventions when you charge your smartphone’s lithium-ion battery!) and the famous Japanese author Teru Takakura. Of course, flashy prom costumes don’t necessarily make you famous, but hey, creativity should take its chances anyway!