Yokosuka Navy Burgers and Sukajan

Also written: 横須賀のネイビーバーガーとスカジャン · 横须贺的海军汉堡与横须贺夹克

Yokosuka's proximity to a U.S. naval base has created a unique Japanese–Western everyday culture. Enjoy Navy burgers, sukajan (souvenir jackets), distinctive street fashion, and local gourmet eats.

Kanagawa Kanto Life & Daily

About this place

Yokosuka Navy Burgers and Sukajan (Souvenir Jackets) represent the Japanese-American everyday culture centered on Dobuita-dori Street in Honcho 1-3-chome, Yokosuka, Kanagawa. Dobuita-dori is about 300 meters long, parallel to Route 16, with roughly 150 shops formally called Honcho Shokai. Its name derives from the pre-war ditch river flowing down its center, covered with thick iron plates supplied by the naval arsenal to ease passage. Before WWII it flourished as a monzen-machi for the Imperial Japanese Navy Yokosuka Chinjufu; after 1945 it became a strip for U.S. occupation forces and U.S. Fleet Activities Yokosuka personnel, with souvenir shops, portrait painters, bars, and tailor shops. Compared with the 1960s Vietnam War era, bars decreased in the 2000s while Japanese youth apparel, beauty salons, accessories, sukajan specialty stores, and military shops grew, preserving a hybrid atmosphere that draws tourists.YOKOSUKA NAVY BURGER is a local burger sold since 2009-01-30. Background: Yokosuka promoted Yokosuka Kaigun Curry as town revitalization since 1999, based on the former Yokosuka Chinjufu origin, collaborating with JMSDF Yokosuka. For its tenth anniversary in 2009, the city also partnered with the U.S. Navy Seventh Fleet at Yokosuka. The U.S. base provided the recipe for the NAVY BURGER eaten inside the Navy as crew meal for lookout personnel aboard ships, as a symbol of friendship. On 2008-11-19 the U.S. commander handed the recipe to the mayor. Shops developed their own versions under a unified brand YOKOSUKA NAVY BURGER, starting with four stores on 2009-01-30 and expanding to thirteen by December 2009. Trademark application was filed in November 2008, registered 2009-06-19 as Japan No.5239674. Characteristics: patty uses lean 100% beef, cooked extremely simply to preserve beef flavor, described as like steak in a bun, unlike Japanese fast-food burgers with mixed ingredients and sauces. Grilling varies by shop. Toppings are onion and tomato, with ketchup and mustard added to taste in traditional American style.Sukajan's birthplace is Dobuita-dori. Following WWII, U.S. servicemen stationed at Yokosuka ordered souvenir jackets embroidered with oriental motifs — eagles, tigers, dragons, Mt Fuji — on satin or acetate. Initially called souvenir jackets, they were called Suka-jan. Etymology theories include abbreviation of Yokosuka Jumper, or abbreviation of Sky Dragon Jumper from ascending dragon embroidery. Features are reversible construction with different patterns front and back, blending Japanese embroidery techniques descended from kimono craftsmen with American flight jacket form. In the 1960s, Japanese youth copying American fashion adopted sukajan, though it later became niche until its 2016 revival when Louis Vuitton, Valentino, Gucci, Saint Laurent showed sukajan in collections. Distinct from Stadium Jumper (Stadium Jumper, or baseball/award jacket in the U.S.), typically with leather sleeves and wool body and team patches, sukajan uses all-over embroidery.Access is 3 minutes walk from Keikyu Shioiri Station, 10 minutes via Mikasa Building shopping street from Yokosuka-Chuo, 10 minutes via Verny Park from JR Yokosuka. Look for celebrity handprints like Ryuudou Uzaki embedded in the road, flea markets and street lives on weekends, and Dobuita Bazaar held four times a year. Early morning and late afternoon offer softer light for photography of port cranes and neon. Visitors should use public transport, respect residential areas behind the street, support tailors maintaining embroidery skills, and try both a traditional lean patty and shops' variations. The street also appears in works like Shenmue and Ki Hunter Episode 245. Sustainable tourism means understanding that this 300-meter street compresses 150 shops of layered history from imperial naval port to post-war pan-pan red-light associations to current creative street fashion, illustrating Kanagawa's adaptation of imported models to local materials.