Tokyo Shopping - What to Buy / What not to Buy?

[smurf]

I was in Tokyo for the first time a year ago and I'm heading there again in a few months. One thing I noticed was how much more expensive international brands where there than in NYC or the states in general. I did buy a few t-shirts, etc., but on the whole, most of what I saw seemed overly expensive. First, is it true that shopping in Tokyo is that much more expensive? Second, when in Tokyo, what are some must-shop brands/stores or where can some good deals be found?

thanks!

[Kasper]

i'm gonna start by a good news, the US dollar has gained something like 20 to 25% on the yen in the past months so that's gonna make a big difference for you compared to the last time you came here. pricing can be weird in my opinion in Japan, some things are just overpriced while some are reasonable or even cheaper. a thing you have to keep in mind is that clothing or footwear is much cheaper in the us than pretty much anywhere else in the world. for exemple, i'm from montreal and before i moved to tokyo, i used to go vermont or new york almost every months or so cause it was so much cheaper. and canada is much cheaper than europe. footwear is around twice as expensive in europe as in the states in my opinion (maybe even more in scandinavia, lived in norway for a while and was always freaked out how overpriced everything was. like they would have sales in jan and feb and whole store would be like 50% off and it would still be more expensive than canada).

also, some international brand in japan command much higher price compared to similar products (Stussy or Recon is a good exemple).but in general, with the current exchange rate, i don't find it that expensive anymore to shop here.

some japanese brand will be significantly cheaper here than in the states like Bape or Edwin and i guess most high end japanese denims. as must shop brands/stores, i don't know what you are into but a trip to harajuku is a must as well as daikanyama and shibuya in my opinion. just check the superfuture map or do a search on the forum and you might find pretty much all that you need. there was this thread not long ago called tokyo shopping report that you might be interested in, lots of info about shop

[valhalla]

i agree with kasper that pricing in japan is kinda weird. but it depends on what you're looking for. there's little point in buying US or european labels in tokyo, because it'll be a lot more expensive.

look out for domestic brands, like undercover, final home, zucca de cabane, comme des garcons, junya watanabe, etc. those are very expensive objectively but you won't get them any cheaper anywhere else.

brands like graniph are cheap and good. you can get a nice tee at about $20-$25 from graniph.

die Kunst ist keine Wissenschaft

[smurf]

Thanks for the feedback! I had no idea about shoe pricing and America, for example! One of the examples I had in my head was going into the Camper store in Ebisu and seeing that a shoe I just looked at at home was almost twice as expensive.

As for Japanese brands/bargains, I actually did pick up a couple of Graniph shirts and I think they're great. Like a lot of you, I'm a big fan of graphic Ts, so any other Graniph-like shop recommendations would be great. I went to places like Beam, but frankly, I can't get too excited about spending 90 bucks on a shirt that is likely to have paint on it within 3 months.

Finally, I'm going out with my girlfriend, so is there anyone out there with top picks for the female shopper?

thanks again!