The wide- and high-lapeled suits from Ring Jacket made their appearance in the American market only recently, though the company has been in business since 1954 as an Osaka-based private-label manufacturer for other Japanese brands. Its earliest suits were near replicas of American ones like those worn by President Kennedy that were rapidly becoming popular in Japan: natural-shouldered, dart-less sack suits that epitomized trad suiting. In the mid-1990s, Ring Jacket transitioned to a softer Italian-style cut, and in recent years notable tailoring shop The Armoury brought the brand to the international market while collaborating on new cuts and styles. The brand has since been popularized in the pages of GQ and tailoring blogs, earning a cult following in the States.

Its cuts are a beautiful representation of Japanese tailoring, in that the garments are primarily Neapolitan-Influenced but with nods to Northern Italian and American styles to boot—not one thing but many, all combined with a keen eye for small intricacies.

The Model 184 has most of the hallmarks of a Neapolitan jacket (minimal structure, soft shoulder, graceful 3/2 lapel roll, high gorge and slim cut through the shoulders and chest) but with slightly shorter and narrower proportions. The Model AMJ-01, one of the Armory collaboration cuts, has more of a Northern Italian influence with a slightly padded shoulder that cuts down to a more angular sleeve head, plus sleek besom pockets. The Model AMJ-03 combines Neapolitan softness and a spalla camicia shoulder (which is fed upwards for a slight raise at the sleeve head, rather than puckered) with the fuller cut in the chest and body and wider lapels of American Ivy style.

Japanese style stalwart Beams has a long and interesting history of adopting, tweaking, popularizing and molding international styles into something new and uniquely Japanese. Beams F, the first of what would become many sub-labels for the brand, is a tailoring-focused line that combines most every international suiting style together. Look no further than the Instagram account of Beams' creative director, Tatsuya Nakamura, to see it for yourself. He exemplifies the sub-label’s dressed-up style in soft Neapolitan jackets, structured Savile Row-inspired double breasted suits, sleek and simple Roman-style two-pieces and navy blazers with brass buttons that would look at home at any New England country club.

Beams F does have an Italian feeling, with the lean towards softness rather than structure. This is bolstered by the sprezzuraza way that their garments are styled and worn by Beams' Instagram-famous employees. It's less singular, though, than other brands on this list, and Beams F, rather, combines tailoring styles from across the globe into its own eye-catching line.

Hideaki Sato, of Tokyo-based Pecora Ginza, is a third-generation tailor in a country where tailoring has only really existed for about three generations. Sato trained in Japan, then Paris, then in Milan under a highly respected tailor named Mario Pecora. In 2000, Sato inherited the Pecora name and moved the operation to Ginza, Tokyo.

Unlike the almost single focus on soft construction that's prevalent in other Japanese brands, though, Pecora Ginza creates strong, proud British-leaning suits with angular upper bodies and a medium structure. Though with a wide base of clientele and such an international tailoring education, Sato and his team can and do produce a sweeping range of styles through its bespoke offerings.

Noriyki Ueki, (or Ciccio, his nickname) is as close to a perfect example of Japanese tailoring as it gets: He began his career at Ring Jacket, learned the basics over the course of five years, then left for Naples to apprentice at two traditional sartorias there over the course of two and a half years. He returned to Japan and eventually opened his own shop in 2015, focusing on exactly what makes the country's tailoring special: Neapolitan style with Japanese attention to detail.

"It's always the small things that get me excited. Like the smooth run of a jacket's shoulder up into the neck. It's not hard to get the basic things right—the size of a lapel, the run down through the waist," he told Permanent Style. "But these little points are what set apart good tailoring for me."

Ciccio includes a tremendous amount of especially slow and careful hand work in each suit, and only makes a small handful each month. It’s still very much a small brand, but are emblematic of a new generation of young Japanese tailors who will, hopefully, continue to grow the country's young suitmaking tradition.

Many of Japan's most significant tailors learned their trade in Italy and then returned to their home country—but not all. Miyahira Kotaro of Sartoria Corcos began his career, like others, at Ring Jacket before moving moving to Florence. It was a somewhat unconventional choice given that most Japanese tailoring enthusiasts are more interested in Neapolitan styles, and there are more jobs available at the larger concentration of houses there.

Kotaro studied under several Italian tailors in Florence, with its sleeker and slightly sharper silhouettes, while also developing a knowledge of the soft Neapolitan style through regular travels there. And, rather than returning to Japan, he opted to stay in Italy to produce his own suits. You can see the combination of styles in his jackets, which have the prominent lapel roll and soft arm of a Neopolitan cut but a slightly lower button stance and a touch more structure to the shoulder and chest.