As any menswear nerd worth their salt knows, Japan is where all the good stuff is. It’s an El Dorado of selvedge denim, artfully dyed fabrics and insider brands to admire. But this prior knowledge does not fully prepare you for what it is actually like to live it.

Since relocating from London to Tokyo four years ago, much has changed for me. But perhaps the biggest shift is that I’ve never bought so many clothes. Access to so many great brands is an occupational hazard that’s been great for my wardrobe – and cataclysmic for my bank account. All of this incredible clothing is right there. Too bad for you, dear reader, because now it’s right here, too. Welcome to MR PORTER’s Made In Japan edit, a curation of 20 brands, representing a new golden age of Japanese menswear.

Japanese style has long had a powerful influence on men’s fashion. In 2015, author W David Marx published Ametora, an examination of how, in the 1960s, fashion-conscious men in Japan heartily adopted American style, preserved it, and ultimately improved upon it (“Ametora” is a portmanteau of “American Traditional” – read Marx’s take on Japanese style here). When we today talk about Ivy style – the collegiate, preppy look first popularised on university campuses in the US – and the Oxford cloth button-downs (OCBDs), Shetland sweaters and, of course, denim, that make it up, it’s the Japanese brands that crop up the most.

Now, it’s evolving again. In the decade since Ametora was published, the gravitational pull of Japanese taste over global menswear has grown, expanding its influence in ways that are now shaping how guys from Brooklyn to Bethnal Green are getting dressed. We’re at a time where Japan’s longstanding strengths of artisanship, taste and attention to detail are perfectly aligned with what men actually want to wear.

From streetwear-adjacent brands like Neighborhood and NIGO’s Human Made to the unstructured tailoring, relaxed silhouettes, and fastidiously developed fabrics at Kaptain Sunshine and visvim. There is now an embarrassment of excellent clothes from excellent brands that no longer require a flight to Tokyo to access.

Take Auralee. At a glance, the clothes are simple, but the brand has skyrocketed in popularity among menswear fans because of its natural fabrics that span Mongolian cashmere to tactile tweed. Then there’s its specific, but charming colours. Who can deny the appeal of a sakura-pink polo shirt or a canary yellow raincoat? At Paris Fashion Week, it’s become the runway show to see – not because it’s pushing the boundaries of high fashion, but because it leaves you calculating how many Auralee sweaters would be reasonable to add to your rotation.

The brand’s founder, Ryota Iwai, is on a humble journey of constant improvement. “All we can do is slightly change or slightly improve upon last season’s offerings, and continue doing that every time,” he told me after this season’s show.

Slightly deeper down the rabbit hole is ssstein. Founded by Kiichiro Asakawa, a self-taught designer with a studious approach to silhouette and fabric, which he often originally develops with his suppliers around the country.

Asakawa spent his early career in a vintage fashion store in Tokyo. The brand itself began in 2017 with the designer remaking and selling old Levi’s jeans. Nearly a decade later, ssstein is about clothing that toes the line between uber-clean minimalism and rusty vintage. A pair of straight-legged, suavely draping cotton trousers may be distressed and dyed with sulphur to achieve a very specific fade, next to a futuristic and floaty silk bomber jacket.

A.PRESSE, meanwhile, reinterprets classic menswear into pieces that spark the kinds of overused words that good fashion writers try to avoid: timeless, luxurious, wearable. In this case, these are not trite exaggerations, but accurate descriptors. Each piece, from the simple jersey sweaters to gabardine jackets, silk shirts and cotton-twill trousers, is refined and perfected. Founded by Kazuma Shigematsu, the brand is about stepping into a world where everything – even the artfully faded, subtly cropped hoodies – is exhaustively designed and developed.

The list of influential names coming out of Japan goes on. And the influence goes far beyond just Japanese designers – Studio Nicholson’s Nick Wakeman once told me that her clothing was partly inspired by the achingly stylish old-age pensioners she saw walking around Tokyo. “Old folks in Japan will wear the same thing that they’ve been wearing for about 50 years,” she said at the time. “They launder their clothes to perfection and really look after them. There’s something quite delightful about an old man shuffling down the street, and the way they put themselves together.”

What makes Japan so great at producing influential menswear in the first place? Partly, it’s down to education. Fashion schools in Japan generally teach students how to make the perfect shirt rather than how to become creative directors. It’s a practical approach to ensure that hopeful designers are furnished with the technical skills to actually get a job.

Designers in Japan also have unparalleled access to some of the greatest craftspeople on Earth through the many trained artisans and manufacturers around. This in turn has been fostered by a deep and incurable obsession with craftsmanship. It’s true that factories around the country are in decline thanks to a shrinking and ageing population, but there are still enough of them to support a plethora of brands who are making thoughtful, detailed clothing.

While each brand’s particular strength for fabric and silhouette may differ, the reason for their popularity is simple: they will slot easily into any wardrobe, and make any outfit look much improved. Japan even has a handy name for this genre of wearable clothing that’s taking over: riaru kurōzu, or “real clothes”. Of course, the point of this vein of “real” clothes is that they are so well-made and well-designed that, putting them on, they can feel unreal.

Straightforward, easy and something anyone can appreciate, the designers have already done the work imbuing everything with taste and expertise you won’t find anywhere else in the world. All you have to do is wear it.