The Indigo Edit

Baseball is an institution in Japan. By many metrics, it’s the country’s most popular sport. One of the quirks of the country that also makes total sense. This most American of sports has a natural home here. Like denim, jazz or whisky, it's something they've imported and made distinctly their own, with characteristic precision and passion. It’s an obsession borne out by the best baseball player in the world, Shohei Ohtani, being Japanese.

There’s a fanatical following for Ohtani in the country, comparable to Cristiano Ronaldo in Portugal. Channeling this energy, one evening in Tokyo, we headed to the batting cage in Shinjuku, one of the country’s oldest, to see how well the Drake’s team would fare with an evening playing the national game.

To misquote Mike Tyson: everyone has a plan until a baseball is flying at you at 70 mph.

The Shinjuku Batting Cage opened in 1978, a product of the country's economic boom years, its fascination with American culture, and baseball's growing commercial prominence in the country. Batting cages have been on the decline in Japan in recent years, but Shinjuku’s remains a strong part of the community, as well as a much loved staple of the nightlife.

When we arrive it’s overflowing with a wonderful cross section of society: salarymen in suits and ties letting off steam, cocky tourists, guys showing off to their girlfriends, dedicated sluggers practising their swings, families looking for a fun evening activity, and us, road-testing pieces from our Indigo Edit, putting our hardest-working denim through its paces.

Like baseball, Indigo dyeing is another global thing the Japanese do incredibly well. It’s one of the world’s oldest textile traditions, and is present across the world, from Africa to the Americas. There are many variations of the technique, but in principle it remains remarkably similar wherever it happens: cloth is submerged in an indigo vat, then oxidised in the air. Repeat until the desired shade of blue is achieved.

Historically, different cultures relied on different plants. In Japan, artisans traditionally used ai, or Japanese indigo, fermented from the leaves of Persicaria tinctoria. Since the late 19th century, much indigo dyeing around the world has switched to synthetic products. But in Japan they are committed to doing things the right way. It’s here where workshops remain committed to preserving traditional methods.

The garments in our Indigo Edit were dyed at the Noguchi Dyeing Shop, in the western suburbs of Tokyo. They’ve been dyeing here, the traditional way, since 1840. Indigo dye is special, not just because of its link to the past, but also for the way the fabric wears. It sits primarily on the surface of the fabric, as it ages it creates a distinctive patina. The kind you can’t fake. While most indigo dyeing is now synthetic, Japan’s love of craft, and celebration of the artisan, make it one of the bastions of the method’s survival and revival. Because each dye bath and fabric responds slightly differently, naturally dyed pieces often display subtle variations that are valued as signs of hand craftsmanship.

One of the enduring appeals of indigo is its relationship to time: unlike many dyes, it fades beautifully, recording wear and use in the fabric. That quality explains why indigo remains central to Japanese workwear and denim.

What else is there to do then, but swing, vainly, at a few curve balls. And cheer when the occasional, satisfying, connection between bat and ball is made.