Ametora, W. David Marx

This book adumbrates the sometimes-interesting, sometimes-tedious history of how Japanese men in the post-war period emulated traditional American menswear and, in so doing, maintained traditions that fell out of favor in their home country. Like a lot of popular non-fiction, this book likely could have been a magazine article. Beginning about midway through, it felt increasingly like a recitation of stores opened, trips taken, and catalogs printed. The American subculture may shift and change -- though barely, as the Ivy style of the 1960s gives way to the Heavy Duty movement of the early 70s, which is just what Ivy guys wear on weekends or during ski trips -- but the process by which men in Japan learn how to mimic its rules and gestures is mostly the same. Like, oh, now they're dressing like undergrads at UCLA in 1975. As American men get more slovenly, Japanese men follow behind (but look better) and eventually branch out into their designs.