A note of housekeeping. The last few weeks have had me all over the place – I’ve been to England, Seattle, Portland, New York and will be in Japan for the next week or so. Along the way I have gathered up a bunch of good stuff to share with you from the journey, so expect updates soon. In the mean time here are some pictures from yesterday. Obviously, no trip to Tokyo is complete without sushi shaped donuts. Anything else (new) that I should see? Shout me out in the comments.
Accordingly, the site will be on light duty and posting may be sporadic. Your patience is appreciated. Keep an eye on the ACL Twitter feed and the Instagram updates (same user name, @acontinuouslean) if you want to follow the action live. There should be ample drunkenness.
Michael,
There is an American Military base (Yokota Air Base) about 1 hr from Tokyo, that has a shopping district called Route 16. It has some of the best vintage military gear you can find anywhere, and some antique stores with incredible turn of the century American antiques (a huge draw here in Tokyo). Shoot me an email if you’re interested.
Tokyo is as much Japan as New York is the USA, and filled with the same types of people.
I just came back from 3 weeks in Japan, most of it in Tokyo – most fruitful trip so far (and I never saw the sushi doughnuts, next time). Apologies if any of this is old or repetative.
Check out Daikanyama’s alleyways, lots of men’s, women’s, and zakka shops both from well known labels to small indie boutiques.
The walk from the Meguro train station on the JR Yamanote line towards the Gakugeidaigaku train stop is great – there’s a donught shop, lots of small places to eat, a ton of furniture and vintage furniture and home accessories shops. There’s a great vintage American home interior shop just a couple doors down from the 7-11 thats across the street from the post office and the Koban – name escapes me at the moment. Also theres a cool vintage car mechanic called Flat-4 with vintage VW bugs, 911 and 356s.
Nakameguro on the grey Hibiya line has some great walking neighborhood. You might like Blue Blue, which is right up the street across the river from the train station (just walk straight from the only exit). Turning right just before Blue Blue you can find Jumpin’ Jap Flash, a great resale store where I found my a felt flag from my alma mater (U of Chicago) randomly. There’s a ton of great small streets with all sorts of shops there on both sides of the river. The best pizza place is in Nakameguro – highly recommended, it’s called Da Isa.
Also check out Shimokitazawa – tons of resale shops stocking vintage American clothing, plus more.
Shoot me an email if you need more details.
For interesting retail. Check out Real McCoys and Freewheelers.
Michael –
It would be cool to see the current offerings at Loveless and Guild Prime. I checked out the Loveless store in Aoyama a couple years ago. Impressed not only by their line but the unique brands you’d only see in Japan. Looking forward to following your trip.
http://www.loveless-shop.jp/
Were you cycling near Harajuku at 3am this past weekend? I was doing a night photoshoot walk and could have sworn I saw a gentleman like you on a bike ride right past me.
Michael: Check out Timeworn Clothing / At Last & Co — coats, trousers, work shirts etc all made in Japan of Japanese fabrics and only sold in their shop. Really impressive quality.
3-12-3 Kita Aoyama
Minato-Ku | Tokyo
PS always have brilliant window displays, apparently each store gets quite a lot of say in how each is merched which is nice to hear. looking forward to seeing some Tok posts
Forget sushi-shaped donuts. For the best donuts in the world, go to Hara across from Bear Pond in Shimokitizawa. It’s a narrow street, so you can easily bounce between the two: espresso, donut, dirty, donut, and so forth.
WOLFS HEAD (The MC equivalent of JANTIQUES…pretty real, the best)
NORTH NO NAME (weirdos…Tattooed Japanese equivalent of Junkyard Jeans)
NORTH HOOLYWOOD (always good)
BERBER JIN (They have like 5 stores one denim/one skate/surf/one traditional menswear/one work wear etc…. funny dudes. you can get like eight different vintage sisters of mercy shirts that you can never find here)
LANGLITZ JAPAN (dude. come on)
KAPITAL (BLUEHANDS/KOUNTRY)
CLUTCH VINTAGE MALL
remember that thing CELUX?? Don’t know if its there anymore, by find a some hot japanese bird that works in PR and go there if its around. don’t know. I couldn’t afford the $25,000 iPhone cases.
spend it.
… so what else are you looking for ?
Heaps of great advice on here already, but if you want a life-changing meal, Sushi Sawada is the way to go. He is the new Jiro.
If you’re into lacquered food, the kind that act as visual menus in restaurants all over Japan, check out Kappabashi. You’ll find all sorts of other beautiful cooking supplies there, too.