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| Photo: Orient Daily |
In the clothing world, garments typically evolve past their original cultural origins to become ingrained in popular culture with little knowledge of their historical counterparts. Heavily embroidered satin bomber jackets known as 'Sukajan' or souvenir jackets originated in the wartime occupation of Japan. Originally souvenirs brought home by American GIs. Recently, the jackets are experiencing a resurgence, popping up on fashion runways, in highstreet shops, and in movies and television shows. However a closer look into the 'Sukajan' and its cultural history uncovers a dark past...
Coming of age in the Pacific Northwest, I grew up around a lot of military brats whose parents had served in the Asian Pacific. Technically I was a military brat myself but my father retired from the Air Force when I was very young so the lifestyle was a bit more foreign to me. I have memories of a very particular style of jacket that many of my classmates would wear. It was satin and cut like a baseball jacket, but featured intricate Asian embroidery often depicting dragons and a map with the name of a city or place. Sometimes they would also feature American military insignia.
Puzzled by the origins of these jackets, my father who had been stationed in Japan explained to me their origin story. He emphasized that while the designs were viewed as stylish keepsakes for American troops, it was a different story for the Japanese tailors who were tasked with creating them- they were symbols of occupation. As a child I didn't think much into it, but recently, as Sukajan began to rise to popularity again in pop-culture I was intrigued to do more research into what my father meant.
The origins of the 'Sukajan' are said to have begun with an American serviceman who brought his uniform bomber jacket to a Japanese tailor to customize it with imagery synonymous with Japan. Soon tailors became inundated with requests for custom embroidery. Using the scrap fabrics and materials they had on hand, typically silk military parachute fabric, Japanese tailors began crafting their own versions of these jackets modeled after American baseball and letterman jackets. Popular designs hand stitched on these jackets included dragons, cherry blossoms, traditional maps, and Geisha girls. Japanese tailors were asked to to hand stitch their own cultural imagery, and the military insignia of their oppressors onto garments seen as mere souvenirs of occupation.
Conflicts in Korea and Vietnam saw the style spread across other areas of Asia, and were available in any city where American servicemen were stationed. The Vietnam War marked by brutality and controversy inspired jackets of a much darker tone. Often they were embroidered with messages of political protest. One famous slogan embroidered on the back of 'Sukajans' of this era read, "When I die I’m going to heaven, because I served my time in hell."
In the 1960’s the jackets became a symbol of youthful rebellion in Japan, and was a style highly adopted by Yakuza gang members. Thought to be retaking a garment that was once emblematic of oppression and making it their own. Now in the current era the style has rose to prominence in mainstream fashion, devoid of its rich cultural history based in wartime occupation and political protest.