Air Max Day isn’t the only Swoosh holiday that sneakerheads look forward to every year. While usually smaller in scale, SNKRS Day is also a big occasion for passionate Nike fans. Every year, the Nike SNKRS App holds a special day filled with restocks and events within their own country’s domains. For Japan, this falls on 20 March, and 2023 marked the app’s 5th year in the country.

In this story, we’ll detail what exactly went down on the app during SNKRS Day Japan 2023. Buckle up because it’s a wild one.

Pre-Event

In fact, SNKRS Day celebrations began long before March even rolled around. In January, news first broke about what was set to happen for this year’s edition. Subsequently, we were treated to the reveal of the Nike Air Max 1 “Design by Japan/Think Tank”, where SNKRS Japan users previously voted collectively on different aspects of the Air Max 1.

A week before SNKRS Day, Japanese users were treated to a daily quiz from 13 to 15 March. The top 5,555 winners were informed that they would gain exclusive access to one of two limited sneakers, which would be revealed on SNKRS Day itself.

SNKRS Day Japan 2023

9.05AM JST – [Dunk Reserve]

If you followed our live Twitter thread yesterday, you’d know SNKRS Day started off with a bang. Right off the bat, Nike gave users a Dunk Reserve filled with some of the hottest Dunks in recent times. Entries such as the Concepts x Nike SB Dunk Low “Orange Lobster” and the eBay x Nike SB Dunk Low “Sandy Bodecker” made their reappearances, giving SNKRS Japan users the chance to cop them once again.

[Dunk Reserve] Full Drop List:
– Concepts x Nike SB Dunk Low “Orange Lobster”
– eBay x Nike SB Dunk Low “Sandy Bodecker”
– Why So Sad? x Nike SB Dunk Low
– SOULGOODS x Nike SB Dunk High
– Nike Dunk Low “Kentucky”
– Nike Dunk Low “Setsubun”

9.30AM JST – [Trivia Winners Announcement]

Shortly after, SNKRS Japan finally announced what was in store for the 5,555 winners of the Trivia a week ago. To everyone’s surprise, it wasn’t exclusive access to previously released shoes. Instead, winners had the chance to purchase one of two upcoming hype sneakers—either the Off-White x Nike Air Force 1 Mid “Pine Green” or the PEACEMINUSONE x Nike Kwondo 1 “Panda”. Winners were given up to 3 days to make their selection. It really pays to know your stuff, huh?

12.35PM JST – [Jordan Reserve] & [SNKRS Reserve]

Around lunchtime, SNKRS followed earlier events with two Reserves—Jordan and SNKRS, respectively. Similar to the morning’s Dunk Reserve, both the Jordan and SNKRS Reserves included popular silhouettes that released in the past few months.

For the Jordan Reserve, we saw the likes of the A Ma Maniére x Air Jordan 4 “Violet Ore” restocking, while the SNKRS counterpart had Drake’s NOCTA x Nike Air Force 1 Low “Certified Lover Boy” reappearing on the app. Here’s a full list of what showed up during both Reserves:

[Jordan Reserve] Full Drop List:
– A Ma Maniére x Air Jordan 4 “Violet Ore”
– Nike Air Jordan 1 OG High “White Cement”
– Nike Air Jordan 4 WMNS “Oil Green”
– Air Jordan 2 OG “Chicago” (Full Family Sizing)

[SNKRS Reserve] Full Drop List:
– NOCTA x Nike Air Force 1 Low “Certified Lover Boy”
– Premium Goods x Nike WMNS Air Force 1 Low SP “The Sophia”
– Nike Terminator High “Panda”
– Nike Terminator High “Cocoa Snake”
– Nike Terminator High “Georgetown”

4.00PM JST – [Missing Sold Out Buttons]

The entire afternoon was surprisingly quiet for SNKRS Day Japan 2023. However, at around 4 PM, some keen users started noticing a subtle change on several product pages—the “Sold Out” button display disappeared. If you’ve experienced previous SNKRS Days be it in Japan or other countries, you would know what’s coming next. Those shoes should be next in line for a drop. As users continued to trawl through SNKRS Japan, they found a few possible candidates, one being the Nike Air Jordan 1 High OG “Chicago Reimagined”.

5.55PM JST – [Jordan Reserve 2]

Perhaps SNKRS Japan had the working crowd’s schedule in mind, but it took almost 5 hours for the next scheduled event. It was yet another Jordan Reserve, which made a lot of sense given how big Jordan releases were in the past year or so. To credit the detectives who found the missing “Sold Out” buttons earlier, indeed the Air Jordan 1 High “Chicago Reimagined” highlighted this Reserve, along with some other hyped Jordans that released earlier this year.

[Jordan Reserve 2] Full Drop List:

– Nike Air Jordan 1 High OG “Chicago Reimagined” (Full Family Sizing)
– Nike Air Jordan 1 High ’85 “Black/White”
– Union LA x Air Jordan 1 Low KO (Canvas)
– Nike Air Jordan 1 Retro High OG “True Blue”

7.05PM JST – [Thank You]

In perhaps what is the most surprising event of the day, SNKRS Japan posted a “Thank You” message at around 7.05 PM to conclude the event. While it was filled with restocks of popular pairs, a lot of the earlier-promised elements were missing from the celebrations.

Notably, the SNKRS CAM segment was poised to make a return but failed to do so. At the same time, certain high-heat shoes that were shown on the app prior to the event, including the Travis Scott x Fragment x Air Jordan 1 Low OG and certain Off-White x Nike “The Ten” silhouettes were, unfortunately, missing as well. This led to bewilderment among Japanese sneakerheads, who were clearly anticipating those restocks as well as the chance to run around for SNKRS CAM.

Nonetheless, SNKRS Day Japan 2023 did fulfill what it promised. It gave Japanese users the chance to cop some of the most popular sneakers in recent times, and also gave a selected few the chance to procure unreleased collaborations.

Our eyes will now look towards 26 March as we celebrate Air Max Day, and later on 8 August when the Western world celebrates their SNKRS Day iteration.

Screengrabs courtesy: FullRess, SNKRDUNK