AGGRESSIVE RELAXATION

I'm really into Muji right now. Like many wearers of clothes, I rely on fast-fashion companies to round out my wardrobe. Due to financial considerations, I have to balance my desire to cover my supple flesh in visvim,  against my need to own more than one shirt. This is a conundrum I'll be referring to as the taste>funds problem. To illustrate, it's the opposite of this guy's problem:

Still love you, Bus-A-Bus!

This brings me to Muji, a decidedly Japanese retailer that feels like the lovechild of Uniqlo, Ikea, and The Container Store. Their aesthetic is pure minimalism, from their linen jackets to their notebooks. Everything is simply designed and well made. When I'm in a store that sells menswear, the first thing I do is grab a blazer and check the cuffs to see if the buttons actually function.  Muji, of course, nails that subtle detail (at least on the knit blazer I tried). But this post isn't about the glory of surgeon's cuffs -- it's about this:

#SamuraiFlex

That delightful garment is the relaxing jinbei. When I saw the navy pattern version (it's kind of a faux herringbone), I had to instacop, as the gents at Complex would put it. Muji describes the jinbei as "summer homewear", but I wear mine around the neighborhood with some black Adidas. That's aggressive relaxation right there. I like to think of myself as a modern samurai, wandering the land, following a rigid honor code, and righting wrongs as I encounter them. I don't think samurai actually wore jinbei, as they are basically just Japanese pajamas, but one should never let facts get in the way of a good fantasy.