For the most part, I didn't notice any differences between how people in the USA tend to dress and what I saw amongst the Japanese, with a few exceptions:

1) Adults rarely wear shorts in Japan.

2) For formal ceremonies, elaborate kimonos are worn. When my host family and I visited a festival at a local Shinto shrine, I saw many boys and girls all decked out for blessing by the priest.

3) At a traditional Japanese inn, called a ryoken, simple robes called yukatas are worn by both men and women, even to public meals and out in the gardens -- basically everywhere. There's a photo of me below wearing one at dinner the night we stayed at a ryoken (great experience -- more on that in another post).

I realize this photo doesn't show much of the kimono, but I liked the shot.

Here's trip-friend Jean (right) and her host mother, both in kimonos, for the Shichi-go-san Shinto festival that some of us attended with our host families.


Notice all the intricate detail (front and back) on this typical kimono. This cutie (and dozens if not hundreds) were decked for blessing by the Shinto priest at the Shichi-go-san festival.

The boys' outfits are more subdued in color.

There's Jenny and me in our yukatas. They were more comfortable than you'd think judging from the less-than-enthused looks on our faces; so comfortable in fact that I bought one to wear at home.