ainternational

Or so I was once told by an expat. But more seriously, it's Golden Week timeframe with Tokyo highs into the low to mid 70's F. How common would it be on the weekends / holidays to see men wearing shorts? Fairly normal or considered somehow odd?

ksandness

University students wear anything they want, with two exceptions: no bare feet (you have to have something to take off when you step into a house, so sandals are the minimum requirement*) and no bare chests for men or halter tops for women unless they are literally at a beach or swimming pool.

Even construction workers sweating in the broiling sun in 90% humidity wear tank tops.

I have seen middle-aged Japanese men in Bermuda shorts, but they're considered strictly casual. Japanese casual still seems a bit more dressy than American casual, though.

*Even in the immediate postwar years, when children went barefoot due to poverty, they were required to wash their feet before entering the school building.

hailstorm

Of course Japanese wear shorts! The women wear them all of the time, even in mid-January.

Q Shoe Guy

But you won't see them traipsing around Aoyama, Ginza, Nihombashi if they are indeed wearing them. I mean this is a country that promotes super-cool biz wear....and that is still far dressier than what goes on in North America (save Manhattan and a few other choice locales). When I lived in South Fukuoka-Ken the older men would wear shorts at night when they were walking their dogs, but these were more pajama-esque ! I did not wear my shorts outside the apartment last year....due to the fact that everyone and their dog would have been better attired than me..... YMMV!

LapLap

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jinbei
My daughter spent a fair portion of last summer dressed in these same traditional Japanese shorts. If you keep your eyes open you'll spot older guys in the warmer months going to and from the local bath houses in jinbei even in central Tokyo (though not so much in the smarter districts as QSG mentioned.)

I didn't see so much of the short shorts, long dark socks/stockings and high heeled fashion this year (I reremember Pickles describing it saying that when worn with huge sunglasses the girls looked like insects), the replacement was the craze for flouncy semi transparent skirts in ugly cheap nylon. Made me glad that smoking in the streets is all but illegal in most of Tokyo, Harajuku in late March had the widest uninterrupted acreage of billowing, pleated, highly flammable and combustible material I've ever seen.
Did the high heel boom take a dive after last year when thousands of inappropriately shod women had to undertake epic treks to get back home in the absence of public transport?

ainternational

This is exactly what I was looking for.

First off, what women wear is irrelevant to me in that they are held to different standards, and trust me, I've noticed the short shorts and skirts. Wow.

Anyways.. for the men, that's precisely what I was lead to believe. In these more 'posh' areas, which I tend to frequent, I can't remember seeing young or middle aged men in shorts even in the horrid July/August heat. Sounds like my memory wasn't completely wrong (it usually is).

Saving the shorts for BKK! And the gym..

hailstorm

FWIW, today I saw no fewer than four Japanese men in shorts. Two of them were jogging, but the other two were walking around with I believed to be their family.

Granted, that's less than one percent of the Japanese men that I saw today, but enough to say that somebody in Japan wears shorts...

Taiwaned

My wife does not allow me to wear shorts in Japan unless I am attempting to exercise or at the beach.

She prefers that I wear slacks not jeans since I am no longer young. Have to admit where we live, not very many men wear shorts.

Most times men who wear shorts are either retired or visitors from another country.

O Sora

Japanese women may blush for shame to see the title of the thread.

To them, "shorts" means panties.*

Japanese school English doesn't tell its real meanings in Western world. So, in order to prevent yourself from appearing hentai, you should remember the Japanese equivalent words "han zubon", which means short trousers.

*Wikipedia(JP):
http://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E3%83%...81.B3.E6.96.B9

usagishouse

If you are younger, you can wear whatever you like. However, most older, middle-aged men don't really wear shorts in the nicer areas of Tokyo. Shoe guy is right, I think.

LapLap

Best shot I could get in the artificial light of Ickybukuro's Sunshine City shopping complex where the subject was moving with much purpose and I was gliding along in a pushed wheelchair.
http://bp1.blogger.com/_n1sjt7SfiAw/...-h/jinbei3.jpg
Taken in Autumn 2007

The logo on the back still kills me.

jib71

Not only to them, but also to Japanese comedians, it seems. Although, to be fair, I've never seen them blush for shame.

Q Shoe Guy

Oh, that photo made my day!^

ainternational

That photo reminds me more of China or Taiwan than Japan - but I'm still not surprised.

What I love is the younger salary men in full Italian suits coupled with neon green, yellow or red shoes. A perfect display of the great dichotomy of contrast that is Japanese culture.

gnaget

Actually, the hip crowd often wear shorts down to the knees or mid-calf. Another trend is jeans rolled up to mid-calf. The latter is Tyler Brule-Daikanyama chic.

But the American "style" of wearing shorts with white socks and running shoes is dreadful and should be avoided anywhere. One needs to match shorts with appropriate footwear.