japan :: tokyo :: general

[Ricer]

Hey guys, just wondering if some of you might be able to help me

 

Coming to Tokyo end of March & currently compiling list of stores I wanna hit up

PX Megastore was on that list & I was of the understanding that there were 2 of them on the one street close to where K-Skit is located.

But now today I was told thats no longer the case & they've relocated to north of the city at "Toda City, Saitama Prefecture Sasame 1-36-3"

Their website confirms this but is there definitely now nothing at all in Kichijoji & have they moved their entire stock including sneakers to the new address?

 

Google maps for some reason shows me a red building at "Tokyo, Suginami, Amanuma, 3 Chome−3−7" whenever I search PX Megastore

 

(I do plan on copping the SUFU iphone & paper guides as soon as I get paid next week)

Edited February 18, 2015 by Ricer

[1M]

px at kichioji is gone. not worth going to saitama at all for any reason

[Ricer]

Did they not move their inventory of kicks out there?

Saw pics of the old one in kichioji & it was majorly impressive but the 1 or 2 pics Ive seen of the new place look a bit trashy

 

Is there any other stores in a streetwear/sneakers vein worth checking out in kichioji? Will be heading out to K-Skit regardless

[herpsky]

Thought Revamp (http://www.revamp.co.jp/) would pick it up but guess Sazaby (http://www.sazaby-league.co.jp/) was willing to pay more for the licencing fees. But they've done wonders with Ron Herman in the last few years making it the "IT" select shop. Honestly don't think its gonna be a hit. Tokyo has the so so so many amazing burger joints already.

Turns out that Revamp runs blue bottle, Krispy Kreme, and cold stone. Apparently, they are bring auntie Ann's (whatever that mall pretzel joint is called). Apparently, their marketing philosophy is "the longer the line, the better."

Yeah, Ron Herman is definitely the IT select shop for the rich and yuppies. I still don't understand how that store became such a huge popular enterprise. I guess they came in and did the right thing at the right time. It's one of the earliest lifestyle shops with clearly defined theme - "西海岸セレブ"style. I guess it also coincided with the whole surf, skate, Americana, normcore movement that started blowing up at the same time. I remember the actual Ron Herman being pretty terrible. Now, Fred segal is opening up in the new daikanyama station complex along with tartine. The retail scnene is getting more Americanized than ever before. I'm honestly surprised that OC blew up. We used to joke that it would go out of business super quickly because it literally occupied the entire seibu annex top to bottom and they were selling expensive American lame basics no one was buying. It's also interesting that tsutaya group has been putting out more lifestyle oriented tsites across Japan. Shonan, somewhere in Hokkaido, and etc.

It's pretty interesting to think about how the trends transitioned from the late 90s to today.

What happened between the modo / Dior homme period and the supram/skate street period? Lately it's all bout sports mix, fuccboi, pitti uomo street style ala ua and sons.

Edited February 19, 2015 by herpsky

[djrajio]

Turns out that Revamp runs blue bottle, Krispy Kreme, and cold stone. Apparently, they are bring auntie Ann's (whatever that mall pretzel joint is called). Apparently, their marketing philosophy is "the longer the line, the better."

Yeah, Ron Herman is definitely the IT select shop for the rich and yuppies. I still don't understand how that store became such a huge popular enterprise. I guess they came in and did the right thing at the right time. It's one of the earliest lifestyle shops with clearly defined theme - "西海岸セレブ"style. I guess it also coincided with the whole surf, skate, Americana, normcore movement that started blowing up at the same time. I remember the actual Ron Herman being pretty terrible. Now, Fred segal is opening up in the new daikanyama station complex along with tartine. The retail scnene is getting more Americanized than ever before. I'm honestly surprised that OC blew up. We used to joke that it would go out of business super quickly because it literally occupied the entire seibu annex top to bottom and they were selling expensive American lame basics no one was buying. It's also interesting that tsutaya group has been putting out more lifestyle oriented tsites across Japan. Shonan, somewhere in Hokkaido, and etc.

It's pretty interesting to think about how the trends transitioned from the late 90s to today.

What happened between the modo / Dior homme period and the supram/skate street period? Lately it's all bout sports mix, fuccboi, pitti uomo street style ala ua and sons.

 

Yes, I know Revamp runs Blue Bottle, Krispy Kreme, and Cold Stone. I've had dinner w/ Sawada-san (the president) a few months ago to see if he would invest in my brand (he did not). He used to be the No.2 behind Yanai-san at Uniqlo back in the late 90s when they hit it big w/ the fleece line.

 

He's not terribly the smartest dude but surrounds myself with very talented people and invests in either 1) cheap distressed companies to turn around 2) popular foreign exports that are easily importable into Japan.

 

Yes, I think Ron Herman's success was a mix of perfect timing but also great product placement in key magazines (Ocean, Men's Club, Sense, etc). Also they incorporate the right mix of ladies and men's. Most of the guys who shop at Ron Herman do it with their girlfriends who decide what they should wear unlike mode/high-fashion shops which exclusively cater to fashion-otaku dudes. 

 

Regarding OC, it's success in Japan really coincided w/ Huberto/Carol's appointment as creative directors of Kenzo (which gave them greater presense in Japan) and the fact that OC is licensed/managed by Onward domestically. Onward has the 1) money 2) logistical know-how 3) connections and muscle-power to push OC apperal to stylists, magazines, etc. They also were an early supporter of buzz labels like D.TT.K which has the support of the fashion elite in Tokyo.

 

Tokyo fashion right now is in a bit of a disillusioned period because no one is buying clothes anymore. Even fast fashion is having a hard time; Topshop/Topman recently closed all of their stores and left the Japanese market.

 

The reality is young girls and guys are spending their disposable income on media (LINE stamps/stickers, APP games, etc) rather than clothing and if clothing its increasingly being purchased online.

 

As a result, designers and retailers are taking less chances; making and selling things that are culturally recognizable and accessable to the typical Tokyo "sheep salaryman" (一般的客ã•ã‚“).That's why these "lifestyle" stores have been such a hit.

 

Does the typical Japanese salaryman have enough money to afford Balmain, Dior, etc or has he ever been to a micro-brewery or legitimate coffee joint in the states or surfed in his life? Nope. Does he actually fucking care? Probably not.

 

But its much easier for him to adopt the "lifestyle" by consuming a hip cafe-latte while reading a surfer magazine and buying a t-shirt. Plus, he can just take a picture of that shit and upload it on Instagram and voila he's instantly considered "cool" by his circle of lame "salaryman sheep" friends. The same could be said about supreme/skate street. Just another permutation. At the end of the day, the end consumer vicariously living the "lifestyle". 

 

The typical Japanese consumer lives a save, easily identifiable/consumable, non-commitable lifestyle.

 

It's fucking bullshit.

Edited February 19, 2015 by djrajio

[mrip]

Did they not move their inventory of kicks out there?

Saw pics of the old one in kichioji & it was majorly impressive but the 1 or 2 pics Ive seen of the new place look a bit trashy

 

Is there any other stores in a streetwear/sneakers vein worth checking out in kichioji? Will be heading out to K-Skit regardless

the kichijoji store was pretty small but they packed a lot of shit in there. it was kinda musty run down. not a store you would want to hang out in

[Ricer]

Was this not one of the stores there though? Was of the understanding they had 2 in the area

 

[mrip]

yeah it wasnt much bigger than that

[pompadork]

re: burgers, is there a burger equivalent to the curry instagram herpsky posted at the top of the page? Or any other similar accounts that aren't ramen?

[ken shinoda]

Golden brown in omotesando hills is pretty good.

[herpsky]

Lol

[Method]

i hit up a few burger joints in tokyo last time but since japan still doesn't know what real bacon is, pretty much all my burger experiences suffered. by the end i was ok with just a freshness burger.

 

are there any decent 串カツ places in tokyo? love that plebe shit but haven't seen much of it outside osaka. 

[pompadork]

i hit up a few burger joints in tokyo last time but since japan still doesn't know what real bacon is, pretty much all my burger experiences suffered. by the end i was ok with just a freshness burger.

 

are there any decent 串カツ places in tokyo? love that plebe shit but haven't seen much of it outside osaka. 

 

This thing on the top is bacon

 

 

 

But a dog watches you eat it.

 

[herpsky]

u se.nan on insta? had no idea. where is that place?

 

 

i feel like i've had a pretty fair share of tokyo's burgers. one burger that doesn't really require you to go out of your way (well, it all depends on where you live) and delivers consistently good food, i would say, is great burger. then again, i've gotten kind of tired of exploring the burger scene and started checking out washoku more. 

 

once again, why do people like blacows so much. they give you like no fries (and they are mediocre). burger is small unless you add their  expensive ass toppings. i always hear people talking about sasebo (style) burger but i've never had one before so i can't speak for it.

[herpsky]

i thought golden brown in ikejiri kinda sucked. eats (or whatever) in jingumae is p good but not amazing. 

[pompadork]

ã¯ã„ã€ãƒŸãƒ¼ Great Burger is the place near Dog right?

 

I actually don't care about burgers that much I just liked the 'concept' of that curry instagram and was interested in seeing non-ramen ones. Some of my favourite meals have been from seeing random insta post then going to try it.

 

Blacows is small but I thought it was okay. I'm okay with few fries since I don't eat much. This place in ã¤ãã° hi-5 does the same except their burgers are pretty big. Upon retrospect the bad part about Blacows for me is how soft the patty is. I don't know if it's because of wagyu fat content and it being unable to get grilled more but the burgers always melt.

[raddy]

I never really got into high brow burgers; to my non-refined burger palate, Great Burger or Fellows are plenty delicious. I reserve my snobbery for cawfee. 

[herpsky]

ã¯ã„ã€ãƒŸãƒ¼ Great Burger is the place near Dog right?

 

I actually don't care about burgers that much I just liked the 'concept' of that curry instagram and was interested in seeing non-ramen ones. Some of my favourite meals have been from seeing random insta post then going to try it.

 

Blacows is small but I thought it was okay. I'm okay with few fries since I don't eat much. This place in ã¤ãã° hi-5 does the same except their burgers are pretty big. Upon retrospect the bad part about Blacows for me is how soft the patty is. I don't know if it's because of wagyu fat content and it being unable to get grilled more but the burgers always melt.

Great burger is behind meiji dori. Pretty close to TNF standard, audi, ciaopanic, and etc

[conqueror]

i posted about my jp burg experiences in the burg thread. reg-on diner (ebisu) and burger base (yoyogi) are still both criminally underrated.

[herpsky]

Tabelog the best of 2014 out. As always, take it with a grain of salt

 

http://tabelog.com/bestrst/2014/

 

http://tabelog.com/bestrmn/2014/

 

Out of the top 20 ramen, I've only had Tagano. I've actually never heard of like 95% of the places. 

Edited February 22, 2015 by herpsky

[pompadork]

e: nm, found. 

Edited February 24, 2015 by pompadork

[djrajio]

Firehouse burger is legit.

 

http://www.firehouse.co.jp/the_burger.html

[Warakia]

Tabelog the best of 2014 out. As always, take it with a grain of salt

 

http://tabelog.com/bestrst/2014/

 

http://tabelog.com/bestrmn/2014/

 

Out of the top 20 ramen, I've only had Tagano. I've actually never heard of like 95% of the places. 

Honestly I tried a few of the ones in Kansai but without a car getting to most of them was such a friggin' pain in the ass since they are always somewhere in the middle of nowhere. Really wish they would differentiate a bit more between "actually in the city" and "technically in the city but buttock nowhere inaka really".

[martin_henk]

As a European I have to say that I have yet to find any tasty bread in Japan. What gets me is the overly present flavour of (fake) butter in almost all the bread. Maybe some high end bakeries in Tokyo do a better job but even the expensive stuff from specialized shops and big departments was really meh at best in Kansai, yet came at a premium price. Then again I gave up on bread really fast so after that I didn't bother looking for it as much.

 

German guy here. So I know a thing or two about bread I guess. Generally I think that statement is a bit harsh, as there are some serious people from Japan going abroad to the study crafts like making sausage and bread.

 

"Güte" in Osaka is pretty good. It's located in the underground passage to OCAT. Coming from the Midosuji line eki on the right side. They have some bread made from sourdough for 400yen a half loaf.... which is a fucking steal if you compare to what other deli supa charge for the dry prepacked shit. I also like their cheese pan kinda.

 

Another joint in Osaka is "Baeckerei Kirschbluete" also in the Namba area. They got a dope selection, but a tiny loaf is 800yen or so. All organic though. Actually with the exchange rate nowadays it doesn't cost so much more than a good loaf of organic bread costs in Germany. 

http://baeckerei-kirschbluete.com/ 

Edited February 27, 2015 by martin_henk

[sleeptalk]

anyone know of any good organic, green, or otherwise high-end/extra safe drycleaners in tokyo? any place you'd trust with your best stuff. google's been no help... 

[SSchadenfreude]

anyone know of any good organic, green, or otherwise high-end/extra safe drycleaners in tokyo? any place you'd trust with your best stuff. google's been no help... 

what is the actual article(s)?  practically every cleaner in tokyo imo is decent, plus if they fuck something up you can get shit paid for and a little extra if you aren't a pussy about it.

[sleeptalk]

what is the actual article(s)?  practically every cleaner in tokyo imo is decent, plus if they fuck something up you can get shit paid for and a little extra if you aren't a pussy about it.

 

i think it's like korea, where they use the cheapest, harshest chemicals they can to get it done easiest...i'm sure a lot of places in america do that too, but you at least have the premium alternatives if you want. figured tokyo would have them if not seoul, but maybe i'm wrong again.

[SSchadenfreude]

i think it's like korea, where they use the cheapest, harshest chemicals they can to get it done easiest...i'm sure a lot of places in america do that too, but you at least have the premium alternatives if you want. figured tokyo would have them if not seoul, but maybe i'm wrong again.

Why don't u tell us what u wanna clean? Japan is superior to korea in the field of dry cleaning amongst other things.

Go 2 rejouir in azabu juban.

Here now u can move on:

http://www.rejouir.co.jp/index.html

Edited March 1, 2015 by SSchadenfreude

[herpsky]

Hakuyosha's premium dry cleaning is pretty popular. From what I heard, a lot of folks take their grails to Cleaning Takimoto in Harajuku. If you own like an archival raf simons piece or something, that's one place you can trust. Don't know if it's open because they don't have a website. It's around the corner from the original UA.

 

 

i usually take mine to this local place near my house but when they see the labels, they usually know if it needs extra attention. 

[herpsky]

America pretty much sucks at everything including dry cleaning. I don't fuck with it unless  they are just work dress shirts or some shit I don't care about.