The concept behind introducing Kokumin-fuku /National uniform/ was that, if fabrics for military uniforms could be used for civilians, clothing production could be more efficient. In fact near the end of the war recruits were allowed (by Imperial Edict No. 384 issued on June 22, 1945) go to war in their national civilian uniforms. Furthermore, the adoption of national uniforms involved many cultural factors that went beyond the framework of the controlled economy. When the designs of the national uniforms were publicly called for in 1939, their specifications included that they should be applicable as military uniforms, should be wearable as daily clothes in place of men’s suits, should incorporate the characteristics of Japanese original clothing, and should simplify complicated clothing conventions. These requirements indicate that the national uniforms were not only intended as paramilitary clothes, but also intended to change the clothing lifestyle of the population.
The intended change of the clothing lifestyle in Japan was associated with the idea that the modern-era “dual dress-code lifestyle,” in which people wore Western-style clothes outside and wore Japanese-style clothes and lived on tatami mats at home, was not efficient or economical. The introduction of the national uniforms tried to eliminate the “partition” between the public and private lives, which were divided by clothes, namely, Western-style and Japanese-style clothes, and to eradicate the gap.
First four models of national uniforms were established by Cabinet order on May 5, 1940.
1st and 2nd models.
3rd and 4th models.