There’s no denying that I have a love of hyperbole, but J’Antiques in Tokyo is definitely one the of the top vintage stores in the world if not the greatest. Just look at the photos – no exxageration needed. This past summer I met the owners (and took their photos) at Brimfield and later when I was making my travel plans to Tokyo I knew I had to make the trip over to Nakameguro to see the store. Needless to say, It was worth the trip. I even lucked out that co-owner Hitoshi Uchida (the gent pictured below) was around to chat and he was kind enough to let me take photos of the store.
What really impressed me about J’Antiques was the shop’s supremely awesome merchandising. In my mind, I can’t decide if this place inspires Ralph Lauren or vice versa. And don’t get me wrong, that type of confusion is a honor of the highest order, because RL is the gold standard of retail environments. (Proof here.) In addition to the beautiful merchandising, J’Antiques was stocked with great vintage. The shop has everything from paper goods to vintage military clothes to work wear and a shit-ton of antique furniture (a good deal of which is probably from Brimfield). Granted, a lot of what is for sale there is from the States, but go for the inspiration, go for the wonderful dirty mix of old stuff and go to J’Antiques for that hard to find something that they beat you to.
J’Antiques | #101 2-25-13 Kamimeguro Meguro-Ku Tokyo 153-0051 Japan | (03) 5704-8188
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I couldn’t agree more…these are the guys that do it from the heart as opposed to guys that do it to hype their balance sheet!
Officially humbled. These guys are not messing around.
Yeah…these guys get it.
There is something more raw about the “styling” of this store that I like in comparison to RL. Very cool.
I’ve never seen anyone make laundry tags look so good.
I could stare at the case full of old room numbers and locker numbers all day. Beautiful store. Thanks for the inspiring photos.
Robert@AmericanAntler
Place is a gold mine for true vintage lovers. Those leather animals up on the shelf are vintage ANF. I have never seen more than 2 being sold together at at time, and go for $800+ on eBay or at Rose Bowl.
Love the vintage sign and numbers. I have been slowly resurrecting old number/alphabet fonts into new signs out of reclaimed wood oak and pine. These images are more inspiration – for more check out this great typography website i stumbled across the other week.
http://www.letterpress.dwolske.com/
Simply amazing. My first and best reaction – “whoa.”
Michael. Thanks for sharing these photos. What an amazing store. I sure wish we put a higher value on heritage items here in the USA. I’d love to see more people mixing, using, and wearing items from past eras. (First comment, but I’ve been a regular visitor to ACL for a LONG time!)
and masculine, to boot.
I’m loving those stuffed leather animals.
Butt loads of inspiration here.
Michael – any indication of how much of that stuff came from American servicemen
that facility is not a store is a dream come true, rail caps unobtainable in Spain and I know the round house but you can not send them to madrid
I was there about three weeks ago, thanks to Mr. Levine. It is like walking into another era, no, another universe. Oh, and I used the pisser. Even that was impressively vintage.
So that’s where America went. It was outsourced to Japan.
Any idea how far this place is from Nerima-Ku?
I could spend at least one day in that store. Also noticed some American stuff; they love our old stuff. I sent a lot of American made jeans to Japan.
I love the old locker safety pins, just seeing them reminds me of summers at my grandmas in Vinita,OK.
You’d pay to swim, get your tag, and when you brought your tag back you got your stuff AND a piece of candy… best public pool ever.
Thanks for sharing Michael.
The best of genuine America compressed into a tiny store in Japan.
KILLER !
great post. sorry but what’s ANF stand for in terms of those leather animals? seem a good christmas gift!!
I just spent an hour here on monday… been going there for years and it’s still one of my favorite shops in the world.
Awesome Pics! Makes me want to travel down south, search for an old abandoned barn, and throw some vintage clothes in there! Now THERE’S a gold mine..mind
Meh, I wouldn’t say it’s one of the greatest vintage stores out there in Japan.
It looks like a suped-up version of 11NYC.
Love the look of the store. I’m kind of tired of those minimal kind of places with one jacket on a hanger placed alone on a white wall… !… Stores need more and more this kind of personal touch, they need to be lived in and felt …
eheheh .. weel thats my opinion …!!! …
The U.S.N jackets look very cool …
A wonderful post!! I love everything!!
Just beautifully curated. Funny how easy it looks until you try and do it yourself!
When I was in Tokyo this summer I popped into here randomly. Nakameguro is one of those neighbourhood’s you stumble across and wonder why the whole world isn’t talking about it.
Looks more like a costume closet than a clothing store to me
DIE>
Thank you for sharing this, but also…torment.
Amazing!
Thanks Michael.
AWESOME STUFF – I LIVE FOR THIS
great looking place. Curious how the prices are. I’d think they’d need to be pretty steep to make up for their travel and shipping costs. Anyone?
Wait, so where is the Japanese vintage stuff?
More American vintage shops should be as enamored with Americana.
Bobby’s from Boston on Thayer Street is equally beautiful. Check it out if you’re ever in town.
Many Japanese people love American culture:aloha shirts,especially the surf industry.
GreenRoom Hawaii is a Japanese owned surf art-aloha-shirt gallery in Waikiki that features American artists/designers.
Muumuu Heaven,reconstructed apparel from old aloha shirts/muumuus, based in Kailua now has an identical shop in Japan. Owner told me that Japanese tourists are lined up outside door waiting for it to open.
Americans collect vintage Japanese fishing coats,sashiko no donza, made from indigo fabrics that are patched together with hand stitching to hang as wall art.
Pass. Swahili vintage is the next big thing.
GREAT LOOKING store….has a very RRL look and feel. REALLY love the vintage A&F leather footstool animals…Missed one (the bull!!!) at a vintage show here in Okla for $25.00!!! Woman bought it RIGHT in front of me for her 6 yr. son’s western bedroom!! ALSO….Really enjoyed all the Ralph Lauren store pics posted lately. Great work!! Mustache
Nice pics.
This is old and It’s a bit clueless to name it “best vintage store” though.
It’s among the great vintage stores and I recommend it to everyone. But there are several ones that are on par, if not better than this in Tokyo.
For clothes, GoGetter an Illminate for instance are 1000X better.
Prices in Tokyo vintage stores are usually very very high. You pay for the US buyer, shipping costs, rarity, high tokyo loans etc…
http://www.midmod-design.com/other/4ac54ce6d647a/French-1950s-bull-shaped-footstool
http://www.midmod-design.com/archive/4bb89a99b180c/French-1950s-dog-shaped-footstool
i found this shopin my last journey in Japan….i agree with the post title…about the price…too much expensive…
Nice lookig shop, It just boggles me why we don’t hold on to our own history, The Japanese love the old “western” stuff , and they are willing to pay exuberant amounts for it and then it leave our country for good. Its kind of a pity really, Why can’t they be into historical Japanese workwear?
WoW!! I looooove this stuff and thank you for sharing while I’m salivating!
Man, at least I’m not the only crazy one that collects those laundry pins and tags! Whew!
dang i really been diggin some native american-inspired clothing and textiles recently. Where could one acquire some well-made items of this style around NYC or on the internets?
J’Antique is great but I have to contest the merchandising bit. BERBERJIN (Lab?) in Harajuku wins that prize. Plus, they switched the look of the entire lower ground floor around within a week (I visited twice)!
Bobby from Boston is definitely the best vintage clothing store in the world and chances are the owners of this japanese store know bobby and buy from him. bobby is a legendary and seminal influence on more than one generation of vintage purveyors worldwide, especially those with emphasis on work wear and americana.