Figure 1.--Japanese boys by the 1950s were commonly wearing much short short pants with a wide vaeiety of shorts. This clothing ad probably dates to the 1980s. |
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Japanese boys in the 20th century, especially after World War I (1914-18) have generally wore Western clothes. 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.
Headwear has been different. Younger children wore a wide range of different hat and cap styles. Baseball caps became very popular with older boys in the post-War era. Boys wore a varity of caps to school both as part of uniforms and at schools which did not require uniforms. They were ofen bright color, a saftey measure to help motorists spot the children walking to school.
Japanese boys wore traditional clothes in the 19th century. And in the early 20th century as they began to shift to western-style clothes, few boys wore suits. As a result we do not see Jzpanese boys wearing the varied suit styles common in the West during those periods. We do not see Japanese boys wearing suits to any extent yntil after Worlfd war II (1939-45). At this time, Japanese children's clothes becomes much more westernized during the American occipation. This was not something that was imposed on Japsn\, but the result of Japanese fashion trends. Even so, Japanese boys do not wear suits naerly as commonly as American and European schools. Few Japanese are Christians where they would dress up each Sunday for church. One of the most common reasons for buying a suit is when families apply to private schools to enroll their children and then also at the entrance ceremony. Boys also wore suits to public schools for specual occassions. Suits are also sometimes worn by older boys when they graduate from elementary school. Most of the boys, however, wear their new junior high school uniform for the graduation ceremony. For many years short pants suits were popular for pre-teen boys. We notice catalogs in the 2000s offereing tuxedos. We are not sure how common they were.
We have little information about Japanese smocks. As far as we can tell, few Japanese boys have worn smocks. The only photograph we have found has been a Japanese boy, probably about 1930 wearing what looks like a smock. The time line here is relatively narrow because until after Wotld War I, Japanese boys mostly wore traditional clothes. The major exception here appears to be schoolwear. We see some modern pre-school children wearing smocks. This appdears to be fairly common in pre-schools. We are not sure about the chronology here. We have yet to see boys wearing smocks, however, in primary school.
Boys wore a wide range of shirts. Casual "T"-shirts or other casual styles were very popular.
Japanese boys have traditionally worn both short and long pants with a sharp age divide. Primary school boys usually wore short pants of varying styles depending on the time period. As soon as they graduated from elementary school at about 12 years of age they immediately syopped wearing short pants. Only in the 1990s have older boys begun wearing shorts, but only casual shorts--never dressy ones. We notice boys athletic wearing trainer pants and jeans in the 1980s.
I am not sure about Jaoanese boy's hosiery in the early 20th century. We know that long stockings were worn in cold weather. After World war II, Japanese boys commonly wore long stockings, especially during cool weather. An example is a younger boy in 1947. They were replaced by tights in the 1950s, although we are not sure about the precise chronology. Kneesocks were also popular. Japanese boys often wore white socks, both ankle socks and kneesocks. Tube socks caught on very big in Japan during the late 1970s, reaching a peak of popularity in the mid 80s when the great majority of boys out of uniform wore very short shorts and tube socks, often with even more elaborate stripes than were true in the States. Even boys in school uniforms wore striped tube socks at schools that had no sock uniform requirement. Other than blue jeans (resisted by many schools and many parents), that was the first piece of American boys fashion to catch on big in Japan. Other American styles were to follow in its wake--the baggy casual shorts. In fact, Japanese boys have hung on to tube socks and still wear them with the modern knee length shorts--it looks rather strange in comparison to how Japanese boys used to dress.
Traditional footwear in Japan was the zori sandal which appears to have been the inspiration to the modern flip-flop. Leather shoes have been worn much less than in Europe. Boys generally wore sneakers after World War II, except for very formal occasions. I'm not sure just why this was, but believe sneakers were less expensive than leather shoes.
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