Aaah, skirt lifting! Those were the days! Running through the hallways at school, twanging bra straps, calling your friends “gay” when they admitted to liking a girl…

If only we could bring a little bit of that revelry back into our adult lives without being arrested or shunned by friends.

Well, thanks to creative designer Kaori Kato’s new “Skirt-lifting Calendar”, from the beginning of 2013 you can lift a highschool girl’s skirt as often as you like without ever risking incarceration or bringing shame on your family…

Spotting the cheeky new calendar at this year’s Tokyo Art Book Fair, Japanese news site Excite Bit sat down with its creator, Kaori Kato, to find out a little more about her work.

“I actually first came up with the idea in 2007 when I was a student,” explains Ms. Kato, “it was intended to be part of an exhibition whose theme was ‘eroticism’, so I decided to combine the act of lifting or tearing off a page on a calendar with the infamous prank that we’ve seen so many times in schools….”

It’s a simple idea, but as we’ve seen time and time again, simple ideas are often the best. Each time you whip the skirt up or tear it off completely (you brute!), the next month’s page is revealed. What happens when you get to December? We couldn’t possibly imagine! Come on- this is RocketNews24; you know we’re all about good manners and refinement here…

▼Yoink! Kaori Kato lifts some fabric in the name of artistic creativity…

Despite the calendar being such a playful product, Ms. Kato is quite the stickler for minor details, and states that the design has gone through a number of alterations since it was initially conceived in 2007.

“I spent a lot of time fussing over getting the pleats in the skirt right;” tells the perfectionist, “I based the design on those cute uniforms I remember from high school, so I wanted to get the pleats just right and not have them fall in a straight line. It was important for me to get that nice cuuurvy shape!”

We admire your dedication to detail, Ms. Kato, we really do. If only every skirt-based creation had such heart and soul poured into it…

As Excite Bit’s reporter suggests, Ms. Kato’s 2013 calendar seems somehow a little less risqué than her earlier versions. The newer model comes complete with cute blue and white hall slippers, while the legs are noticeably shorter, creating an overall feelings of “playful” rather than “sexy”.

▼The old (left) and new (right) designs. Which do you prefer?

The new 2013 model is altogether less cluttered, and the new lighter colour blue certainly helps give the skirt a sense of depth. We’re still not sure which of the two we prefer, but maybe the newer model has a slightly less creepy vibe to it? Attendees at the Tokyo Book Fair were definitely amused by the calendar, with people of all ages taking the opportunity to lift a few layers, perhaps living out a life-long fantasy or reliving a childhood prank.

According to the creator, her next project will continue on the same theme, but focus on skirts akin to those worn by female pop idols Momoiro Clovers (or Momokuro, to their fans), most likely appealing to an entirely new demographic.

Yep, we could definitely see that working…

If you’re interested in picking up one of these unique calendars, you’ll need to be quick; Ms. Kato produces them all entirely independently and they are in limited supply. If you simply must rip off a girl’s skirt come January, you could try your luck at Village Vanguard stores across Japan, or pop along to their website where they retail for just 2,100 yen (US$25).

Well off you go, then!

Source/images: Excite Bit Momokuro image: NariNari