Figure 1.-This was a very large city primary school. Most Japanese primary schools did not require uniforms, but this one did. And they chose one of the Western-styled uniforms that began to become popular in the 1960s. The children wear a uniform of soft hats, blazer without lapels, short pants or suspender skirts, and long stockings/tights. The blazers were rather like the Eton jackets younger American boys wore at the time. We are not entirely sure if the chikdren are wearing tights or long stickings.

This was a very large city primary school. Unfortunately we do not know the name of the school or where it was located. We have found a series of photographs taken in 1963. It is a very large, mulkti-story school. The building is an extremely ugly, austete structure. We suspect this may be of many schools built by Japan in an effort to replace all of the buildings destroyed in the War. This schools seems large for a primary school, but perhaps many of the the new city schools were large. There seem to be all kinds of school activities including trips to beaches, parks, and other sites. This included over night trips. Most Japanese primary schools did not require uniforms, but this one did. And they chose one of the Western-styled uniforms that began to become popular in the 1960s. The children wear a uniform of soft hats, blazer without lapels, short pants or suspender skirts, and long stockings/tights. The blazers were rather like the Eton jackets younger American boys wore at the time. We are not entirely sure if the children are wearing tights or long stickings. The children may have worn socks when the weather got warmer. We assume that the blazers, shorts and skirts were blue. The hats, however, were a light color. The school was very strict about the children wearing the uniform, even the proper colored hosiery. We see some lady teachers, but the staff was still predominately male.

Location

Unfortunately we do not know the name of the school or where it was located. Given the size of the school, it must have been in one of Japan's large citiies. Jus which one we do not yet know.

The School

This was a very large city primary school. We have found a series of photographs taken in 1963. It is a very large, multi-story school. This schools seems large for a primary school, but perhaps many of the the Japanese schools built after the War were large. This we are not yet sure about. We see some lady teachers, but the staff was still predominately male.

Building

The building is much larger than what we usually see for a primary school. It must have been very imposing for the first graders just arriving at school. The building is an extremely ugly, austete structure. One aestetic touch was a rock garden. We do not know if it had any specual importance. We suspect this may be of many schools built by Japan in an effort to replace all of the buildings destroyed in the War. Almost all of Japan's cities were largely destroyed in the strategic bombing campaign.

Facilities

We do not know much about the facilities at the school other than the classrooms. We do jnow that there was a library. The book selection seems limited. We suspect that most schools were kust beginning to build their library collections in the early 60s. This was, however, a very large school which might be expected to have a substntialm library. A photograph, however shows most of the children simply seated at the desks and reading.

Activities

The actual classrooms seem have a larger number of children than common in American classes. And the children often seemed packed together. The classess seemed to be conducted in a very traditional manner. We see photogrphs of the children doing gym outside so one would like that there was a substantial chool yard. There seem to be all kinds of school activities, much more than we see before the War. There are trips to beaches, parks, and other sites. This included over night trips.

Uniforms

Most Japanese primary schools did not require uniforms, but this one did. We see boys wearing the Prussian cadet uniforms in the 1950s, but girls mostly their own clothes. By the 60s we begin to see Western-styled uniforms. This chose one of the Western-styled uniforms that began to become popular in the 1960s. We are not sure just when these uniforms appeared in Japan. It could be the late-50s, but this is one of the earliest examples we have archived to this point. The photographs we have appear to come from 1964. The children wear a uniform of soft hats, blazer without lapels, short pants or suspender skirts, and long stockings/tights. The blazers were rather like the Eton jackets younger American boys wore at the time. We are not entirely sure if the children are wearing tights or long stockings. We note from a tree in some of the images thst it was not yet Spring, but it does not look to be very cold, so we might guess the photographs were taken in March on a warm day. It is not entirely clear what they are wearing. Virtually all the children wear the same light-colored hose. We know at least one boy was wearing long stockings, but we are not at all sure about the other children. This would have been about the time that tights were introduced in Japan, but we do not know the precise date. The children may have worn socks when the weather got warmer. We assume that the blazers, shorts and skirts were blue. The hats, however, were a light color and dud not match the suits. The school was very strict about the children wearing the uniform, even the proper colored hosiery. We notice very few exceptions. Many school photograpgs in the 1950s show quite a bit of diversity concerning school wear. Apparently by the 60s, the schools were becomong more strict.

Navigate the Boys' Historical Clothing School Uniform Pages
[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 Japanese individual public school page]
[Return to Japanese 1960s primary schools]
[Return to Main Japanese school page]
[Return to Main school uniform page]
[Introduction] [Activities] [Biographies] [Chronology] [Cloth and textiles] [Clothing styles] [Countries] [Topics]
[Bibliographies] [Contributions] [FAQs] [Glossaries] [Images] [Images] [Links] [Registration] [Tools]
[Boys' Clothing Home]

Created: 10:41 PM 9/4/2011
Last updated: 10:41 PM 9/4/2011