Hand-dyed denim and vintage machines are used to make jeans that sell for up to US$1,400 a pair in town where even the roads are denim blue The Japanese town of Kojima is all about denim.

I’m quite a Japanese denim fan and have been ordering custom-made Okayama "aka-mimi" (red ears) jeans for decades. For the uninitiated, “red ears” refer to a denim fabric woven with a ...