Our man in London is currently in Japan. Update below is a few days old, but pictures and more to follow.
"Live and direct from Tokyo. Konnichiwa from the land of hideous jetlag! Arrived 11am (GMT+9) this morning, nearing 1am now. Hoping I can sleep well tonight and hit the streets tomorrow on the denim trail. Already scoped out the original Evisu store (location = a district of the same name).
Feeling vaguely human today after toughing out the ‘lag. Already scoped out a pair of those wooden clog things for the collection… in a local shoe shop, around a fiver, classic. Working the lone swordsman angle.
It is lost in translation style... but no pouty young babes in expensive hotels hahaha. NYE was a wash-out but have had a couple of good nights since… have yet to wake up the right side of midday yet... bit of a izakaya (pub) crawl yesterday, ended up in a local boozer. Drinking Mickey's and playing darts!! only in Japan. Off the dial. Heated toilet seats, electronic dart boards, what's not to love?? did the sake bit earlier in the evening, hence the late start 'ouch'.
Visited that Evisu main store, you've got to see this place... they have a huge vintage loom on permanent display with $300 pairs of jeans casually draped over it. along with the more ker-ray-zee modern styles/patterns. They have some beautiful workwear in there; gloves, bags, got my beady eye on a pair of dungarees-not selvage but really nice, stiff new denim. hmmm. will revisit to take some snaps.
Also found some low key local places (Nakameguro) that sell lots of original indigo cotton and denim but updated styling. Row upon row of the stuff. Suddenly, i feel like a real man .. I'm having to ask for L/XL rather than S/M sizes.. hahaha
did a blitz of Hanjuku yesterday but, aside from the neon and Harajuku girls, it's a bit identikit .. Gap, Gucci, Zara .. blah blah.
Had a good laugh thinking of something you'd enjoy .. it's like a "Do's/Dont's" paradise here. crimes against fashion as far as the eye can see but they still look killer. Speaking of which, weird episode in a department store. Drifting around, spotted probably the only active shop lifter in Tokyo surrounded by guards near an exit. In samurai style, no angry exchange, no tussle, the dude was just standing there looking a bit sheepish. 20 mins later, I'm a few floors lower down, same thief guy comes running at me, closely followed by the same guards. he turns around, pulls out a gun and fired it in the air!! turned out to be a starter pistol but was nearly touching cloth for a mo'.. never a dull moment, eh?
Apols for weird spelling etc but these Japanese keyboards a 'mare......"
