Figure 1.--These Tokyo boys are on their way to school in 1972. You can tell they all attend the same school because of the yellow school hats. You can tell the weather is a little chilly because the biys are wearing jackets and sweaters. Some of the boys wear short pants and other long pants. Notice the biys wearing shorts have both ankle and knee socks.

Only a fraction, but a substantial fraction, of Japanese elementary schools require uniforms. There are generally no seasonal clothing rules at the schools without uniforms. It was left up to the parents to deal with the matter of seasonally appropriate clothing. Many Japanese parents until the 1980s generally saw short pants as the appropriate dress for boys. Thus seasonal wear meant adding sweaters, jackets, perhaps knee socks, and in really cold weather a heavy coat. Knee socks have declined in popularity over time, but we still see them to spme extent during the winter. Thus we see some boys wearing sweaters and coats with short pants during the winter. Some parents did but long pants for boys during the winter. The choice varied fom family to family. Long pants for school wear has increased over time. Long pants, especially for the winter, was most common in the northern island of Hokkaido. And short pants most commomn in the south. We are not sure to what extent the boys' preferences fitted into this family decesion. Probably it was mnot a major factor when most boys wore shorts, but became more important as we see larger numbers of boys wearing long pants.

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Created: 6:42 PM 12/3/2012
Last updated: 6:42 PM 12/3/2012