Figure 1.--These Japanese children in the early 1970s are participating in a Suzuki recital. Notice that the boy in the upper left hand corner wears white tights. |
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We note Japanese children wearing tights for a wide range of occassions. Tights in Japan were primarily seasonal wear. Thus they were most commonly worn in the colder winter months. Some Japanese mothers, however, considered them as appropriate for dress wear and thus used them when dressing their sons for especially formal occasions or special events like recitals. These seasonal and formal conventions are the primary factors associated with tights in Japan. We do note them being worn for both school and play. We also note a more recent convention with teenagers wearing tights as a kind of funky outfit with long jean shorts.
Many Japanese boys commonly wore tights to school. They were commonly worn with short pants. They were worn both at schools which required a uniform and the schools where uniforms were not required. Many boys wore them everyday in colder days specially in Kindergarten and the first and second grades of elementary school. While it was most common for these younger boys to wear tights, some older boys also wore them. Japanese schools, even uniform schools tended to be less strict about hosiery than many other uniform items. We note some schools in whih some children wear tights and others do not. At other schools, however, we note all the younger children wearing tights. So some schools clearly had school rules requiring tights be worn as part of the uniform or schoolwear. These rules seem to have not only varied by age, but also seasonally. We also note gender variations, especually with tights forst appeared. Warm clothing was not only the only reason for wearing tights. They wee also seen as formal wear. We note boys dressing up for First Day ceremonies with short pants suits and tights. White tights were the most common for formal occasions.
Japanese boys during the 1960s and 1970s, commonly wore tights in school plays (GAKUGEI-KAI). But this it is uncommon now.
Japanese boys sometimes also wore tights after school. This was especially common in northern Japan. Of course, when boys played roughly outdoor, tights often tear at the knee. As a result they were often not worn for rough outdoor play, but mainly in more gentle situations.
Japanese boys jused to almost always wear shirt pants when dressing up for formal occasions. Some boys might wear suits, but more commonly white shirts and ties were considered in appraopriate. This was because Jaopanese boys did not commonly wear suits. As a result, boys at music recitals commonly wear white shirts, ties, and short pants. While white kneesocks were perhaps most common at these recitals, tights were also worn. Black and white tights were the most common.
Another reason to wear tights was formal fashion. Of course, the formal fashion for boys usually required short pants, although that began to change in the 1990s, especially the late 1990s. Some mothers thought tights were especially appropriate for formal occasions--especilly during the cooler fall and winter months. One especially important formal occasion for a Japanese boy was his first day of school or entrance day. Boys going to private schools needed their suit for the school interview. Department stores always have a disply of new suits for the boys beginning school as well as advice on how he should be dressed. Often a suit was purchased especially for the event. Many boys, particularly in northern Japan, would wear their new suit with tights for the first day of school. A Japanese contributor reports that his mother insisted that he wear tights for a variety of formal occasions. Those included: entrance day of elementary school, attending wedding party, and many formal events that required that he wear a suit.
School entrance day: As I described before, at the entrance day of elementary school (at age 6 or 7), I and other boys all wore white tights with short pants suits (most of
us wore blazers).
Wedding party: The another situation when boys wore white tights was wedding parties.
We notice some images of Japanese teenagers wering tights with cut off jeans as a kind of funky outfit. We do not know how popular such a fashion is. This stands in sharp contrast with the younger boys wearing tights. Here the image is basically well behaved children, often nicely outfitted in formal clothes chosen by their parents. The teenagers wearing tights seem to be aiming at more of a funky rebellious image. We are not sure when this styl first appeared, but we first note it in 2005.
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