シャツ
シャツ
shatsu
= shirt
シャツ (shatsu) means shirt — but in Japanese it covers a specific range of shirt types, and understanding what kind of shirt is meant requires knowing the Japanese vocabulary that surrounds it: Yシャツ, ポロシャツ, Tシャツ each describe distinct garments with distinct social contexts.
Shatsu is the general word for a collared shirt. In everyday use, the most common specific forms are: Yシャツ (wai shatsu — dress shirt / button-down shirt; from ‘white shirt’), Tシャツ (tii shatsu — T-shirt), ポロシャツ (poro shatsu — polo shirt). シャツ alone most commonly refers to a button-front shirt with a collar — the kind worn under a suit or with slacks. 下着 (shitagi — underwear/undershirt) is distinct from shatsu, though ランニングシャツ (ranningu shatsu — running/tank top) is sometimes used for sleeveless undershirts.
The famous Yシャツ (wai-shatsu) is thought to be a corruption of ‘white shirt,’ referring to the standard formal button-down. Most Japanese men’s fashion vocabulary involves knowing these compound forms: ネルシャツ (neru shatsu — flannel shirt), チェックシャツ (chekku shatsu — checked/plaid shirt), オックスフォードシャツ (okkusufoudo shatsu — Oxford cloth button-down). シャツ alone is often understood as meaning a formal collared shirt in business contexts.
シャツ is a katakana loanword from English ‘shirt.’ There is no kanji form.
Everyday use
明日の面接のためにシャツにアイロンをかけておいた。
Ashita no mensetsu no tame ni shatsu ni airon wo kakete oita.
I ironed my shirt for tomorrow’s interview.
Casual / Social Media
お気に入りのシャツに醤油こぼした…最悪
Okiniiri no shatsu ni shouyu koboshita… saiaku
I spilled soy sauce on my favorite shirt… the worst
Formal / Cultural context
企業における服務規程では、顧客接点を有する業務従事者に対してYシャツ等の清潔感のある服装を定めるケースが多く見られる。
Kigyou ni okeru fukumu kitei de wa, kyaku sessetten wo yuusuru gyoumu juujisha ni taisushite wai-shatsu nado no seiketsukan no aru fukusou wo sadameru keesu ga ooku mirarereru.
Many companies’ internal dress codes require employees in customer-facing roles to wear clean and presentable attire such as dress shirts.
シャツ culture in Japan is closely linked to the concept of 清潔感 (seiketsukan — the impression of cleanliness/tidiness), one of the most-cited qualities in Japanese job-hunting and dating advice. A crisp, well-ironed white Yシャツ is the foundation of the standard Japanese business attire: dark suit + white dress shirt + conservative tie. The 就活 (shuukatsu — job hunting) season, when university students wear near-identical black suits and white shirts for interviews, is one of Japan’s most visually distinctive social phenomena.
Since 2005, Japan’s ‘Cool Biz’ (クールビズ, kuuru bizu) campaign has encouraged offices to allow employees to dress more casually during summer months — collar open, no tie, sometimes short sleeves — as a way to reduce air conditioning use. The campaign created an interesting cultural negotiation around what シャツ is appropriate in the workplace: some offices moved to ポロシャツ (polo shirts) or even アロハシャツ (aloha shirts — Hawaiian shirts) as acceptable ‘Cool Biz’ attire, challenging the strict Yシャツ norm.
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