Japanese School Gym: Uniforms


Figure 1.--These children attended a primary school in Itabashi, one of the 23 special wards of Tokyo. Their gym uniform is special T-shirts wuth the name of the school. We are not sure if the blue short pants are gym shorts or the uniform shorts they wear to school. At this school, the children do gym barefoot.

The most destinctive clothes worn at are of course for gym. We are not sure about gym trends before World War II. After the War we see children doing gym in T-shirts and shorts. The boys and girls wore the same uniform. There were differences between primary and secondary schools. Some Japanese primary children appear to do gym in their school uniforms or the clothes they wear to school. Many primary and all secondar schools seem to have gym uniforms. White shorts are a popular choice. We also note white shirts and dark, usually dark blue shorts. The T-shirts often have colored trim and/or the school nane or logo. Other schools have more destinctive shorts, sometimes with stripes. Most children did gym in sneakers, but a few primary schools have the children do gym in bare feet. Many primary children wear sneakers to school. I think they wear the same sneakers for gym, but am not positive about it. Many primary schools have blue short pants like the ones here as part of the school uniform. At secondary school, the students normally wear dark shoes and have white sneakers for gym. A reader writes, "My guess would be that since this is Japan, the blue shorts the boys in the image here are wearing are for gym only; otherwise the shorts could get dirty from sports and that would be very unlikely the school authorities would encourage them to wear dirty clothes or to worry about that issue when they would want the children to do their best."






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Created: 5:36 AM 3/20/2011
Last updated: 7:35 AM 3/21/2011