Figure 1.--Western dress was not worn in Japan until the opening to the West initiated by Comodore Perry in the mid-19th century. It continued to be coomonly worn until the turn of the 20th century. I do not know if traditional Japanese dress had specialized boys' garments or if men and boys wore basically the same styles.

Japanese children's clothes, as do the clothes chosen for children in other countries, reflect large social, political, and economic trends. Often these trends are difficult to assess and isolate. In Japan these forces have been much more obvious. The Japanese militarists who seized control of the country proceeded to outfit children, boys and girls, for the new public education system in military uniforms to be regimented for building a new Japan. Japanese children made the transition to western dress before many of their parents. After the cataclysm of World War II (1941-45) the Japanese again turned to Europe choosing briefly cut short pants to please their mother's fashion sense and their father's desire to toughen them up. The power of tradition is no where more obvious than the fact that secondary school boys continue to wear Prussian cadet uniforms 125 years after Prussia disappeared and after enduring one of the most cataclysmic military defeats in modern history.

Historical Trends

Japan with the assistance of the weather was one of the few countries to wiyhstand the Mongol onslaught. Its island have allowed it to develop a destinctive civilization, if rent by internal war for long periods. Unlike many countries, Japan managed to strictly control European traders and military expansion. The Industrial Revolution change this by providing Europeans industrial and military power that the traditional civilizations of Asia could not resist. India was the first major Asian area to sucumb to European expansion. After the Napoleonic Wars, Europe began to use its growing military power to expand into Europe. China's weakness was made manifest in the Opium Wars. Following the Opium Wars in short order the other civilizations of Asia were brought within the otbit of the world economy dominated by Europe. Commodore Perry openedcJapan with his famed black ships. The reaction in Japan, however, was radically different than that of the rest of Asia.

Chronological Trends

Japan until the Meenji Restoration (1867) was a largely feudal society. We do not have much information on clothing before the Menji Restoration, but it was traditional costumes that were as far as we can tell largely unchanged over hundreds of years. Japanese people today dress up in these traditional outfits, but it should be remembered that the traditional outfits worn by most Japanese people were much more plain than the fancy costimes and bright colors commonly worn today. After the Menji Restoration you begin to see Western dress, especially in the cities. To some extent it was seen as an aspect of moderniization. Western-style school uniforms were adopted for the new national school system. It was not until after World war II that Western dress became widely worn in the countryside. Even though Japan was occupied by the Americans, European-style clithes becne very popular for children in Japan. The short pants Japanese boys wore became destinctive by the 1970s. Beginning in the 1990s, Japanese children began to wear many of the same stules popular in American and Europe. Traditional clothes have not disappeared in Japan and are often worn by children for special occassions.

Garments

Japanese boys wore traditional in the 19th century. The Menji Resoration (1868) began a process of modernization in Japan, but boys for the most part wore traditional clothing in the late 19th and early 20 centuries. Girls were even slower to change. Japanese boys in the 20th century, especially after World War I (1914-18) have generally wore Western clothes. The transition to modern or Wstern garments was slower in rural areas than in the cities. Boys have, however, worn suits much less than American and European boys. Headwear has been different. Few Japanese boys have worn smocks, except for schoolwear. Boys wore a wide range of shirts. Casual "T"-shirts or other casual styles were very popular. Boys commonly wore short pants. Initially long baggy ones, but after Japan's defeat in World War II the European fashion of briefly cut shorts became very popular. Leather shoes have been worn much less than in Europe. Boys generally wore sneakers after World War II, except for very formal occasions.

Figure 2.--Elementary age Japanese boys also wore short pants for dress wear. The shorts were generally quite short. Longer styled shorts did not begin to appear until the mid-1990s.

Hair

We do not have much information about Japanese hair styles at this time. Our archive of Japanese hair styles is still relatively limited. We note many boys wearing cropped hair in the early 20th century. I am not entirely sure why this was so common. I believe the schools reqyuired it. The cut has a military look to it. This continued after World War II, but generally disappeared in the 1950s. Since then the principal hair style has been bangs. Here both boys and girls wear bangs. There are several ways of curring bangs. Some boys wear short hair so the bangs are not very pronounced. We also note a kind of shaggy bangs as well as bangs that are very sharply cut.

Activities

We have not yet developed much information on the clothes worn by Japanese boys involved in various activities. In most insrances Japanese boys wear the same garments and styles assiciated with these activities as are common in the West. There are some activities in which traditional dress is worn. Spoerts outfits are virtually identical. We note boys wearing Wesrern garments with a destinctive Jaoanese look for some fine arts avtivities, especially music. We do have pages on music in Japan, both information on choirs and bands. We also have some information on sports.

Uniforms

Most Japanese boys wear school uniforms, especially in secondary schools. The Scout movement, however, is much more limited in Japan than in America or Europe

Figure 3.--Japanese school children, like these pupils on a field trip, often wear short pants uniforms. Blue shorts and white knee socks are one of the most common uniforms. The uniform includes pink caps that both the boys and girls are wearing. Note several boys have not pulled up their knee socks.

School uniforms

Many schools require the short pants be worn with knee socks, usually white knee socks although, grey knee socks and white ankle socks are also common. Japanese elementary school uniforms were not as elaborate as British uniforms. The children do not commonly wear ties and blazers, although some private schools do have the more elaborate uniforms. Almost all private Japanese elementary schools (about 1/3 of the schools) require school uniforms. Almost all of these schools make short pants a required part of the uniform--usually very short and boys are required to wear them through the winter. Many public schools also have uniforms, also often with short pants. The Japanese appear to believe that short pants help to toughen boys. Many parents until quite recently made boys wear shorts all year long. Only very recently has the fashion shifted from neat, tight, very short shorts to floppy American-style knee-length shorts. School uniforms are all still the former. School uniforms are very common in Japanese schools. There is no national standard, but rather determined by individual schools. Elementary children wear a variety of uniforms and short pants, but not blazers and ties are common. Secondary schools have commonly adopted a military style uniform. (The girls wear sailor suits.) The schools have enforced the uniforms regulations very strictly. A much used Japanese saying is, "The nail that sticks up gets hammered down.") And that is just how children who deviated from the often strict regulations. Many secondary schools in the 1990s are shifting to a more British look of blazers and ties with long pants and skirts. Everything changes for Japanese boys when they leave elementary school. One aspect of this is their clothes. Boys appear to stop wearing short pants. I have no detailed information on this. Apparently the language barrier prevents Japanese contributions to this site. (Japanese are among the most frequent visitors to HBC, but no one from Japan has yet commented or communicated with the web master which is a pity.) Thus I can only deduce trends based on a variety of pictures I have seen. They suggest that through about 11, which would correspond to elementary school that boys primarily wore shorts. Then there is an almost universal transition which I assume is when the boys begin intermediate or junior high school that they stop wearing shorts. Even casual and leisure shorts are rarely seen on 12-13 year olds.

Scouts

Japanese Boy and Cub Scouts have traditionally worn shorts, but a major uniform change occurred in 1990. Cubs wear a blue uniform similar to the one worn by American cubs from the 1940s-mid1980s. Japanese Scouts wore a tan uniform with short pants and knee socks year round. A new uniform introduced in 1990 has long pants with a summer option for shorts. Most of the boys usually wear the long pants. Fuller details on the Cub and Scout uniforms are available on the Boys Historical Uniform satellite site. See the HBC Web Master for access details.

Families

Family images are an espection interesting section of HBC. Immages of families provide insights as to the clothing worn by not only boys at different times, but also the other members of the family. Family images provide fascinating insights into life style trends, in some instances the inside of Japanese homes. Here we have just begun to collect such images.

Individual Experiences

We do not have many personal accounts from Japan yet. A Japanese reader has provided us a fascination account about his experiences as a National Boy during World War II.

Navigate the Boys' Historical Clothing Japanese pages:
[Main Japanese page]
[Choirs] [Department store catalogs] [Monarchy] [Movies] [Music recitals] [School uniforms] [Scouts]

Created: April 14, 1988
Spell checked: July 26, 1999
Last updated: 12:42 AM 4/17/2008