Japan Lantern Souvenir Jacket 'Chochin'

Lantern and fan on the chest, two kimono dolls on the back, green or champagne

This is the souvenir sukajan in the oldest sense: the one a sailor took home with the name of the country stitched on the back. The chest carries a paper lantern with gold cord on the left and a folding fan with maple leaves on the right, both in gold thread on black. The back carries two dolls in kimono, one in red and one in gold, standing under a fall of wisteria with a script above them in cream. The sleeves are dark green in the photograph, with ribbing to match; the other version has them in champagne.

It is the sukajan with no animal on it, and the one that looks most like the jackets in the photographs from 1950, which is where the dolls and the script come from.

The name, Chochin, is the paper lantern, the one on the chest, and the object that says Japan faster than any other.

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. It goes with olive and with cream, and with nothing else that has a pattern.

From across a street it is a black bomber with green or champagne sleeves and two small figures on the back. From close the dolls have every fold of their kimono in gold thread, the wisteria every bell, and the lantern on the chest its ribs. It is the sukajan for the person who wants the history and not the beast.

The sleeves are set in raglan, plain, so the embroidery is all on the body, which is how the souvenir jackets were made when the sleeves were the cheap part. The script on the back is embroidered in a cursive that has not changed since the fifties, and it is the one word every sukajan once carried.

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