Cream Sleeve Yokosuka Jacket 'Umiwashi'

A moth and a sea monster on the chest, fighting in surf on the back

The scene on the back of this sukajan is the one from a certain kind of Japanese film: a giant moth with yellow-and-red wings and blue eyes, a dark sea monster with a spined back rising from white surf, a mountain erupting behind them, and the two of them meeting in the waves. On the chest, the same two creatures in miniature, one on each side, facing off across the zip. The body is black, the sleeves cream, and the ribbing black striped with cream.

It is the pop one of the sukajan, the jacket for someone whose Japan is the cinema of the sixties rather than the tattoo parlour, and it is drawn with the affection those films deserve.

The name, Umiwashi, is the sea eagle, the bird that hunts over the waves the monsters are fighting in, and the name is a nod to the water rather than to either creature.

Every motif is embroidered, not printed, in dense satin stitch that stands off the cloth and catches the light differently as you move; that is the whole point of a sukajan, and it is the reason the jacket weighs what it does. The body is a satin blend with a soft sheen and a light quilted lining, and the collar, cuffs and hem are a ribbed knit, which is the construction the sukajan has had since the first ones were sewn for American sailors in Yokosuka in the late forties. It zips at the front and has a slash pocket at each hip. It washes cold, inside out, on a gentle cycle, and dries flat.

Wear it over a white tee and white trousers, as in the photograph, or over black. Nothing else with a pattern, and nothing that takes itself seriously.

From across a street it is a black-and-cream bomber with colour on the back. From close the moth has every scale on its wings, the monster every spine, and the surf every curl. It is the sukajan that will get the most comments from strangers, and all of them will be smiling.

The sleeves are set in raglan, and the two creatures on the chest sit high on either side of the zip so they face each other when it is closed, which is how the scene was drawn. The cream sleeves keep the front light so the back can be as dark as it likes.

Sizes run from M to 3XL. It is cut to Asian sizing and runs small, so take one size up from your usual. Between two sizes, take the larger.