The popularity of denim in Japan

In a recent article by Hirai Hisayuki for Daily Yomiuri, Hirai wrote, “Japanese jeans have a much shorter history than their American counterparts, but their quality is regarded as among the world’s best. The first Japanese jeans were produced about 50 years ago in a city in Okayama Prefecture on the Seto Inland Sea.”

“In the late 1950s, on a shopping street in Ueno, Tokyo, many U.S. products could be found, including imported secondhand jeans. Despite costing 2,000 yen a pair when the average monthly salary for a university graduate was just over 10,000 yen, they became very popular–probably because they represented American culture for young people.”

“One of the first people to recognize the coming trend in jeans was 82-year-old Shizuo Kashino, a salesman for the clothing firm Maruo Hifuku in the Kojima area of Kurashiki in the prefecture. He noticed how jeans were growing in popularity while on a trip to sell student uniforms in Tokyo.”

“They’re flying off the racks. There’s definitely a chance for success if we make them in Japan,” he reported to the firm’s management.

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