Figure 1.--Notice the boy at the right who wears his cap with a chinstrap. We are not sure yet how common this is. Notice that the other boys are not using the chinstraps. |
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We note that some Japanese school caps come with chin straps. The chin straps normally appear to be elasticized cord. This appears to be the case for several different styles of caps. Chin straps seem to be the most common with younger nursery or kindergarden children, but we note them in priamary school as well. It is not clear to us at this time just how common chin strps are. We even note then with cap styles for which chin straps are not normally worn--such as English style peaked caps. We note that some children from the same school wear them and others do not. Presumably this means that the caps come with chin straps and some children choose to wear them and others choes not to do so. We do not have details on uniform regulations at specific schools.
We note that some Japanese school headwear (both caps and hats) come with chin straps. It is not clear to us at this time just how common chin strps are. Quite a few Japanese schools included headwearv as part of their school uniform. Most of school headwear, as far as we can tell, came with chin straps. This is a little difficult to determine because the children do not always use the chin straps. Thus we are not entirely sure if there was a chinstrap or if the child just is not wearing it. Our feeling is most hd the chinstraps, but we can not yet conform that. We note chinstraps with rather surprising headwear like British style peaked school caps. We have never seen these caps with chinstraps in Europe or AZnerica. One of the few styles that did not have chin straps was the baseball cap. Some schools that did not have uniforms did require a cap, often in a bright color such as yellow or orange. This was a saftey measure to help motorists seen children coming and going to school. We are not sure what proprtion of Japanese schools required the children to wear caps or hats, but it appears a very large percentage of school headwear had chin straps.
The purpose of the chin strap was to ensure that the cap did not blow off in the wind. What we are unsure about is why this was of such great concern in Japan. As far as we know, no oyher country adooted school headwear with chin straps like the Japanese. We are not awate that Japan has especially windy weather, but that could be a factor. We suspect that an important factor is Japanese concern with children and child saftey. A uounger child could easily dash into Japan's notiously narrow and crowded streets, following his or her cap in a gust of wind. This seems understandable, what we fund interesting is why it was only the Japanese who insisted that their children wear these chin straps.
The chin straps normally appear to be elasticized cord attached to the cap. It could easily be tickred in the head band if a child chose not to wear it or even unattached. Virtually all Japanese school headwear game with the fixture to which the chin straps could be attached.
We notice Japanese school children wearingg chin straps with a wide range of school headwear styles. Chin straps appear to have been worn with virtually all the different styles of school headwear worn in Japan, both for boys and girls. Not all the children wear their chin straps, but virtually all the different caps and hats appear to have them. All of the commpn headwear styles such as floppy caps and Prussian cadet caps. They also were used on wide-brimmed rounded crown hats had them. We even note then with cap styles for which chin straps are not normally worn--such as English style peaked caps. The one major exception to the chin straps appears to be baseball caps.
Chin straps seem to be the most common with younger nursery or kindergarden children, but we note them in priamary school as well. Here the children were almost always required to wear caps or hats and many came with chin straps. They were also quite common for primary schools, althogh there were great vaiation from school to school. Some schools had no rules. Some schools insisted the younger children wear their caps with the chin straps, but were more flexible with the older children. Apparently some of the older children did not like the primary school cap styles, such as yellow caps to assist motirist spot children walking along the road. And wearing the chin straps was also some thing some older children did not like. Chins straps were not worn secondary schools, at least since World war II. I'm not sure about before the War.
I remember having a cowboy hat with a chin strap. I alwaus wore it infront of my ears. And in the movies when cowboys used their chinstraps, they almost used them in front of their ears. Japanese school children seem to have always worn their chinstraps behund thei ears. We are not sure why this was the preferred positioning.
We note that some children from the same school wear their caps with chin straps and some do not. Presumably this means that the caps come with chin straps and some childreb choose to wear them and others choes not to do so. We do not have details on uniform regulations at specific schools. It is clear, however, that some schools insisted the boys wear their chin straps. We see somw scenes where all the children are wearing their caps with the chin straps. This almost certainly means that the school insisted. Some Japanese readers have mentioined to us that some schools did insist on this. While at some schoools all the children wear their caps with the chin straps, at other schools thre olfder children tend to wear their caps without the chin straps. It is difficult to tell, but it seems when optional the children, at least the boys, tended not to use the chin straps. We are less sure about the girls.
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