Denim shops in Tokyo

[atom]

OK,

just got back from Tokyo. I thought I’d share my denim shopping experiences there. Here we go, enjoy:

UENO:

All the denim stores are next to the railroad tracks on a small street, you'll find the map here: http://www.indigofan.com/indigofan/map_ueno.html

- Hinoya was good, they have 3 branches there (I went to 2 of them). They had a good selection of Evisu, Levi's, Sugar Cane (especially the jackets were sweet), Burgus (Hinoya's own brand), and some Warehouse, Skull, Dubble Works and Oni jeans. They also had lots of Hawaiian shirts, sweat shirts, military jackets and stuff like that.

- Americaya was great, on the same street as Hinoyas. They had lots of Samurai, LVC, Evisu, Denime, Bootleggers, Lee, SDA, Flathead among others. Lots of stuff there, maybe the biggest denim store I visited.

- On the same street, opposite to Americaya, there was a small shop that carried Eternal 811. Can't remember the name though.

- On the same side as Americaya and Hinoya, there were elso few shops that had selvage denim. One had LVC, other had Omnigod. Everything was really close together, so it was easy to find the shops there.

SHIBUYA:

- Americaya has store there, close to the station. It was more mainstream than their Ueno store, but they had some Samurai, Eternal, Evisu etc.. In Americaya Shibuya they can only use single stitch for altering jeans, so Ueno store is better.

SHIMOKITAZAWA:

- Bears is there, close to Shimokitazawa station. It was maybe my favourite jean store in Tokyo. Really small, but full of good stuff, and the staff was really friendly. They had Flathead, Skull, SDA, Eternal, Denime, Full Count, Warehouse etc., lots of models and sizes.

Shimokitazawa is nice area, worth visiting even if you didn’t go to Bears. There’s plenty of good bars and cheap restaurants, and really relaxed atmosphere.

HARAJUKU:

- OT & Emotional was quite good. They carry Warehouse, Sugar Cane, Flathead etc. And really nice Cushman and Two Moon sweatshirts. Unfortunately they had really limited sizes left so I didn’t get anything there.

- Skull Jeans has a store in Harajuku. So does Full Count, PBJ, Johnbull, Levi’s (has LVC), Edwin (has vintage-Lee & Wrangler), FIL (had Visvim denim) and Neighborhood (their raw denim didn’t look too bad). Evisu store is no longer there where Superfuture map suggests.

-There’s also a lot of vintage shops that carry vintage Levi’s, Lee and Wrangler. Even some deadstock stuff from the 50’s, and that stuff doesn’t come for cheap. I tried to find LEvi’s no 3 jacket that would fit me well, but with little success. Prices were usually similar to, say, like Stables market in Camden Town.

- Between Harajuku and Shibuya there was a 45rpm store I went to, tried their new nandoxnando denim, didn’t like the cut though. But the prices were great compared to NY. So if you’re into that stuff, visiting a 45 rpm store in Tokyo is highly recommended.

SHINJUKU:

Junky store in Shinjuku was OK. It’s located north of Shinjuku JR station, on American Street or something like that. They had Sugar Cane, Skull, Warehouse etc., and lots of repro military and motorcycle gear. Didn’t buy anything there though.

AOYAMA:

-Next to Tab Device (didn’t like the current Fenom x Levi’s) is Levi’s vintage store, full of LVC stuff. But it seemed that even the regular pieces costs a lot more there.

-Blackflag had lots of Neighborhood denim.

Hmm, that’s all I can remember right now. Lots of this stuff isn’t on a Superfuture maps, time to update them maybe?

[englandmj7]

Great post man.

[Lab]

Awesome thread. Thanks!

What other brands could you get at Bears?

[Chicken]

agreed. gave you some green.

btw, there's an omnigod store in harajuku, too. updating the denim map must be done one of these days.

[atom]

Thanks.

Bears had couple of more obscure brands as well, can't recall the names now, and also some vintage big E Levi's and Lee.

[stadsvandringar]

I believe the main Evisu store is in the daikanyama/nakameguro area. Never bothered to step inside myself though...

Also, I think there's an Americaya right by Shinjuku station. It's on the ground floor of the Shinjuku Prince Hotel building, right next to Kabukicho.

[Ahlvahroe]

Great post! i have no sense of direction so i couldnt find shit but this might come in handy in a couple of years when i go back

[Ashez]

cool thread. Intressting to read and I'll have it mind when I swing by =)

[40ozprophet]

kick ass. great work. hope you enjoyed your trip!

[choice_genes]

Thanks for the thread man, it is nice to hear about the stores themselves (rather than just their rakuten aliases). I only visited Hinoya and a couple of others when I was there, but Ueno is definitely the place to go for denim (and for sneakers for that matter).

Evisu the Daikanyama (that's what the store is called!) is freaking awesome. Even if you don't wear evisu jeans, it is still worth the visit. Really beautifully fitted out, they have a few old shuttle-looms in there. Huge selection of jeans, without the gulls (painted on later). And all their other lines as well (fishing, golfing gear included).

Their other clothes are really good quality. Some beautiful sweaters and t-shirts. Worth a look.

[atom]

Thanks for the comments y'all.

I personally rate Japanese Evisu quite high. It's always very good quality, only downer is sometimes too heavy branding. Unfortunately I didn't have time to check Daikanyama Evisu store. In Tokyo there were couple of things beside denim I wanted to see...

[edwin]

just got back from a japan tour myself.

i second the raw nbhd jean from this season. they looked really good.

hinoya seemed like the poster shop for most denim heads here. huge selection.

black flag also had some good denim pieces.

[fre-co]

I took my first trip to Americaya and Hinoya last month. Both hugely well stocked and very close together indeed. The staff in Hinoya were particularly helpful, but I do speak some Japanese so I wasn't struggling to communicate. Chain stitching was done in about 30 minutes at a price of 600 yen or something like that.

Americaya was much the same deal but they had maybe more brands (and samurai)... chain stitching was more expensive though!

Did you go to Pure Blue Japan? It's in Harajuku, past the Bape cafe and all that nonsense on the same street. It's a small place but they had everything in every size, all one wash. The girl there was helpful too and the jeans are fantastic.

Up in kind of the same direction is Loopwheeler (actually it's not that close) but it's great. Again the guy there was very nice and appreciated my enthusiasm for their product. Stock was rubbish when I was there though, only 2 styles in 1 colour each available in my size.....

I went to the denim shop in Harajuku, on the corner downstairs near the Lonsdale shop.... they had sugarcanes among others but I didn't think much of it after going to Ueno.

Definitely agree with people saying Ueno is the one stop mecca for denim in tokyo, but if you are interested in PBJ, definitely make a stop there.....

[agentbristow04]

This thread is awesome! I only wish I had something like that before I went Tokyo last Dec.... Thanks dude! This will surely be handy when I go again this year.

[trinket]

OK,

just got back from Tokyo. I thought I’d share my denim shopping experiences there. Here we go, enjoy:

UENO:

All the denim stores are next to the railroad tracks on a small street, you'll find the map here: http://www.indigofan.com/indigofan/map_ueno.html

Thanks mighty atom.

[atom]

i second the raw nbhd jean from this season. they looked really good.

Nbhd denim seemed also to be no 1 choice among the local hipster kids.

Chain stitching was done in about 30 minutes at a price of 600 yen or something like that.

At Bears they did chainstiching for free, took about 40 minutes.

Did you go to Pure Blue Japan?

Yeah, I visited their Harajuku store, really small, and if I remember right they had some real stones all over the floor. Really "earthy" looking place, kinda opposite to Nbhd.

[katrien]

I believe the main Evisu store is in the daikanyama/nakameguro area. Never bothered to step inside myself though...

Also, I think there's an Americaya right by Shinjuku station. It's on the ground floor of the Shinjuku Prince Hotel building, right next to Kabukicho.

Not sure if that's an Americaya actually. Sounds like Junky Store to me (refer to atom's threadstarting post above)... Junky's right where you described it... ground floor of Shinjuku Prince Hotel, next to Kabukicho. It's actually along this row of shops called American Blvd. The shop stocks SDAs, Skulls, Sugarcanes and Warehouse denim.

[LeatherSOUL]

Awesome post! Thanks!

On a side note, at Hinoya, they're willing to takyubin or deliver your stuff to your hotel for 500yen. That way you don't have to wait around for hemming or if you're too lazy to carry your stuff around.

[proteus]

"- On the same street, opposite to Americaya, there was a small shop that carried Eternal 811. Can't remember the name though."

Bugger bugger bugger! To think I was walking up and down Ueno looking for a place that sold Eternals!

[watchman]

great post. very handy, the biggest worry for me in going to asia is not understanding not just the language, but the characters themselves so i need maps like this haha.

[katrien]

Awesome post! Thanks!

On a side note, at Hinoya, they're willing to takyubin or deliver your stuff to your hotel for 500yen. That way you don't have to wait around for hemming or if you're too lazy to carry your stuff around.

I managed to get my Flat Heads chain-stitch hemmed at Americaya within 15 mins... 800yen damage.

[jaspar]

Firstly, Atom, great list, and the maps on your own site are amazingly helpful. Thanks!

Secondly, has anyone been the the Flat Head Store in Setagaya? It's supposedly 5 mins on foot from Jiyuugaoka station but I need to figure out how exactly to get there.

[jselvedge]

Just got back from my trip. Will post pics and descriptions of how to find Ueno Americaya and Bears' in Shimokitazawa. Hopefully this will save you some time.

[jselvedge]

To get to the Ueno Americaya, you basically just need to follow the train track. Americaya is directly under the track. Anyways, here's how to find it. From the Ueno train station, take the park exit. There's a ramp that leads left that will take you down to the street level. Once you get to the street, you'll notice that there are two paths you can take. One is a pedestrian only street and the other is along the road. Take the pedestrian one.

Look for this and you are on the right path.

Keep walking straight and the path will split again. Take the left one. It looks like this.

Now keep walking and it will be on your left. It looks like:

The jeans section is on the second floor. Look for the staircase that has all of the denim stickers on it to get there. A must see!

[Chicken]

^ and hinoya is also right down the street from there.

thanks for posting!

(takes me back. i miss tokyo.)

[jselvedge]

Shimokitazawa is full of small one lane streets so I really hope this will help you out. There's also a karaoke bar called Bears there so watch out if you use the tourist maps. Like Atom said, the store is really close to the train station. The trick is knowing which way to head out from the station. Here goes...

When you exit the train station, look for this McDonalds. When you find it, head turn left down the street so that the train tracks are on your left. It's the direction the girl in the red hat is looking.

Now keep you eyes peeled above for this building with the Bikram Yoga sign on it. When you see it, turn right so that the building is on your left.

Now take the first left. You should be able to see Bears'. Just incase, this is what it looks like:

It's kind of a hole in the wall but it's full of goodies. Highly recommended!

[jselvedge]

If you can tell by the pics, I walked around for a bit before finding Bears' (not thaaat long, we got there late afternoon). In fact, I had given up and was trying to make my way back to the restaurant where my friends were eating near the that McDonalds. I took a wrong turn and woohoo!

[jselvedge]

thnx chicken. for the life of me, i couldn't find hinoya. i probably walked past it.

and the tokyo was cold!!! i just got back yesterday, but you know what, i miss japan already

[Chicken]

yeah, tokyo could get pretty cold too. were you able to buy anything cool while you were there?

jpgm picked up some serious goodies, looks like.

[jselvedge]

yeah it was pretty cold for me since i live in hawaii. my SExIH01BKs and IH634S helped a lot! anyways, here's what i got:

bears: raw eternal 811s and a tan KC's Leather belt

ueno americaya: sammy s5000bk

shinjuku junky special: sugar cane tan belt (might sell on supermarket after buying KC belt)

regret not buying: flathead limited edition 3001 (had new acrs but with thinner thread than the thread on the F310). it was on sale at ueno americaya for about 18000 yen.

plus, i got some pineapple mentos and strawberry n cream mentos that are really good too

edit: and +1 on jpgm's stash! that's some cool ass shit