Japanese streetwear might make up a small part of menswear as a whole, but there are few other subsets of fashion more esoteric and revered. With a storied history of brands such as A Bathing Ape, Wacko Maria, Neighborhood and a number of other labels that were birthed in Ura-Harajuku, a small set of backstreets in Shibuya, its influence on how we dress is larger than we might first assume. If you have no Japanese designers in your wardrobe, well, there are some who would question if you even had a wardrobe at all.

An impressive history is all well and good, of course, but what about today – who’s pushing Japanese streetwear forward? That question may have no definitive answer yet, but one brand that is heading in an interesting new direction is Flagstuff, which was founded in 2014. While a lot of Japanese designers today look to vintage Americana and sportswear references and sturdy workwear for inspiration, Flagstuff’s touchstones are often homegrown. Of course, the 1990s skatewear influence is undeniable in the sleeve-printed T-shirts, shell bombers and baggy hoodies, but its Japanese roots are equally palpable. Plastering anime graphics onto T-shirts alongside Japanese lantern prints is the brand’s current metier. The result is that its clothing feels rooted in the future of contemporary Japan while still drawing on the nation’s heritage.

This, unsurprisingly, is Flagstuff’s intention. “At its core, the Flagstuff brand likes to express a mix of both traditional and contemporary Japanese motifs, whether it’s though animation or something more traditional,” Mr Nobuyui Murayama, the brand’s founder and designer, explains. In other words, it’s a bit like the kind of thing a high-end fashion fanatic might wear if he’d been transmuted to a Ghost In The Shell character.

Happily, MR PORTER has acquired a little bit of Flagstuff’s magic for ourselves in a new capsule collection that’s part of The Japan Edit. Speaking on the capsule, Mr Murayama says: “The capsule incorporates original Japanese styled animation characters along with contrasting traditional Japanese motifs such as ukiyo-e art, obake (ghosts), and kamon (family emblems).”

Flagstuff is playful – and perhaps a little bit weird, in its aesthetic; all those anime eyes staring at you from its clothes are borderline disconcerting at times. Still, the brand maintains a fastidious attention to detail (“A lot of time is put into creating the animations”) and there’s a real enthusiasm for connecting Japan with the rest of the world that comes through with the collection. “I think it’s a great and enjoyable opportunity for people to find out more about Japanese culture through a medium of clothing,” Mr Murayama says.