The Culture Swap: The Design of Men’s Fashion between America and Japan

(With information inspired from https://www.gq.com/story/ametora-author-interview-american-japan-style)

Influence is a powerful force in creating a movement and such is the case of the design of men’s fashion wear between Japan and America.

Japan has been seen recently as the revitalizing and representative force of “American” style. The style can be more specifically called Ametora, meaning “American traditional” that originally drew on influences of East coast, elitist style.

During Japan’s 20 year isolation after World War 2, they were first exposed to American style via Take Ivy, a book that documented photographs of Ivy league student fashion wear. The original perception is that Japanese men wanted to dress like Americans but this was not exactly what happened. Japanese men began to adopt the style when other Japanese men started modeling the clothes and also when Japanese companies began to produce such things as jeans and bomber jackets.

The perception is that the Japanese copied the American style. As a result, American’s felt invaded since there were “foreigners” wearing their clothes. In American media, Japanese were also at times made fun of. For example, in film, Japanese people would be shocked when they arrived in America with what they perceived as “American” style clothing just to see that people actually did not dress that way. There was almost a hint of a power dynamic between the two not in the traditional way. It was an American power dynamic over Japan who adopted their style.

In actuality, the exchange of fashion wear between the two groups of people was more conversational than one way. Japanese companies began to make great American products to the point where Americans would go to these Japanese brands primarily for the specific style.

Now, there is very much an exchange between the cultures involving style. For example, a lot of streetwear culture was created in Japan. These brands are popular in America and draw on components of American culture (punk, biker). Bathing Ape is one such brand that originated in Japan and is widely popular in America. Eventually, the style grew from just clothing to also sneakers and accessories.

This is an interesting case that raises difficult questions about cultural appropriation. The most basic definition of cultural appropriation is adopting the aspects of another’s culture that is not their own. Thus, with this definition, Japan can be labeled as appropriating American culture. However, more complex definitions of cultural appropriation involve a power dynamic where a dominant culture takes aspects of a suppressed culture. This is where the difficulty arises. It is difficult to say between Americans and Japanese, with my limited breath of research, who has been the “systematic oppressors” between the two. Whether or not this relationship can be considered one of cultural appropriation, I would say that mens streetwear and fashion for both countries were greatly influenced by the other.