Popularized by Olympic athletes who raved about them and wore them for social media posts, flamboyant "sukajan" jackets with the Tokyo Games emblem have become gold-medal best sellers.
The Tokyo 2020 Olympics Yokosuka Sukajan Jacket has already sold out at all official shops, and the local government of Yokosuka, Kanagawa Prefecture, the birthplace of the embroidered garment, has continued receiving inquires. They are available only via some mail order sites now.
Sukajan were first made in Yokosuka after World War II as a souvenir for members of the U.S. armed forces stationed in the city.
The Tokyo Games sukajan received accreditation from the Games' organizing committee as merchandise of a traditional Japanese handicraft bearing the Games emblem. The jacket uses indigo blue -- one of the colors of the Tokyo Games -- with the Olympic rings and Tokyo 2020 emblem embroidered on the front, a dragon and a tiger along with the lettering "JAPAN" on the back. The jackets sell for 39,600 yen each, including tax.
Once sold at the athletes' village during the Games, the jackets became popular among foreign athletes.
Syrian swimmer Yusra Mardini from the Refugee Olympic Team, who competed in the women's 100-meter butterfly, posted a photo of herself with a Hungarian swimmer wearing sukajan on Instagram, receiving such comments as "so cool!" and "That's a dope jacket."
Australian swimmer Emily Seebohm, who got the gold in the women's 400-meter medley relay, and Mexican diver Rommel Pacheco, the men's springboard gold medalist, introduced the jacket as their favorite on video sites.
Interest in the jackets quickly took off, and the Yokosuka city government began to receive emails and phone calls asking where they are available.
"I express my heartfelt thanks to the athletes for advertising sukajan to the world," said the chairman of the city's promotion association of the Dobu Ita Street shopping district.
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