So I actually knew I was going to Japan for a while.
Namely because a lot of planning (namely by my mom) went into it. My brother graduated college this year (2019) and my family wanted to celebrate by taking an international trip. For keen readers of the blog, you’ll note that my last big trip (to London and Paris) coincided with my MBA graduation. Perhaps it was my parents final gift to us, saying between the lines, that if we wanted to do more, we better get our asses into good professions. Luckily for them I chose menswear! (I cry)Īnyway, we departed the evening of the same day as my brother’s graduation. His ceremony was at 9AM (seating started at 8AM and it was about 50 miles from where I live) and our flight was at 1AM, meaning that we had to be at LAX by about 10PM! I made sure to be packed in the days preceding the trip, just to stave off the travel anxiety. I was determined not to have the same issues as my Europe trip (or the NYC trip), so I packed smart. Don’t worry, the outfit break down will come soon! It was mainly going to be tee shirts, jeans, and casual jacketing, with a few button-ups thrown in.
We arrived in Haneda on Tuesday at about 6AM, but didn’t leave for Kyoto until about 1PM. We stayed fairly close to Kyoto Station but it was central enough to every JR line to get anywhere we wanted! Two days were planned in Kyoto, so we did as much as we could, as my grandfather insisted that we do a quick trip to Hiroshima for the memorial. In Kyoto, we basically did all the touristy sites, with Fushimi Inari shrine being our first stop (literally an hour after we dropped our things off at our hotel. We also did a small stroll through the Bamboo grove and made sure to eat at a local spot. Hiroshima was definitely a different vibe, due to it being a smaller city. I felt the reverence throughout the grounds of the memorial and the Bomb Dome. If you ever have a chance to go visit the memorial, please do take it it is a powerful experience. I had no idea what the fuck was going on during the Shinjuku Robot Restaurant. Obviously menswear was a bit part of this trip and I can tell that your loins are already burning, so let’s get into it. So don’t worry, those will come in due time! And yes, some of my major visits are missing, but that’s because I decided to give them their own space instead of putting them in this overly long blog post. If you follow me on instagram or are friend with me in real life, you already know that I took a LOT of pictures. Pretty early on in the trip, I decided to relegate my DSLR for serious portraits/pictures and to simply use my phone for quick snaps. There was a lot to get through, visit, and try on as you will no doubt see. So please bare with me and my mix of phone and DSLR pictures! Second Streetįirst off, let me say that second hand shopping in Japan in insane and completely awesome. As far as I saw, there were no thrift stores where you had to sift through bad clothing to have the chance to find the good shit. Most likely because almost every store and brand makes some great stuff.Ģnd Street is most comparable to places like Buffalo Exchange and Crossroads here in the States. It’s filled with designer/brand clothing that’s marked down to pretty damn affordable prices! There are two locations in California (Pasadena and Santa Ana) so I thought I was pretty familiar with the products. For example, I found United Arrows shorts once (among CDG, BAPE, etc) and thought “okay cool, that’s one piece of classic menswear”. But when I got to Japan, boy was I wrong.Īlden, Crockett & Jones, and Edward Green shoes are what greeted me in a somewhat narrow 2nd Street store in Shibuya. I have literally never seen these shoes outside of their original store or on eBay. Intrigued, I began to foray further, finding great aloha shirts, sack jackets, and just great stuff in general. It helps that some of these stores have a big focus on “American/Trad” as a separate section! Quite a contrast to the mainly streetwear focus of the 2nd Streets back home or the pretty barren Crossroads/Buffalo Exchange (which are filled with old J. Crew).Īdjusted for the currency exchange, prices ranged between $30-200 depending on the item.
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