Japan’s opinon on gauging/plugs

I'm going on a year long high school exchange to japan, and I currently have my ears stretched to half an inch, my host family has told me they don't mind my ears and actually like them! :D (I dont know if they are just saying that to be polite?) But I was wondering what is japan's general opinion on gauging (as a teen im 17) I know I have to take them out for school but that is all I currently know

"Common" piercing in Japan in general stops at piercing the earlobes for earrings, and I believe some high schools prohibit that. So people start getting piercing only after they finish high school.

Once they get their earlobes pierced, nowadays some guys enjoy wearing an earring on one ear only. But even among women, having pierced ears is not majority.

With ear piercing, the holes are rather inconspicuous when you take out the earrings. I don't know if the same applies to gauging. It will certainly attract some attention, and I might recommend leaving out the plugs altogether during your one year in high school in Japan. Maybe it's just me. (From a Japanese woman old enough to be your mom)

I've been living in Tokyo area for decades, have a son in his youth, and am quite engaged in the pop culture due to my profession, but I've never seen a real ear that has been stretched by gauging.

So I would say that most people, let alone teenagers with less experiences in life, will be surprized to say the least.

But I don't necessarily think that your host parents are just being polite. I can guess that they are one of those people who prefer to enjoy differences.

By the way, most public senior high schools in our city of Yokohama allow ear-piercing and hair-dye. Many students wish to attend public schools over private, just for this reason.

Thank you, Uco-san, for the info on schools. I was the first poster above, I was unsure about school rules nowadays :)

Where I live it is still the norm for high schools to prohibit earrings on their students, especially male students. Unless you have prior permission from the school, I would fully expect that they would require you to remove your plugs when you are on school grounds.