Castle in the Sky sukajan jacket combines the old-school art of Ghibli and Yokosuka【Photos】

Even the sleeves are filled with little callbacks to the Hayao Miyazaki-directed classic.

Even if you’ve never heard the term, odds are you know a sukajan when you see one. Also called a Yokosuka jacket, sukajan are baseball jacket-like garments with soft, shiny fabric and embroidered artistic flourishes, whose name comes from them originally being associated with U.S. servicemen stationed in the port town of Yokosuka, Kanagawa Prefecture, following World War II, from where their popularity spread to the general population.

And if you’re reading SoraNews24, even if you haven’t heard of Yokosuka, there’s a pretty good chance you’ve heard of Laputa, the floating island from Studio Ghibli’s Castle in the Sky anime movie, which now has a sukajan of its very own.

The latest entry in the GBL line of fashionable yet casual clothing inspired by Ghibli anime, the Castle in the Sky sukajan is full of cool callbacks to the very first anime that the studio produced following its official founding. Most obviously, the back of the jacket is dominated by a depiction of the island, its castle, and the majestic tree that towers above it.

▼ And down at the bottom you can spot Sheeta’s levistone pendant.

Around front, each side of the chest has an embroidered likeness of sky pirate captain Dola, riding one of the insectoid Flaptor flying machines…

…and running down the arms are multiple Robot Soldiers, posed in a way that brings to mind the machine’s rescue of Tida from her imprisonment in the Tedis stronghold.

Sukajan are much more oriented towards standing out than blending in, and the inside of the Castle in the Sky one is an eye-catching orange.

Still, by sukajan standards it’s not overly flashy, while still having enough individuality to make a fashion statement both to fellow Ghibli fans and to people who’ve never seen the jacket’s source material alike.

The Castle in the Sky jacket is made with polyester velveteen and a rayon lining, so it should be both soft to the touch and lightweight, and available through the online shop of Ghibli specialty store Donguri Kyowakoku here. At 33,000 yen (US$225) it’s not particularly cheap, but that’s not an unusual price for a sukajan, and actually slightly less expensive than the Ranma 1/2 anime sukajan we saw a while back.

Source, images: Donguri Kyowakoku
● Want to hear about SoraNews24’s latest articles as soon as they’re published? Follow us on Facebook and Twitter!

Credit: