Designers and clothing retailers are spotting what has previously been a niche trend now gaining widespread popularity in Japan, drawing a growing number of fashion-forward customers from within the country and overseas: T-shirts. Not just any old T-shirt though, the objects of desire are designs ...
Harajuku has gone gaga over food designed for Instagram. Walk down Takeshita Street and you'll probably see people snapping shots of giant, rainbow-colored cotton candy and the like. The latest entrant into this realm is Coisof, an ice cream store located on a side street ...
A few years ago, Garrett Popcorn in Harajuku boasted one of the longer lines in that ever-trendy neighborhood. Yet walking by it recently there was barely any wait to get a bag or tin of the Chicago-born snack. Which means those unwilling to waste upwards ...
Style has always referenced the past, even though it's focused on the future. With spring heralding new looks and summer already approaching fast, new collaborations, brands and innovations are making their mark in stores now. Louis Vuitton's love letter to streetwear Hot on the heels of ...
Craft beer has come a long way in Tokyo. Twenty years ago, the market was mostly made up of generic lagers produced by major brewers such as Kirin and Asahi. Brewing laws prevented small players from entering the fray, and regulators were skeptical there ...
A new hope for traditional menswear It is no secret that George Lucas looked to Japan for inspiration behind the now iconic Jedi robes that every science-fiction fan sees as shorthand for cool on a galactic level. The original Japanese garments that served as muse, ...
The holidays are over and the year of the monkey is swinging into action. But it's still very much the season for ritual: You can tell from the flow of worshipers heading into the wooded precincts of Meiji Jingu Shrine. In the face of ...
It is not so unusual to find soba specialists that offer a good selection of other dishes. But Musashino does it the other way around. This small but fully fledged ryōriya (traditional restaurant) offers multicourse kaiseki meals, based around premium wagyu beef shabu-shabu hot ...
A merchandise store for Japan's popular "pear fairy" mascot Funassyi is overturning the image of character goods being childish and proving a hit with female customers. Funassyiland Select Harajuku, a permanent merchandise store featuring the unofficial mascot of the city of Funabashi, Chiba Prefecture, opened ...
Another fast-food pizza outlet — just what Harajuku needs. Don't jump to conclusions too fast though, Pinsa de Roma is different. First, as you can tell from the name, it serves pinsa, the original oven-baked flat bread made for centuries in Rome long before ...
As November grows chilly, I warm up with an urban hike to hunt out seasonal gifts for friends and family. Tokyo is a bastion of creativity and craftsmanship, and shopping the backstreets is like touring a gallery of desires you never knew you had. ...
Untouchable Toffee opened its first store in Hamamatsu back in 2013, but the candy company didn't launch a second branch until late last year when it settled in the hipper neighborhood of Harajuku. The smaller outpost (4-26-5 Jingumae, Shibuya-ku, Tokyo) serves up five varieties of ...
