Figure 1.--Here British Scouts are visying with Japanese Scouts during 1967. Notice how the British Scout is wearing a V-neck sweater, presumably over his Scout shirt and the lanyard around the Japanese Scout’s neckerchief.

We have little chronological information on Japanese Scout uniforms at this time. We do not know yet know the uniforms changed over time. Even though Japanese Scouting was founded in 1913, we do not yet have details on the pre-Worldwar II uniform. All of our information at this time comes from after Wold War II when Scouts were wearing a tan short pants uniform. They have subsequently adopted long apnts uniform, but we do not yet know when this change was made.

Level

We have begun to collect information on trends in Japanese Scouting by every level of Scouting, especially Cubbing and Scouting. Japanese Scouts Cubs have worn a blue uniform and the Scouts have worn a tan uniform.

Decades

We have also begun to collect some information on Japanese Scouting and uniforms decade by decade.

The 1910s

The Scout Movement reached Japan in 1913 only a few years after it was founded in England during 1907 by Lord Robert Baden-Powell. Scouting activities during the 1910s appear to have been the operations of isolated individual troops as there was not yet any national Scout association. We have very limited inforation on Japanese Scouting during the 1910s, but available images show them learning how to tie knots and working on first aid. We are not sure what kind of uniforms were adopted. We see here the uniform worn by one troop (figure 1). Without a national association it is ofcourse difficult to have any kind of uniformity.

The 1940s

Scouting which was associste with the British and Americans suffered as a result of World War II. Scouting was reorganized following the War II. We have no derails, however, on Scouting in Japan during the 1940s, but from all accounts it quickly recovered from the World War II banning.

The 1950s

The 1960s

We do not note any changes in the Scout uniforms made in the 1960s. The same uniform worn in the 1950s was worn in the 1960s. Cubs wore a blue and gold uniform. It consisted of the traditional peaked Cub cap and a blue shirt worn with blue short pants and kneesocks. The kneesocks were blue with gold bands at the top. We note Scouts wearing a tan short pants inig=orm with matching plain tan kneesocks. It was worn with the traditional Baden Powell wide-brimmed hat.

The 1970s

The 1980s

The 1990s

The 2000s

We do not yet have any information on Scouting developments during the 2000s. We do have some information on the uniform. Japanese Scouts in the 2000s had uniforms that looked quite similar to the 1990s. The younger group comparable to American Beavers wore light blue caps, brown vests with blue pockets brown shorts and light-blue kneesocks. The Cubs wore peaked caps, matching dark blue shirts and shorts and dark blue kneesocks. The Scouts wore green berets, tan shirts, and khaki long pants. The girls wore the same uniforms with skirts.