Kariyushi shirt

The Kariyushi shirt (かりゆしウェア, kariyushi wea^?) is a style of dress shirt originating in Okinawa Prefecture, Japan. Similar to an aloha shirt, they are mainly worn in summer. The shirts are printed, mostly short-sleeved, and collared. Kariyushi shirts may be worn as casual, informal wear, or as dresswear. First introduced in 1970 to promote tourism to Okinawa Prefecture, it gained popularity in 2000 when head of states wore one during the 26th G8 summit held in Okinawa. They are promoted as part of the Cool Biz campaign by the Government of Japan.

In 1970, the Okinawa Tourism Association started selling aloha-like shirts under the name of Okinawa shirts in order to promote tourism to Okinawa Prefecture. The initial campaign was unsuccessful leaving piles of unsold. The leftover were worn by hotel association members. The popularity of the shirts spread during the time of the second oil crisis. At first, the shirts were limited to variations using motifs of traditional arts such as bingata or Yaeyami minsa. Eventually, many individuals related to the tourist trade such as hotel staff, travelers and tour guides began to wear them.

The Mensōre Okinawa Kenmin Undō Suishin Kyōgikai, a newly-formed coalition of Okinawan tourism organizations, decided to produce shirts featuring Okinawaness and named them kariyushi shirts in 1990. Kariyushi means "harmony" or "happiness" in Okinawan. In 1997, the Okinawa Hotel Ryokan Association started promoting another type of aloha-like shirts named tropical wear as well as tropical Friday (Okinawan version of casual Friday). This resulted in their widespread use in places such as government offices.

Year 2000 was a turning point for Kariyushi shirts. The name of the shirts was standardized as kariyushi shirts (かりゆしウェア). In 2000 each head of state wore one during the 26th G8 summit held in Okinawa. During this time, variations in the shirt design appeared and the shirts became popular for use among government employees, bank workers and people in the general business sector. According to the Okinawa Apparel Sewing Industrial Association, over 310,000 shirts were sold in 2004. Okinawa also holds a textile contest once every year, allowing contestants to design a kariyushi shirt.

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