Kogal
Kogals (コギャル kogyaru) are a subculture of girls and young women in urban Japan. They are characterized by high disposable incomes and unique tastes in fashion, music, and social activity.
Kogals are known for wearing platform boots and microskirts, copious amounts of makeup, hair coloring (usually blond), artificial suntans, school uniforms, and designer accessories. They are also Japan's most visible consumers of the Japanese cell phone technology. They tend to live for shopping, and their culture centers around the the Shibuya district of Tokyo. The materialism and social-dependency that underlies the kogal-trend may reflect the insecurities of high-school students.
Many kogals support their lifestyle with allowances from wealthy parents. Others appear in underground pornography to finance their habits. Many more engage in the practice of "compensated dating," or enjo kōsai, a form of quasi-legal prostitution that has become heavily associated with kogals (to the point where many Western observers interpret "kogal" to mean "prostitute").
The kogal phenomenon emerged in the mid-1990s and is still going strong today.
The term's etymology is disputed: the most common theory is that it was derived from the Japanese word for "high school," kōkō (高校), although others claim that it comes from ko (子), the Japanese word for "child."