Figure 1.--Here we see a group of Japanese children in 1910. I assume it is a schoo group. Mote the boys (but not the girls) have some kind of headdress. Also notice the boys do not have bathing shirts as Western boys and men had. Also notice how differently the girls are dressed. |
We do not know much about Japanese beach resorts and seaside history. Nor do we know much about beachwear, either swimwear or clothes worn at beach resorts. Styles appear to have been different than Wedtern styles, but we note some Western stles after World War I and a general shit to Western styles after World War II. We have no real information at this time, but we can begin to piece together some information from a few available images.
We know very little about Japanese beach resorts at this time. We do not know the names of the major resorts or when the beach became a popular vacation activity. We do note such images provided by a Japanese reader which show Japanese children enjoying the beach in the early 20th century. We do not, however, habe any written sources describing Japanese beach resorts and the history the seaside as a popular vacation destimation. We know that bathing in home and public facilities is very important to the Japanese. We are unsure how this has affected attitides toward sea bathing.
Nor do we know much about beachwear, either swimwear or clothes worn at beach resorts. Styles appear to have been different than Western styles, but we note some Western stles after World War I and a general shit to Western styles after World War II. We have no real information at this time, but we can begin to piece together some information from a few available images. Beach scenes often show children doing everything but swimming. We are not sure how common that was in Japan. We notice some images of Japanese children in swimming gear. Here we note both Western and traditional style swimwear. How common it was to get dressed up in suits or traditional clothes to play on the beach we are not sure.
We see many images of Western children at the beach at the turn of the 20th century. Most of the images show the children in suits rather than swimwear. It looks like swimming may hve been more common with Japanese children than Western children, but we have no actual information to substanyiate this.
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