Clothes Shops & Other Recommendations.

[ChaserV]

Hi everyone,

Im heading off to Tokyo & Kyoto on the 27th, for about 2 weeks.

But back to my question. I was having Japanese for lunch today and started browsing through a Japanese magazine .. i think it was called "Clips : Street Fashion". Lots of skate brands etc.

I was wondering if their was any good stores or areas you could reccomend for shopping for those types of clothes and any must see things in Tokyo & Kyoto that aren't in the travel books.

Thanks alot for any help.

Charlie

[CircusMonkey]

A bathing Ape got a very cool branch in Harajuku.

http://www.bape.com/

Harajuku in general if you are after clothes.

[DaiOni]

yep, clothes = harajuku

[akeenan]

yeah but if you want skate brand tshirts but dont want b boy style.... (hip hop big tshirts) dont bother looking.... i have to buy my shirts off the internet because all the shops have been selling large tshirts because thats the market.... same with hats.... they are large size too..

ive been in every shop in harajuku... and in my opinion there are better clothes in australia. skate wise.

[ChaserV]

Yeh B-boy style is ok.. as long as it isnt huuuge...

Where you buy your clothes off the net akeenan?

[ChaserV]

And...

Where are the best CD stores?? Specifically any Hip-Hop specialty ones.

thanks

[_8OO5TED_]

Can you buy tuner brand clothing from stores, ie Nismo, HKS, ApexI etc.....

Im looking to pick up a bright pink coloured jacket for my mrs when in Tokyo in January, preferably a Buddy CLub one or something similiar that has a pink colour in its logo....

Any ideas there?

[akeenan]

yeah you can get some clothes from tuners ... as for bright pink.. no idea...

um i buy my clothes from ... places that sell ones i like ...?

I still dont know why you want to go shopping for cds / clothes in japan ... as they are the same all over the world... except for local brands etc...

either way check out harajuku .... and tower records/ hmv are the bigger cd shops here ... unless your into pschadelic trance there are 2 shops you must check out in shibuya ... . they are awesome.

[Beer Baron]

yashio factory have pink white T-shirts with pink logos + writing. I bought one from them earlier this year. it also has some great japlish on it. and in big letters: "Yashio Factory: The new pink!"

[_8OO5TED_]

any idea where to buy the yashio factory gear Beer Baron?

[DeL]

from Yashio factory i think he said

[sigsputnik]

ChaserV, Shibuya is where you want. I am a vinyl junkie and I get my fix at Shibuya. You'll find a new record shop every day. I've bought about half a crate of vinyl since I arrived. ^_^

As for clothes, in my opinion the clothes here walk all over the clothes in Australia. I avoid the b-boy shops outright, but they really only describe a small portion of the clothes around here. I'd advise you to hunt around Harajuku, Shibuya and Ameyoko. I've found the most mind-blowing stuff in titchy basement shops or up alleys.

The biggest problem is getting the sizes.

[ChaserV]

Cheers sigs,

Thats exactly what i want to hear, thanks for the help (akeenan too).!

[CircusMonkey]

If you want to go buy music Shibuya is the place as Sig mentioned.

Cisco(the best store for in the world in my opinion)

Next Records (pure hip hop) etc they all are lined up almost on the same street+ you have HMV and Tower branches also around.

[ChaserV]

Thanks Circus Monkey, i see alot of records are 'Japan Only Release' so im interested to see what the selection is like.

[CircusMonkey]

Yeah, you can find some serious rare stuff.First time pressings of older 12 inch etc.

[akeenan]

i can vouch for cisco records and also manhatten records. they are right near each other. well worth the look. (they are the ones in shibuya i mentioned before.)

[sigsputnik]

Hi guys,

I thought I might post some photos of the record stores everyone's talking about, seeing as how I found myself out there today. Most of the shots taken inside the shop I had to do very discretely in case so excuse some of the poor focus/framing.

This is (part of) Shibuya, though you'll find a decent number of record stores in Shinjuku also.

For starters, this is Cisco, which some have mentioned. It's a great record shop, they let you listen to stuff, lots of white labels, test pressings, bootlegs, mashups, advance pressings, promos etc. It's split across about six stores, each with a specialty. Here you can see the techno one.

House...

House II...

Sign for the hip hop store

Second hand record stores are fairly plentiful. You'll find a fair few in apartment blocks, which are converted into record stores during the day and living quarters at night. This one's next to Cisco, but there are others tucked away in alley ways etc.

Down the road is Manhattan Records, again split across stores.

Going down into the House store:

Covert pix from inside, splinter cell style:

cont'd...

[sigsputnik]

Across the road is...uh...can't remember the name (think it's Dance Music World). Anyway, two floors of house and hip hop. Lots of re-issues and that: this is where I found my copy of Eric B and Rakim - Juice a few years ago. BUT I don't remember seeing listening facilities - many places DON'T let you listen to records (which is a joke if you sell white labels and that, in my opinion).

There's a hip hop store just next to Dance Music World. Spec Ops pix:

Spice Records is another worthwhile visit. Split across several stores again:

...and the hip hop specialty store. LOTS of tracks and represses, with rarer tracks on the wall. No listening facilities, but they will let you inspect the record grooves visually, if you're concerned about how good that Stetsasonic record is.

Another store just around the corner, listening facilities in the front window. On this visit they had heaps of repressings of Jungle Brothers - Done by the Forces of Nature.

Reco Fan Shibuya is a decent visit. Plenty of signs, you won't miss it. Here's a shot of the records sitting outside the shop:

...and a shot from inside. The boxes you see here are mostly rare groove, so if you need a drum loop from The Meters or Apache, you could find it here. To the left out of shot is many more crates of 12s, mostly house, r+b, hip hop. There's a lot more to this shop but time was running out and I had to split.

HMV is also well represented, and they have a dance music floor. They used to have decent listening facilities but for some reason they're gone now. Tower Records is down the road if you're into that sort of thing.

Lessons:

1. Bring LOTS of cash.

2. If you see a track and aren't sure, it may well be gone the next day. I've learned this the hard way.

3. Bring LOTS of cash.

Cheers.

[ChaserV]

Cheers sputnik, very helpful and interesting!

Thanks for all your help