Japanese school uniforms bear an uncanny resemblance to the military outfits of 19th-century Europe -- high-collared Prussian-style tunics with brass buttons for boys and pleated navy blue skirts, white blouses with matching scarves and short white socks for girls.

CNN: A SOCK TO THE SYSTEM

The most outrageous offenders are known as ko-gyaru -- girls who sport big socks, short skirts, orange-dyed coiffures and heavy blue eye shadow.

CNN: A SOCK TO THE SYSTEM

He was wearing an elegant suit of a modern cut, the jacket purposefully small, the pants short enough to reveal his garishly printed socks.

NEWYORKER: Temporary

Then, in some trick of the light, or because she sagged her chin into her wrinkling neck, or her too short trousers rode up above her ankle socks as she was sitting cross-legged, Ally saw for a moment the old woman she would become, vulnerable and stubborn, cut adrift.

NEWYORKER: She��s the One

Because his pants were so short, she could see his legs where his socks ended.

NEWYORKER: Temporary