THE RUEMOOD EDIT

Japanese Jackets

Japanese jackets led by embroidery: sukajan with tigers, lions and a nine-tailed fox, bombers with gold wings or an eagle across the back, and denim stitched with a crane. For texture instead of thread, there are puffers, a tie-dye plush zip jacket and an ombre shirt jacket, all shipped worldwide.

21 pieces

Clear filters

21 pieces in this selection

A CLOSER LOOK

Choosing your Japanese jacket

Embroidered Japanese jackets come first

Embroidery is what sets these apart, and the best of it sits on the back. A tiger crouches in bamboo beneath Mount Fuji and a red sun on the bamboo tiger sukajan, stitched densely in orange, black and white. A roaring lion stands among peach blossoms on a black body with cream sleeves. The nine-tailed fox is worked in white and silver thread on soft plush, with a smaller fox head on the chest. The tiger and dragon sukajan carries all four guardian beasts of East Asian myth, with a phoenix and a tortoise across the back, and the white lion souvenir jacket pairs silver-gray thread with blue blossoms on navy sleeves. The phoenix and tiger souvenir jacket reverses to plain black, and the feather wing bomber carries a pair of gold wings across the shoulders. Turn any of them around and the jacket does the talking.

Sukajan, varsity or bomber jacket

A sukajan is a souvenir jacket with a satin-like shell, contrast raglan sleeves and embroidery on the back. Most of ours also borrow the striped ribbing of a varsity jacket at the collar, cuffs and hem, so they sit in both edits. The script badge varsity jacket is the plain sporting version, with cream lettering down the sleeves and snap buttons. An MA-1 bomber is lighter and cleaner: the feather wing piece has a ribbed stand collar and a ring-pull zip pocket on the sleeve. The eagle bomber is padded cotton in a slim, short cut, with an air club map across the back. If you want one jacket that does both jobs, pick a sukajan with rib trims: it reads sporty from the front and detailed from the back.

Denim, plush and padded layers

On the crane embroidered denim jacket, a white and gold crane flies through pine branches across the back of a light-wash trucker. The two-tone trucker pieces paler panels into washed denim, and the floral tapestry shirt jacket runs a wide band of embroidered lace flowers across the chest and sleeves. For colder days, the hooded puffer has a camouflage lining that shows at the hood and hem, and the gradient puffer fades from white to blue-green. The tie-dye plush jacket is thick and soft, with a stand collar and two big pockets. The ombre shirt jacket fades from colour at the shoulders into cream, dusted with fine splatter specks. Two pieces are cut for women: a cropped jacket covered in raised mustard and pale blue flowers with gold buttons, and a cream jacket embroidered with wildflowers under a denim-blue collar.

Getting the jacket size right

These are Asian sizes, and the cut changes from jacket to jacket. The bamboo tiger sukajan is a regular fit, 105 cm around the chest in Medium, while the roaring lion sukajan is loose at 113 cm and the feather wing bomber relaxed at 115 cm. The eagle bomber runs slim and short. Raglan sleeves are measured from the neck, so compare like with like. Measure a jacket that fits over your usual hoodie and compare it with each size guide; if you are between two sizes on a regular cut, take the larger one. Quick shop on every card shows the sizes in stock, and we ship worldwide.