japan :: tokyo :: general

[mydenvermax]

Wifi at coffee shops in Tokyo is spotty at best. I'm guessing you have access to softbank or wi2? Better yet, get an emobile or one of those pocket wifi routers.

 

djrajio and I are both big fans of Lotus in Omotesando. It's in a pretty residential area. Really sick pastries and cheap coffee (250?). The wifi is free and crazy fast. The waitresses never ever bother you. 

 

Daikanyama and Nakame has great spots. 

 

I really like Eau Cafe (3F of the OG Lad Musician) in Daikanyama. Super quiet. Really sick cakes. The food is pretty decent too. The cafe on the 2nd Fl of Tsutaya T-site is good. It's a bit pricey but it's quiet on weekdays.  Gets mobbed on weekends. Also, it's a great spot for people watching. Some of the steeziest boys and girls come through. I also like Ivy Place in Daikanayama. It's owned by TY Harbor, the same folks who brought you Cicada, Beacon, and etc. Chanoma in Nakame is also a decent spot during the day. There's a bunch of spots along the river too. I forgot what the place was called but there's a cafe that looks really good next to Bamboo Shoots (the river location. it's a store that carries chrome, arcteryx, klattermusen and etc). 

 

The Ron Herman cafe in Sendagaya is also not a bad option. 

 

went to eau last week and it looked closed for good or being renovated or something...door was open, lights were off, boxes on the floor, etc. down the street is cafe façon which had great coffee

[Lomse]

Hello fellas.

I'm in Tokyo for the next two days. I really want to find the best 2nd hand/thrift-stores with the chance of good bargains.
Everything from high-end to street-wear are of interest. From what I've been be able to dig up in this thread, I'm gonna visit;
-KINJIN

-Ragtag

 

Anybody has a gem of a 2nd hand-shop they wanna share? All recommendations highly appreciated.

[herpsky]

THE DAY

大人ã«ãªã£ãŸç”·å­ã¸ã€‚「ã‹ã£ã“ã„ã„ã€ã£ã¦ãªã‚“ã ã‚ã†ã€ã€Œè±Šã‹ã«ç”Ÿãã‚‹ã£ã¦ãªã«ï¼Ÿã€ã‚’本気ã§è€ƒãˆã‚‹ãƒ©ã‚¤ãƒ•ã‚¹ã‚¿ã‚¤ãƒ«ãƒžã‚¬ã‚¸ãƒ³ç™ºåˆŠã€‚

 

This magazine is blowing up

 

http://thedaymag.jp/

 

It's like normcore / streetwear / skate / surf / vintage / amerkaji hybrid. 

[Trouble]

I went to ALOT of second hand stores so don't exactly remember which was which

 

but the only ones that are really worth your time are Ragtag Harajuku, Ragtag Jinnan, Kind(al) Shinjuku, Jinnan from the top of my head 

 

Other branches are smaller and there are gems to be found but if you're only there for 2 days then yeah those are probably your best bet, depends what u r looking for though. 

 

Honestly unless u live there and can regularly check up on them rakuten is a whole lot better since all the store's online stock is in one place anyways but that being said second hand shopping is pretty fun

 

re: coffee I don't know shit about coffee or cafes but a staff member at Rick Aoyama recommended Cafe Figaro down the street from CdG / Yohji and I liked the vibes there, felt like a real european cafe

Edited August 2, 2014 by Trouble

[s.a.j.s]

Coming originally from Melbourne where the coffee is highly regarded, I would only ever get coffee from these two places in Tokyo:

- Sarutahiko Coffee in Ebisu (Their honey latte is to die for)

- Omotesando Koffee.

The vast majority of other places taste like the juice squeezed out of a taxi cab seat, lawl.

[pompadork]

Thought that honey latte was pretty meh. 

 

Also kolor party tonight but too hot so â”(´ー｀)┌ 

Edited August 6, 2014 by pompadork

[herpsky]

Thought that honey latte was pretty meh. 

 

Also kolor party tonight but too hot so â”(´ー｀)┌ 

they didn't make it right for you b/c you are farrin

[pompadork]

Anyway lol @ paletas article on fashionsnap. Incoming lineups (though the twice I've gone there were small ones, I guess) 

Edited August 7, 2014 by pompadork

[bentobox]

one more ping for guest list for Camelot tonight. 

got the hollister japan girls and a bunch of ikemen dudes in the mix. 

PM me asap if you want to roll through. 

[beatplusmelody]

Plenty of good coffee shops in Tokyo. Some places that haven't been mentioned here already that I checked out for material for my website. 

 

Little Nap (Shibuya)

 

Nozy Coffee (Sangenjaya)

 

The Roastery by Nozy Coffee (Shibuya)

 

Cream of the Crop (Shirakawa)

 

And no pic of Sol's Coffee in Kuramae but that was also really good.

[herpsky]

i think the roastery is ok. but it might be just that i keep getting fucked over by the "japanese" style capuccino 

 

it's pretty interesting that a lot of a japanese places have synesso. i've seen very few marzocco EPs and etc.

 

saturday's makes pretty decent espresso. 

[bentobox]

man, the lineup for Summer Sonic sure is weak this year.  who thought having your festival ride on Queen with Adam Lambert, Robert Page, Richie Sambora, Avenged Sevenfold and Avril Lavigne was a good idea again?  

[herpsky]

Haha. 

 

On another note, a true OG website in digging Japanese mixtapes (I don't mean J-pop but mixtapes made by Japanese DJs)

 

http://samplinglove.blog94.fc2.com/

 

SO GOOD

[Appleseed]

^ good list. Homie sent me some of those Stupid Kozo mixes at the beginning of the year, hadn't heard of him before.

[pompadork]

Has anyone been to Aoyama tunnel? If so, thoughts?

[s.a.j.s]

Anyone going Labyrinth this year? So grateful to have gotten tickets

[nicelynice]

Have an overseas business trip that weekend, otherwise I woulda been keen to go - post your impressions!!

[conqueror]

what's womb like? i know its a club but i can literally count the amount of times i've been to a club in my life on one hand (hc kid, so i'm used to watching dudes beat each other up in dingy basements as opposed to strobe lights and babes). there's a dj i wanna see play when i'm over but i'm not sure if its just going to be mad awkward, especially since i'll be by myself. i've been to unit and superdeluxe which i guess can be considered 'clubs' but they were for actual bands as opposed to watching dj sets.

 

edit: yes, i realise i'm overthinking this hahaha.

Edited August 22, 2014 by conqueror

[Playahater]

what's womb like? i know its a club but i can literally count the amount of times i've been to a club in my life on one hand (hc kid, so i'm used to watching dudes beat each other up in dingy basements as opposed to strobe lights and babes). there's a dj i wanna see play when i'm over but i'm not sure if its just going to be mad awkward, especially since i'll be by myself. i've been to unit and superdeluxe which i guess can be considered 'clubs' but they were for actual bands as opposed to watching dj sets.

 

edit: yes, i realise i'm overthinking this hahaha.

 

 

Unless its a big name act and that you really want to see, I wouldn't bother with Womb. Its just a big club that's fucking packed, don't really understand the hype behind it. 

[conqueror]

Unless its a big name act and that you really want to see, I wouldn't bother with Womb. Its just a big club that's fucking packed, don't really understand the hype behind it. 

 

they're signed to warp so i guess they're fairly 'big name'.

[jaac]

Going to Japan for 6 months, working in Niseko for the ski-season.

Advice on phone/wifi/general life stuff? I will be working in a locally owned husband/wife run whiskey bar and trying to pick up the language asap.

[herpsky]

That's a pretty tough question. I was going to suggest buying a reloadable SIM but that won't probably be convenient because you will want to make calls and etc. Renting an LTE portable router is one option but it only gives you data and I honestly don't know how costly it will be for 6 months. If you want an actual phone (though I'm not familiar with the process as a foreigner), you'd need one of those gaijin zairyu cards (?) to open up an account. Alternatively, you can be "added" to your host's phone plan. You might have to find yourself a white-rom GSM smartphone because buying one off-contract may be expensive. If that's the case, let me know bcI know plenty of places that sell off-contract phones for cheap.

 

Niseko is one of the best ski resorts in hokkaido. Because it kind of caters to rich people, you won't have trouble finding cell phone signals and etc. Snowboarding / outdoor gear is insanely expensive in Japan. Buy before going. If you can figure out how to use yahoo, you can probably make profit by selling stuff before you leave. I made a pretty good amount of $ reselling Burton stuff.

Edited August 25, 2014 by herpsky

[herpsky]

http://www.houyhnhnm.jp/special/hynmedits_thirts/

 

50 blank tees

[beatplusmelody]

Going to Japan for 6 months, working in Niseko for the ski-season.

Advice on phone/wifi/general life stuff? I will be working in a locally owned husband/wife run whiskey bar and trying to pick up the language asap.

 

if you bring your own phone you can use prepaid with b-mobile. site is in japanese though. http://www.bmobile.ne.jp/product_voice.html

 

I paid 3000y a month for 1GB LTE and $300 or something (i never ran out) voice/texts

 

can be bought from any yodobashi

Edited September 2, 2014 by beatplusmelody

[DaBestSpoona]

Anyone used a skype number for japan?  

[pompadork]

Every third person is wearing a huge wide brim hat at the moment. 

Edited September 2, 2014 by pompadork

[ken shinoda]

Every third person is wearing a huge wide brim hat at the moment. 

 

Inspired by this?:

 

[herpsky]

 

OH WOW

[pompadork]

 

New Johnny's

[pompadork]

http://www.eyescream.jp/news-all/1ldkaoyamahotel-open

 

Another 1LDK location.