Contemporary Japanese high school baseball team with the traditional "fluffy buzz cut".
Posted on 08/05/2018 1:03:41 PM PDT by PJ-Comix
I was watching yet another WWII documentary about Japan during WWII this weekend and then it hit me... All and I mean, ALL, Japanese men (and most boys) during that era all had the same exact same buzzcut haircut that looked terrible. Yeah, military recruits in the U.S.A. get that same haircut in bootcamp but most let it grow out later at least on top. Yet Japanese men ALL had that same lousy buzzcut all the time.
Perhaps the only Japanese man not to have that buzzcut was the Emperor. So what was the reason? Was it conformity? Was there some law that declared that all men must have an ugly looking buzzcut? Just what was going on back then?
I did see an interesting biographical movie about Admiral Yamamoto recently and his hair was longer than a buzzcut. However, when I looked at pictures of Yamamoto from WWII, it turned out the REAL Yamamoto also had that terrible haircut everyone else from the lowliest army private up to Prime Minister Tojo had.
So does anybody have the reason for the terrible WWII era Japanese haircuts?
BTW, I notice that in occupation Japan, men quickly allowed their hair to grow longer. Also movies made in Japan about WWII show their soldiers with longer hair than they actually had back then. So even the Japanese are now embarrassed about how ridiculous those WWII era haircuts made them look.
The Meiji period was highly influenced by the Prussian model, particularly the time following the Franco-Prussian War.
Aside from practicality, it’s a cultural thing in Japan. Indicates seriousness. Still noticeable at times on sports teams to discourage individuality and encourage team play.
That was the 1st thing I thought of
“...it turned out the REAL Yamamoto also had that terrible haircut...”
So, Yamamoto had a body double?
Well, there was a Prussian style haircut that sort of looked like an elongated flattop haircut. General Hindenburg had that type of haircut.
Yes ! This article, right here. This is the explanation.
There are many reasons Asians shave their head, and for some haircuts were a communication and others they were punished with their haircuts. In China the Queue was mandated among men. Talk about a stupid haircut.
Asians look at hair in a different way than the western world. It’s either very plain or it’s rebelliously flashy. There is no inbetween.
The article also talks about politicians and important people who shave their head as punishment. The asian idea of Honor is a messed up one. Basically, and the article points this out tongue-in-cheek, it’s a punishment that means they have repented. But they laugh it off. Japanese honor is like this.. it’s not real honor. It’s all a sham.
I’ve gotten into heated fights on FR for this viewpoint before, and I expect no less here. I have taken hundreds of hours in Asian Business Practice, with a focus on Japan. I don’t like Japanese culture or it’s people even in the slightest. Call it racist, because it is. They are more racist than I so I really don’t care.
I can’t stand the Japanese.
I’m thinking that the reason why most people haven’t noticed the lousy WWII era Japanese haircut is that almost all movies about that time show Japanese actors wearing longer hair in contrast to the buzzcuts their soldiers back then actually wore.
Contemporary Japanese high school baseball team with the traditional "fluffy buzz cut".
Huh? That's harsh. I have no problem with the Japanese...of today. Back then their society was regimented and encouraged to be so by the militarists. Which probably explained their severe haircuts. Once the militarist Samurai culture was overthrown, they started wearing normal haircuts.
Probably used the hair for the war effort. Sleeping bag insulation etc.
Maybe he wanted to look like he was ready for war too? And note the flyer at the link I quoted who did have a full head of hair.
I had an English guy on my crew during the early 90s. He was very popular with the girls and in fact dated the hottest one.
One day we visited the Mall and he stopped at a hair style shop. He told them he did not want to pay full price for a hair cut as it was a simple buzz cut. They agreed and he got it cut while I was in another store.
I think it was a popular style in England.
“Buzzcuts were practical, and easy to cut and easy to keep clean, especially in the tropics.”
That may be so, but would that account for 100% buzzcuts, even in the Aleutians or North Pacific? Seems to me it must have been mandated either officially or unofficially.
It is true at least when I was in 1970. Primarily for cleanliness and also for conformity.
Yeah, I saw that and he probably had a lot of double-takes from his fellow Japanese back then since his haircut was unusually long. BTW, our military back then had fairly long hair right up to the late fifties. After about 1957/58 military men wore their hair mostly in crewcuts or flattops. You can see that in pictures of the original 7 astronauts. Only Walter Schirra let his hair grow out and that was because he was a civilian by the time he entered NASA.
By about 1967, military men began wearing their hair longer again.
Lice, dirt, etc.
Even Johnny Unitas grew his hair out by the 1970s.
All of the above, plus the conformity factor. The Japanese soldier was a useful tool of the Command-and-control society that was Imperial Japan, and the ease of removal or pulling on of gas masks, the ease of maintenance, and the lice factors were all contributing reasons.
Also, it made the first impression of sameness of all the Japanese soldiers that much stronger, that the slain somehow rose up again and kept coming at the GIs.
People here in the US also wore “soup bowl” haircuts from the 1900s on. My Dad had one as a boy, and got more of it when he enlisted in WWII:
**** ** *******
Emigsville, PA
European Theater
March 27, 1943 - December 2, 1945
Platoon Sergeant
3rd Army Corps (Patton’s Armored)
101st Combat Engineers,
26th Infantry “Yankee” Division
Decorations & Awards:
Bronze Star Medal for Valor
Purple Heart Medal
for wounds received in The Battle of The Bulge
Good Conduct Medal
American Campaign Theater Service Medal
Eastern European Medal w/ 4 Bronze Star Clusters
for Central Europe, Northern France,
Rhineland & Ardennes
(Purple Heart, Bronze Star & Good Conducts Medals w/ bronze star clusters) and accompanying ribbons.
WW II Victory Medal
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