[PJ-Comix]

Being a barber back in Japan during WWII had to be the easiest job in the world. Just press the clippers hard against the head and simply push. Oh, and they didn't have to say anything in the barbershop like "take a little off the top of the ears" since ALL the haircuts were exactly the same.

[2ndDivisionVet]

Believe it or not, you pay for that haircut at basic training/boot camp and every other haircut you receive in the military. Perhaps the short haircuts in wartime Japan were for ease of wearing gas masks.

[laplata]

Buzzcuts were practical, and easy to cut and easy to keep clean, especially in the tropics.

[RightGeek]

Here’s one theory - lice prevention - https://www.quora.com/Why-did-students-in-World-War-II-Japan-shave-their-heads

[PGR88]

Need some photos to know what you are talking about

[SoCal Pubbie]

http://www.iromegane.com/japan/culture/the-meaning-of-shaving-head-in-japan/

[TADSLOS]

Easy.

Flied Lice.

[Nifster]

WWII japanese soldiers

These guys don’t seem to have the same hair cut

[Dilbert San Diego]

Is a buzz cut the same thing as a crew cut?

[oldbill]

Why are you worried about this?

You should be more concerned about Russians flipping the election to Trump.

It’s sarcasm, guys.

[Prospero]

The Meiji period was highly influenced by the Prussian model, particularly the time following the Franco-Prussian War.

[Carriage Hill]

“...it turned out the REAL Yamamoto also had that terrible haircut...”

So, Yamamoto had a body double?

[jjotto]

Contemporary Japanese high school baseball team with the traditional "fluffy buzz cut".

[3ZZZ]

Probably used the hair for the war effort. Sleeping bag insulation etc.

[yarddog]

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.

[Mr Rogers]

Anything like this?

[DouglasKC]

Lice, dirt, etc.

[yesthatjallen]

I did an image search. 99% showed them wearing headgear.

I don't see any bad buzz cuts.

Can you link to a youtube video that shows the bad buzz cuts you're talking about?

[Tijeras_Slim]

They really missed their chance. Imagine a banzai charge of 2000 screaming Japanese all with mullets. You’d be laughing too hard to fight back.

[JoeFromSidney]

My father had been a barber since he graduated from high school, first working in his uncle's shop, then getting his own shop. In 1944 he was drafted into the Navy and put to work giving Buzz cuts in Navy barbershops.

In 1945 he was sent to a Naval base in San Diego, to be a crew member on a landing boat for the invasion of Japan. He was literally saved by The Bomb.

Following the War he returned to the barber trade.

[BeauBo]

The classic WWII Japanese haircut: