|
Japanese school trends have to be put in the context of what was happening in the country at the time. Japanese cities had been largely destroyed during the War and with them the country industrial and infrastructure base. The Japanese economic miracle had just begun in the early-50s, spurred in by the Korean War and American military build-up. By the end of the decade, Japan was no longer just recovering, it was more prosperous than it had been before the War and most Japanese had achieved an unprecedented level of prosperity. This trasferred both to the consumer spending on children and their clothes as well as public spending on schools. And a great deal of spending was required. A large number of schools had been destroyed in the War. In addition to the economic changes, General MacArthur oversaw a new Westetn-style constitution and a fundamental social reformation. And one of the most pronounced changes was in women's rights. We see this in Japanese schools. Promary schools shofted to coeducation and we see more ladt teachers. A little harder to see is the fact that equal attention was given to the education of boys and girls. Japan had an ecellent education system before the War, certainly the best in Asia. School trends varied significantly at the primary and secondary level. Japanese primary schools by the early-1950s had a very different look than pre-War schools. Single gender schools virtually disappear at the primary level. Almost all Japanese primary schools become coeducational, except for private schools. We begin to see some more female teachers. Schoolwear also changed. Gradually the army uniforms were dropped during the late-40s at most schools. We are not sure to what this dichotomy should be atributed. And we see the children wearing their ordinary clothes to school. Traditional clothing also disappeared during the late-40s and we no longer see them to any extent, even in rural areas. Rather the children are wearing Western-styled clothing.
Japanese school trends have to be put in the context of what was happening in the country at the time. Japanese cities had been largely destroyed during the War and with them the country industrial and infrastructure base. The Japanese economic miracle had just begun in the early-50s, spurred in by the Korean War and American military build-up. By the end of the decade, Japan was no longer just recovering, it was more prosperous than it had been before the War and most Japanese had achieved an unprecedented level of prosperity.
This trasferred both to the consumer spending on children and their clothes as well as public spennding on schools. And a great deal of spending was required. A large number of schools had been destroyed in the War. Thus by the end of the decade, Japan probably had the most modern school infrastructure in the world. In addition to the economic changes, General MacArthur oversaw a new Westetn-style constitution and a fundamental social reformation. And one of the most pronounced changes was in women's rights. We see this in Japanese schools. Primary schools shifted to coeducation and we see more lady teachers. A little harder to see is the fact that equal attention was given to the education of boys and girls. Japan had an ecellent education system before the War, certainly the best in Asia.
We see some changes in schoolwear at Japanese schools during the 1950s. Many promary schools discontinued uniforms, but the secondary schools continued them. The army style uniforms adoped during the l930s had disappered, but the cadet-style uniforms were still common. We see them in the primary schools and they were almost universal in the secondary schools as were sailor outfits for girls. We do not yet see the smart European fashions that became popular in the 1960s at both uniform and non-uniform primary schools. The children do, however, seem to be more smartly dressed at the end of the decade. Here Japan's economic success and rising personl incomes must have been a factor. Boys in the 1950s continued to wear the long, sometimes baggy shorts that were common in the 1940s. We see some American styles, but blue jeans do not seem common. We do not see many boys waring knee socks, but long stockings were still common for the younger boys and girls. We re not sure just when tights replaced the long stockings, perhaps as early as the late-60s.
School trends varied significantly at the primary and secondary level. Japanese primary schools by the early-1950s had a very different look than pre-War schools. Single gender schools virtually disappear at the primary level. Almost all Japanese primary schools become coeducational, except for private schools. We begin to see some more female teachers. Schoolwear also changed. Gradually the army uniforms were dropped during the late-40s at most schools. We are not sure to what this dichotomy should be atributed. And we see the children wearing their ordinary clothes to school. Traditional clothing also disappeared during the late-40s and we no longer see them to any extent, even in rural areas. Rather the children are wearing Western-styled clothing. Boys tended to wear simple shirts and pants, both long and short pants. Shorts become muh more common in the 1960s, but in the 50s we seem to see more of a mix. The shorts were shorter than the knee-length pants common before the War, but they were not the extremely short shorts we begin to see in the 1960s. Hosiery was mostly ankle socks, although some children did not wear socks at all. During the winter we see many boys wearing long pants. Younger boys might wear shorts with long stockings. Girls wore dresses or blouses and skirts. A few schools continued to wear military uniforms, but this was almost always cadet uniforms and not the army uniforms common before the War. Presumably they had too much of a World war II military look, although for some reason the Prussian cadet uniforms persisted, although we rarely see the girls' sailor dresses at the primary level. Often we see a mix of uniforms and regular clothes. pparently the schools set a uniform, at least for the boys, but were rather relaxed about children wehi did bnot wear it. Changes at secondary schools were less vissible, but very significant. The secondary system was significantly expanded. Before the War, a relatively limited part of the primary school population went on the secondary school. By the 1950s, most Japanese chilldren attended secondary schools. And they ciontinued to be mostly single-gender schools. The schools uniforms continued to require uniforms. We still see the cadet uniforms for boys and sailor outfits for girls. We no longer see the Army uniforms that many boys wore before the War.
Related Chronolgy Pages in the Boys' Historical Web Site
[20th century]
[The 1900s]
[The 1910s]
[The 1920s]
[The 1930s]
[The 1940s]
[The 1950s]
Navigate the Boys' Historical Clothing School Uniform Pages
[Return to the Post-war 20th century Japanese school decade trends page]
[Return to the Main Japanese School Uniform Chronology Page]
[Australia]
[England]
[France]
[Germany]
[Ireland]
[Italy]
[Japan]
[New Zealand]
[Scotland]
[United States]
Related Style Pages in the Boys' Historical Web Site
[Long pants suits]
[Short pants suits]
[Socks]
[Eton suits]
[Jacket and trousers]
[Blazer]
[School sandals]
Navigate the Boys' Historical Clothing Web Page
[Return to Main school uniform page]
[Introduction]
[Activities]
[Biographies]
[Chronology]
[Cloth and textiles]
[Clothing styles]
[Countries]
[Topics]
[Bibliographies]
[Contributions]
[FAQs]
[Glossaries]
[Images]
[Links]
[Registration]
[Tools]
[Boys' Clothing Home]
