Sunglasses in Japan

If you're ever walking around outside in Japan and it happens to be a sunny day you'll witness women going to all sorts of lengths to shield themselves from the sun. On the hottest of days you'll see women in thick long sleeved tops, visibly wearing excessive amounts of sunscreen, carrying chunky sun-blocking umbrellas. On most bright days you'll see old ladies wearing head visors and long, elbow length gloves. The one thing you're unlikely to see on a sunny day, however, is a Japanese person wearing sunglasses.


I've asked many Japanese people about this, and I've told them that on a bright day in Australia, most people would be wearing sun glasses. I've received a numbers of different answers:

• “Sun glasses are just for fashion”

• “Bad people (Yakuza) wear sunglasses”

• “Only young kids wear sunglasses”

• “It's not very sunny in Japan”

• “Australia has an Ozone Layer problem, so it's sunnier there”

• “Some Japanese people have noses that don't hold up sun glasses well”

Despite what could be classified as some sort of strange aversion to sunglasses, it's not at all difficult to find or buy sunglasses in Japan; they're sold everywhere. In fact there is a “Sunglass Hat” store right next to my office. It's also not at all uncommon to see people wearing sunglasses, it's just that it usually happens to be indoors, in the evening or in a night club. If you're going to wear sunglasses outdoors during the day time in Japan, be prepared to be stared at.