Button Day

What Is Button Day?

Every November 22nd is "Button Day" (ボタンの日, Botan no Hi) in Japan. On November 22, 1870, the Japanese Navy officially adopted Western-style buttons on its military uniforms — marking the first official adoption of the Western button in Japan's modern institutional clothing. The National Button Industry Federation (全国ボタン工業連合会) designated November 22nd as Button Day to mark this anniversary and to celebrate Japan's button manufacturing industry, which became one of the world's significant producers of decorative and functional buttons.

Buttons Arrive in Meiji Japan

The Western-style button — a small fastener inserted through a buttonhole to close garments — was essentially absent from traditional Japanese dress, which used ties (紐, himo), tucks, overlapping folds, and other closure methods adapted to the kimono's cut. The adoption of Western military uniforms by Japan's new Meiji armies and navy in the 1870s brought buttons into Japanese institutional life. The distinctive brass or gold naval buttons — often embossed with anchors, chrysanthemums, or other official insignia — were among Japan's first systematically manufactured Western-style clothing accessories.

Japan's Button Industry

Japan developed a significant button manufacturing industry through the late Meiji and Taisho eras, producing buttons from shell (particularly the lustrous pearl buttons for which Japan became internationally known), metal, bone, and later plastic. The Osaka region, particularly Naniwa Ward, became a center of Japanese button manufacturing. At its peak, Japan was a major global exporter of decorative and functional buttons, supplying the fashion and clothing industries of Europe and America.

Buttons in Japanese Culture

The button's arrival in Japan with Western dress has made it, paradoxically, a culturally loaded object — present throughout Japanese contemporary life in school uniforms, suits, and casual clothing, but absent from traditional Japanese dress contexts. The distinctive brass buttons of Japanese school uniforms (制服, seifuku), particularly military-style gakuran jackets for boys, have become objects of sentimental attachment — tradition has it that students give their uniform buttons to romantic interests on graduation day.

Fun Facts

• Second button tradition: The "second button" (第二ボタン, daini botan) tradition — in which male high school students give the second button from the top of their gakuran jacket to the girl they like on graduation day — is so established in Japanese popular culture that it appears in countless manga, anime, and films depicting Japanese high school romance.
• Shell buttons: Japan's freshwater pearl mussel shells — particularly from Lake Kasumigaura and other rivers — were historically used to produce the lustrous pearl-effect buttons valued in fashion; Japan's shell button industry declined as plastic buttons became dominant from the 1950s onward.