The design of the Air Jordan 12 already has Japanese inspiration, and now Jordan Brand is once again paying homage to the country with an upcoming colorway.
This time, the brand is dropping a new “Sumo” Air Jordan 12 that’s releasing exclusively in Japan. In the post shared by @atmos_japan and @tokyo23basketball on Instagram, this latest colorway references Michael Jordan’s visit to Japan in 1996 and the moment in the trip where MJ played basketball with sumo wrestlers.
The “Sumo” Air Jordan 12 sports a predominantly black and purple color scheme on the upper, with subtle laser-etched graphics on the black leather panels. This pair also replaces the number 23 embroidery on the tongue with kanji characters and on the heel’s pull tab, while a special Jumpman logo appears on the tongue. The sneaker also comes with special packaging that has MJ’s regular season stats printed on the paper.
The Air Jordan 12 “Sumo” releases on Aug. 23 exclusively at Atmos Japan and at the Atmos-operated Tokyo23 store for 34,100 yen, which roughly converts to $214.
