Figure 1.--These Japanese schoolboys wear a plain dark blue Eton-style jacket and matching blue short pants. The jacket looks somewhat like a blazer, but without lapels. Blazers of course are not worn with matching pants. |
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Blazers are worn at both elementary and secondary schools, althogh the style varies greatly from school to dchool. Some elementary schools require jackets although they are most common at private
schools. The most popular style among the uniformed primary schools are Eton-styled blazers without lapels. School badges on the blazers are not common as in England. Some elementary schools use them only for dress up occasions or for winter wear. Blazers are now becoming more common at secondary schools. Many secondary schools are now replacing the old army and sailor uniforms, which are perceived as old fashioned, with blazers, white shirts, and ties--giving a rather British look. Japan is, however, a very tradionally oriented society and the old military styles continue to be widely worn. We have also noticed jackets that are very simply styled and button at the collar, giving a rather military look. These jackets are mostly worn at private primary schools although we see them as some state schools as well. They were, however, a standard style at secondary schools. Japanese school jackets are almost always blue. Although some schools have an optional light-gray summer jacket.
The blazer as a school garment was introduced to Japan after World War II (1939-45). We do not see boys wearing them before the War. We only see blue and other dark-colored blazers, none of the brightly colored British school blazers. Blazers are worn at both elementary and secondary schools, although it varies greatly from school to school. Some elementary school although they are most common at private schools. Often the blazers for younger primary school boys are Eton styled blazers without lapels. The blazers worn by secondary school boys more commonly have lapels. School badges on the blazers are not common as in England. Some elementary schools use them only for dress up occasions or for winter wear. Blazers are now becoming more common at secondary schools. Many secondary schools are now replacing the old army and sailor uniforms, which are perceived as old fashion, with blazers, white shirts, and ties--giving a rather British look. Japan is, however, a very tradionally oriented society and the old military styles continue to be widely worn.
Many uniform primary schools adopted Eton-style jackets, meaning jckets without the lapels. Most are normally single-breasted jackets, but we have also seen jackets with a double-breasted look. The exmples we have found so far are all blue, not navy but a dark shade. While blue was very common for boys' schoolwear, it was not the only color. We do also do not see striped bazers like in Britain. Some of these jackets have patch pockets like blazers, placed variously. The side pockets seem the most common. We note a few of these Eton jackets with the school crest, but this Bitish-inspired innovation seems a recent innovtion. We notice boys wearing these Eton-jacket suits with arange of headwear, bith styles matching the suit and contrastingb colors. The patch pockets have a blazer look, but they are worn as a suit with matching pants. The pants are usually shorts. We commonly see boys wearing these jackets. We are unsure if girls also wore them, but believe they did with skirts and usually shirts/blouses with rounded collars. The shirts worn with the jackets are usually white, but the styles vary widely.
We not Prusian cadet jackets in the late-19th century and by the turn of the century invceasingly commomn. A good example is Toba Shousen High School in the 1900s. We have also noticed jackets that are very simply styled and button at the collar, giving a rather military look. We call them cadet jackets. These jackets are mostly worn at private schools at the primary level, but we ee some at state schools. They are much more common at secondary schools. These Japanese school jackets, like the blazers, are almost always blue. In fact we have not seen these jackets in any other color, but blue. We are not sure why blue is such a universally accepted color for boys' school jackets. They are often worn with military style caps adding to the military look of the school uniform. While not universal at secondary schools they appear to be worn at most. While the blazer is a post-World War II inovation in Japanese schoolwear, these style jackets were worn before the War. The color was, however, not unversally blue before the War. We see a few schools wearing light colored jackers, perhaps a summer style.
Japanese boys at some mostly private schools wear suits. These suits generally are styled like suit jackets with lapels. Unlike the blazers, some of these suits coats are not blue.
Japanese boys wear a varierty of other jacket styles, but we do not have complete information at this time.
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