Figure 1.--This studio portait shows a young Japanese mother with her children, a newborrn and a boy wearing a sailor suit. Nptice that while the boy weas a Western outfit, mothers wears a traditionsl kimono. The boy's suit is basically a traditionl style, ec=xcept for the helmet hat. He looks to be about 3 years old. It was taken in 1927. There is wtiting in the paper holder which probably indicated their names.

We have noted Japanese boys wearing a range of suits. Few boys wore the styles popular in the 19th century because traditional garmenbts still dominated Japan throughout the 19th century. An exception was the sailor suit, although it was more worn by girls than boys--largely because the sailor style became a school uniform style. We see some younger Japanese boys wearing sailor suits in the early-20th century. The boy here is a good example (figure 1). The sailor suit was never a major style for school-age Japanese boys as it was in Europe. Sailor suits while popular in the West, never seem to caught on for boys in Japan--despite the emense prestige of the Imperial Navy. We have limited information about sailor suits in Japan, but the imaes we have found of boys wearing sailor suits are commonly very young boys, often pre-school boys. A good example here is a 1912 postcard. School boys after elementary school have worn uniforms with an army look. School girls, however, have worn sailor suits. European clothing styles for children were popular in Japan. HBC had assumed that the fact school girls wore sailor suits probably made the style unpopular with the boys least they be thought of as dressing like the girls. A HBC reader, however, tells us, "Sailor suits are rather popular in Japan in the 2000s, mostly as school uniforms but also as a basic style. A lot of little boys wear them, but more girls do, up through highschool and even adult women wear them." HBC at this time has not details on the extent to which boys wear sailor suits in Japan or other details such as ages, styles, conventions, and the chronology.

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Created: 10:44 PM 2/2/20200
Last updated: 10:44 PM 2/2/2020