Tokyo is home to some of the world’s more bizarre museums, including ones devoted to such odd subjects as washing machines, curry, kites and parasites. The latest addition to this outre melange is the Mobile Ashtray Museum. While many of these wacky establishments are ...

Sleeping beauties When Estelle Arpels and Alfred Van Cleef opened their first boutique on Paris’ hallowed Place Vendome in 1906, one of France’s most revered jewelry maisons was born. Famed for flowing, curvaceous creations that often feature dynamic motifs drawn from the worlds of ...

Ultraman is often cited as an example of just how different the Japanese outlook is from that of Westerners. While the bug-like eyes and clingy bodysuit of the hero himself may strike the uninitiated as ridiculous, it is the outlandish aspect of the monsters ...

Gucci’s new home in Tokyo is the first store built specifically to house the Italian superbrand. Last week, Gucci opened the doors of an eight-story glass-and-steel flagship store in Ginza. Incorporating four floors of retail space, a cafe and a gallery, as well as ...

The phenomenal success of MTV’s “Pimp my Ride,” a show in which everyday folk have their unglamorous vehicles jazzed up with chrome wheels, fancy paint jobs and state-of-the-art sound systems, has sparked huge interest in the art and practice of motor-vehicle customization. So it ...

Meguro-dori, the street that runs west from Meguro Station, was once home to numerous imported-car showrooms, and not much else. Over the past few years though, it has gained fame as Tokyo’s No. 1 interior shopping drag, lined with around 50 stores selling new ...

Home to some 50,000 people born in Japan, London has been well served for some time with aspects of culture and lifestyle from the Land of the Rising Sun. But during a visit to last month’s Canon Fashion Week — formerly known as London ...

Ever since Gisele Bundchen attained supermodel status, Brazil has been going catwalk crazy. Now the country is hoping that the fashion world will recognize it as not only an exporter of top models but also as a center for the creation of designer clothing. ...

Heart of Harajuku renewed Teeming teen shopping haven LaForet Harajuku opened in 1978 and has been a pivotal part of Japan’s youth culture ever since. The complex has had a few subdued periods over the years but is currently experiencing a happier chapter in ...

When it comes to revolutionary retail concept stores in Japan, there’s no getting away from Tokyo’s Aoyama district. That area’s latest major opening comes from none other than Japan’s epoch-making fashion house Comme des Garcons. For the benefit of the fashion unsavvy, Comme, as ...