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A video uploaded to YouTube titled “Japanese School Girl Chase” is gathering attention among fans of Japanese pop culture. It was released on July 15, and in a mere 10 days, the number of replays crossed 5 million. In addition, on July 24, the actor Russell Crowe posted a tweet about the video, saying, “What? Crazy!!”
Let us introduce the background of this video in a few sentences.
First, the story of the video is as follows:
1 The story starts with two regular girls––the likes of whom you could find anywhere––playing in a classroom, shooting videos of each other, when one of them suddenly gets embarrassed and says, “No, stop it, stop it,” and runs away.
2 The girl filming keeps muttering, “Why are you running away?” while chasing her friend who is trying to escape, with her phone in-hand. The running girl, however, exposes her “true nature” right away.
3 Doing somersaults one after another, climbing the walls of the schools, jumping down from a height of five stories... Oh, so they were high school ninja girls!
4 After that, both the escapee and the chaser reveal their ninjutsu skills generously: The ninja school girl drops makibishi (a kind of tool used to hamper the enemy in his movement, similar to caltrops); when caught, she turns into a log (maruta) in a school uniform as a substitute (another orthodox ninjutsu skill); and they dance in the air using “Musasabi no Jutsu” when jumping down from the roof of the castle.
5 Finally, it ends with the girl being caught at a sandy beachside. When they are about to open a bottle of a carbonated drink, smiling, the contents of the bottle spurt out with great strength as a result of their intense movements (by the way, this video is also a commercial of this particular carbonated beverage).
The focal point of the video is the beautiful and nimble movements of the girls. Two girls with the looks of a typical Japanese high school girl do intense action that makes their skirts flutter. Also, it is assumed that the video was made using a
smartphone and a wearable camera (maybe GoPro?), but in any case, it has succeeded in creating a reality that is like taking a glimpse into the everyday scenes of the life of a high school girl.
Moreover, the stage for this chase is none other than an old Japanese onsen city, Atami. The retro shopping district, the Kinomiya Shrine, Atami Castle, and Sun Beach that appear in the video are all popular spots for sightseeing in Atami. The rustic atmosphere oozing from the city also adds to the flavor of the video.
The person who plays the role of the escapee is a real high school girl by the name of Fuuka Yoshino who attends school in Hyogo Prefecture. However, we must add that she is more than a simple high school student. She has another side before being the ninja school girl. In the middle part of the video, there is a scene where she holds a boxing stance. There might be some people who had the impression that “She’s in really good shape”, and that is because she is actually a pro kickboxer. She is currently affiliated with a martial arts gym called Toshin Juku, and she made her pro debut two years ago. She has a record of four wins and two losses. She is 153 centimeters tall and participates in matches with a 45-48 kilogram catch-weight, which is slightly small in comparison with the average values of other third-year high school girls (height: 157.98 centimeters; weight: 52.64 kilograms). Nevertheless, her potential greatly exceeds her physique, as in June, the judges chose her as the 3-0 winner in her match against Momoka, who had previously won in the kickboxing tournament held by the organization Jewels.
Fuuka Yoshino’s real fight as a pro kickboxer starts from now. We look forward to the day when we hear people saying, “She was that ninja school girl,” after she becomes a top champion.
