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We have only begun to build a chronology of post-war Japanese schools. Before abd during the War most Jpanese school children wore uniforms. The primary exception was rural schools. Many children there wore traditional clothing to school. In the cities the primary children mpstly wore basic military-styled clothing. The boys wore army uniforms with short pants. The girls wore sailor suits. At scondary schools the boys wore cadet uniforms ad the girls sailor suits. This did not immediately change after the War. We still see primary children continue to wear uniforms for a few years. Gradually the army uniforms were dropped at most schools. Many primary schools dropped uniforms, especially military uniforms. Tradiitional clothing also disappered at school. Many primary schools became coeducational. By the 1960s we begin to see children wearing smarter, European styled clothes. Some schools had uniforms, but uniforms based on European children's styles.
Japanese schools were little changed in the immediate post-War years, except the military was no longer involved. We continue to see mostly men teachers. Before and during the War, most Japanese school children wore uniforms. We see the same military styled uniforms that we saw before and during the War. By the end of the decade, the unifirnse becoming less common at primary schools. The primary exception was rural schools. Many children there wore traditional clothing to school at the time the War ended, but this rapidly disappeared and was not very common by the end of the decasde. In the cities the primary children mpstly wore basic military-styled clothing. The boys wore army uniforms with short pants. The girls wore sailor suits. At scondary schools the boys wore cadet uniforms and the girls sailor suits. This did not immediately change after the War. We still see primary children continue to wear uniforms for a few years. The boys here in 1947 are a good example (figure 1).
Japanese primary schools by the early-1950s had a very different look than pre-War schools. Single gender schools disappear. Virtually all 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. 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. Boys tended to wear simple shirts and short pants. The shorts were lon longer the knn-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 miklitary uniforms, but this was almost always cadet unifirms and not the aermy uniforms common before the War. 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.
By the 1960s we begin to see children wearing smarter, European styled clothes. This was mostly at primary schools because almost all seciondary scchools had largely standardized uniforms. Our information is still limited on the 1960s. We see a gradual transition so that schoolwear by the end of the decade was quite different than the beginning at the decade at primary scchiools. At the secondary schools uniforms were lrgely unchanged, although a greatly expanded secondary sysyem was widely established. We see primary children in the early 60s wearing a mix of uniforms and regular clothes. The uniforms we see the boys wearing cadet unifiorms with both short and long pants, but enforcement seems lax as many boys do not wear them. And perhaps a reflection of Japan's growing prosperity, the clothes look much more stylish than thosw worn in the 50s. Short pants seem to becoming increasingly common. For some reason the primary girls rarely wear uniforms, especially in the early years of the decade. By the end of the decade we see fewer boys wearing the Prussian cadet uniforms. Some schools began adopting uniforms based on European children's styles. We see some primary schools adopting a simple uniform, commonly white shirts and blue short pants. We are not yet surehow common this was in the 60s. This woukd become much more common in the 70s. We are not yet sure about the girls, but by the 70s white blouses and suspender skirts became popular. There were color differences, but white and blue became very common. Most secomdary schools had Prussian cadet uniforms for the boys and sailor dresses for the girls. This was almost universal. There were a variety of small diffrences from school to school.
The basic differences between primary and secondary schools continued in the 1970s. More Japanese primary schools adopted basic uniforms in the 1970s. It is difficult to determine the relative prevalence of uniform and non-uniform schools. We believe about one-third of Japanese schools decided to adopt uniforms. Most schools did not. But quite a number did. We are not sure if there were any democraphic or social class factors at play here. We think the uniforms were less common in the rural and small town schools, but can not yet definitively make that statement. As far as weknow it was entirely up to each school to decide on their own. And they were also free to cdecide the style of the uniform. At the primary level the cadet uniforms become realtively incommon, although a few schools adopted them. With the new uniform, both boys and girls wore them. More common was a basic white shirt for the boys and blouse for the girls. The girls often had blouses with Peter Pan collars. The other basic part of the uniform was blue pants for the boys and suspender skirts for the boys. As far as we can tell, the boys' uniform was always short pnts. The standard was naby blue shorts and skirts, but we also see grey and other colors as well as in a few instances a plaid pattern. Navy blue was by far the most common. Some schools also had blazers done in an Eton style without lapels. A few schools adopted sailor-style uniforms for the girls. The uniform was usully worn with white socks, both ankle socks and knee socks. The socks were usually, but not always white. Younger children might wear tights. White sneakers were very common. The schools were often not as strict with the hosiery and shoes as wih other prts opf the uniform. Most schools had caps or hats, in a few cases matching the blazer and shorts/skirts. This basic uniform was commonly worn throughout the 1970s. Some children at the non-uniform schools, might wear some of the uniform items. There were no changes at the secondary schools. Most continued to require the Prussian cadet uniformsd for the boys and sailor outfits for the girls.
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