[ASH]

I'm in Tokyo for the weekend and want to shop for Japanese specific brands - like Loopwheeler. Any shirts/shoes/jeans ....

 

[Flanderian]

I'm in Tokyo for the weekend and want to shop for Japanese specific brands - like Loopwheeler. Any shirts/shoes/jeans ....

Any interest in the world's greatest shoemaker?

https://shoegazing.se/english/2016/04/10/buyers-guide-yohei-fukuda/

 

[Dhaller]

Tokyo is probably the world's densest mecca of retail - one weekend? Hmmm.

Well, one could spend a year just in Ginza and never fully explore it, so that's probably going to be your base. I'd start just by exploring the Matsuya store there, where you'll find most major Japanese brands. Probably every designer and label on Earth is represented in Ginza.

I haven't been to Tokyo in a few months (I spent all of June in Japan but never quite made it that far east), and things are such a moving target. Harajuku around Omotesando is a crazy fashion scene on Sundays, and I recommend you try to fit in a visit there; there are lots of pop-up shops, focused of course mostly on street wear and kind of youth fashion, but there are many elegant menswear shops around there as well. Sorry to not be so specific, but it's just hard to convey the sheer density of *everything* there: fashion, food, entertainment, people. It's the most sensorily overwhelming city anywhere.

One thing though: fit. I am 6'1" and hover around 190lbs, more athletic than slim, and I generally don't bother trying to buy off the rack in Japan: things just don't fit. Shoes, likewise - my size 11 (44 European) is on the extreme end in Japan. So you may want to think in terms of bespoke (like Flanderian's fully-anticipated shoe recommendation); obviously "a weekend" isn't long enough to collect, so you'd need to decide how to work fittings and so on if you did that?

(Of course, if you're closer in size to the Japanese norm, no worries: let's call that 5'8ish, maybe 150ish for men?)

But things like hats - Toraya in Ginza is famous or Kijima Takayuki in Shibuya (I have an office near there, and it's a great area, again, for eating and shopping) - or other kinds of accessories might be worth hunting for. And while we're in Shibuya, Okura has amazing denim (as in "oh, here I am at the best denim shop in Japan, which itself is the best denim country, so this is the best denim store on Earth)... assuming you like denim (many AAACers do not).

I know I'm adding locations, but basically Ginza, Shinjuku, Harajuku, Shibuya are all fairly contiguous neighborhoods in Central Tokyo, so with some planning it's doable.

You must be in *Japan* longer than a weekend - where else will you be? Japan has plenty of other shopping opportunities.

DH

 

[Cat from Red Dwarf]

Isetan men's in Shinjuku is a department store for men and is definitely worth a visit. 8 floors so you should have no problem finding everything you need. They have some great end of season sales too. Legendary Japanese customer service and most places should offer free alterations if required. May be easier if you can speak some Japanese or have a Japanese speaker with you but that's true for most places. It's a one minute walk from Shinjuku Sanchome Station on Tokyo metro Marunouchi line. Take your passport and get tax refunds in store.

 

[The Irishman]

I think Isetan or Mitsukoshi in Ginza are good suggestions for 'one stop' locations, particularly if you pair a visit to the shops with a visit to Tsukiji fish market for sushi... Or just a stroll around the depachika (food department) in either store. The Lion Beer hall in Ginza is nice for a chu-joki of refreshing beer.

Beams is well curated and might be worth a look.

The problem with Tokyo is one of the choice... There is just too much. I think Ginza, Shinjuku, Harajuku and Shibuya all work well in terms of being relatively accessible to one another but I wouldn't get into a situation where you are trying to go cross-city several times on a short visit, it's not worth it, even though the trains are brilliant.

 

[mitsein]

I just came back from Japan. Agreed with the above, there is just too much there. You might want to narrow down brand (or at least what you want).

I suggest Kamakura Shirt (also known as Maker's Shirt), which is often praised here and there. Also, check out Japanese socks makers Tabio (similar to HJ or Corgi).

 

[culverwood]

I agree about not buying of the rack (unless you try it on) in Japan if you are a larger man, even if not, size for size, I find their sleeves shorter than in Europe.

 

[Cassadine]

Any interest in the world's greatest shoemaker?

Those caps are off the chart. That's not a mirror-shine. It's like Sun and Steel. Yes, the allusion to Mishima is intentional.

https://shoegazing.se/english/2016/04/10/buyers-guide-yohei-fukuda/

 

[ASH]

Thank you so much, much appreciated and will post my exploits

 

[Fading Fast]

1. Rob large bank (a small bank will not have enough money)
2. Use this thread as your guide: "Are the World's Best Men's Shoes Now Being Made in Japan?"
3. Acquire shoe collection to rival the best in the world
4. Check news reports about the bank you robbed before returning to the States

Kidding aside, have a great time - you got some solid advice from the above posts.

Two novels to read to get you in the mood for your trip (the first is a modern classic):

 

[Fading Fast]

Just thought of one more book for you - and this one is about Japan's clothing culture and its post WWII American roots:

Here are the comments I wrote on it back when I read it in 2016:

Finished the book "Ametora" by W. David Mark on how Japan "saved" American style (according to the cover).

The book explains how post-WWII Japan developed a subculture (that had periods of mainstream acceptance) of American Ivy style in part because Japan was, at the time, poor, unsure of itself culturally and looking for a new direction for dress and because a few Japanese acolytes (one in particular) of American Ivy developed a marketing plan to sell Ivy style dress to a post-War generation.

There is enough Ivy clothes discussion to keep most Ask Andy Trad Forum members happy, but be aware that the focus will be on how and why Japanese society was ready and made ready to embrace it. The Trad / Ivy story peaks about half way through when the origins and back story on the book "Take Ivy" are explained. After that, the book shortly moves on to discuss the various American styles of dress - hippie, punk, '50s rock and roll, etc. - that had some adoption, for some period of time, by some small segment of, mainly, the younger generation in Japan.

It also goes into (for you jean haters, it's time to cover your ears) Japan's fascination (it's fair to call it that) with American jeans (Levi's in particular) and how that morphed and evolved into a ransacking of American jeans dead-stock from the '60s on (literally, Japanese purchasers driving around America to find dead-stock Levi's [and other clothes] in the basements and storerooms of army-navy / department / etc. stores to ship back for sale in Japan), to Japanese-made lesser-quality copies, to, eventually, better-quality copies, to obsessively better-quality copies, to, finally, Japanese manufacturers deconstructing every detail of vintage American jeans so that they could build a better, strong, faster $6 million jean (okay, not that expensive, but Japan has pushed out the high-end-jeans' pricing envelope).

I was a little bored with the punk, hippie, '70s sections, but loved the first half Ivy sections and, surprisingly, found the jean narrative interesting both culturally for its obsessiveness and business-wise for its quirky, but successful, model.

If others have read or do read it, it would be great if you would share your thoughts.