TOK SO FAR IN BREIF

YO

found out how to do a post, thank christ. Anyway in a small follow up to Mills post (which was solid) Ill briefly go ove rthe store Ive seen so far in Tok, Ill go into further detail upon my return to Merica.
First, and most importantly, Tokyo is the shit, it is way too hip, way too stylin, way too fuckin awesome. EVERYTHING lights up and vending machines are every ten feet. I have seen the following vending machines or 販売機　so far: drinks (most obvious), rice, eggs, vegetables, booze, ramen, hot food(fries, hotdogs), juice boxes, ice cream and snacks. Its fuckin crazy. Anyway, Im out here in Konosu, which is about an hour outside of Tok by train (similar relationship as Wepo-NYC). Unfortunatly, Japan has decided upon adopting THE single most confusing address system the world has ever seen, i.e. 2-3-17 Jingumae, Shibuya. Now, Jingumae isnt a street, its quite a large series of blocks, so the numbers dont help in anyway, the only people here who have maps showing these mysterious numbers are the police. you basically find shit by looking around for it in a general area (altho, as Log and I later found out, once youve been thru it once, its pretty easy to retrace your steps. So, here goes:

XLarge: The very first store Log and I found (ran into is more like it tho) was XLarge. XLarge is a pretty lame brand in the states, but here in 日本 its pretty fuckin awesome. So, the store has two levels, the ground floor has a bunch of new shit on display, the basement older shit. They had alot of sick collabs, one with Sprite, one with David Flores, one with A Tribe Called Quest, etc. The collabs are sweet, and I was tempted to get a David Flores tee or bearbrick, but resisted. The music in XLarge is solid, seeing as C.R.E.A.M was the first track I heard upon entering...

Supreme: The next store we ran into was Supreme, which helped us out with a large banner. Supreme holds the 2F of a building they share with Neighborhood, if you ask me, thats a pretty fuckin legendary building. The Supreme space is a really cool area that seems open with a big window overlooking the street below. As usual, great shit, and they had a rack of shit by companys like aNYthing, which suprised me.

Neighborhood: You all know how pretencious NGHBD is, yea, well just imagine that in a space. All the windows are blacked out, and theres hardly enough lighting to make out the overpriced products. They play Johnny Cash and the likes inside. Overall, I was dissapointed with it, at least it was cheaper than it is in the States, and (lord knows) the UK. The weirdest thing we saw in there was a china teapot in the form of Hitlers head, but what can you expect from them...

atmos: Next was the Tokyo original atmos, they had a really cool space, all the shoes are in concrete cubes. Its a pretty minimal space, but altho famous for the shoes, its the tees and accessories that will keep you interested. With great collabs with Levis, Hello Kitty, and most recently, Bandai, you cant go in without pickin somethin up.

Recon: Recon was next, but it was the same as it is in NY, in my opinion, nothin special.....

UNDFTD/Stussy: These two heavyweights also share a building, the Stussy store didnt do too much for me tho...eh, nice space tho, two floors. UNDFTDs space was definatly the highlight of the building, altho small, it displayed the most limited kicks, and their sick clothing line, great atmosphere there, and very friendly staff.

Heatwave: The Buy-Sell stores in Tok are DEF a must hit, have so much old gear for sick prices. Heatwave is on the 2nd floor of a building, across from XLarge, its the most famous of all the buy-sell streetwear stores, altho it smells funny, its a must hit.

UT: Dont get me wrong, I loved the UT store, but after having had to go 3 times, I got a little sick of it. The space is fantastic tho, def the easiest to find of all of them, its right on Meiji Dori, which is the main street in Harajuku. You all prolly know how theyve set it up, tees everywhere, great designs, the main treat is the price tho.

Bape/BBC/Ice Cream: What would you expect from these brands? Shitty products for mucho dinero. BBC and Ice Cream occupied the main floor while Bape took the basement. I gotta say, the BBC space was really awesomly designed, to enter you go thru this neon tunnel that has their BS motto in the wall, it looks like a spaceship tho, very cool, shame its such shitty gear...

F.I.L.: stands for free international labrotories, Visvims space, slightly out of the way, its in the basement of its building. SO MINIMAL, almost couldnt stand it, all sleek white lines, with prices even higher than Neighborhoods, which suprised me. The shoes they have are cool, but 250 bucks for KAWS slip ons.....no. Incredibly pretencious, if you ask me, not worth going, at the end of the day, its just a fucking stripey shirt you could get at Wal Mart for 250 bucks.

RealMadHectic: Gotta say, expected more of this place. Tokyo exclusive, and all that. Really wasnt too great of a store, cool design, its below the Carhartt store, but the stock just doesnt blow you away, had a decent selection of shoes, overall tho, wasnt as good as I hoped itd be.

KIKS TYO: In Shibuya, specifically on Cat Street, a name that boggled my host mom for hours, lies KIKS TYO. I was expecting SO MUCH of this place and wanted to get these hot new Balance I thought had just dropped. Turns out theyre not out till November, and the that took about 20 minutes to find out because NO ONE there speaks a word of English. It was a pretty small space, real small compared to all the others. Didnt have anything that really blew me away, shame.

AOYAMA
If you head down Omotosando, a main road in Harajuku, you arrive in Aoyama. Aoyama is much lower key than Harajuku, which is kinda odd considering it has all the main designer stores. Doesnt have much streetwear except two KEY players.

Tab Device: Can you say coolest designed store ever? Made to look like an apartment, Tab Device blows you away on impact, every room displays something new, the bathroom upstairs is a changing room, and laid out on the bed are tee shirts. its super UG. even better, theres an entire room walled with mirrors and carpeted in red fabric with a giant gold horse in it, that room, is the Fragment Denim room. Its amazing. Altho they cant really speak English, the staff are super nice, there was one guy with a green trucker hat who totally rocked out. Anyway, great space, great stock, and everything they release will sell out in days, so get it while its hot.

Original Fake: Probably the hardest to find of all the stores, in the basement of a random building. SO AWESOME. I love KAWS, everyone should. The design was AWESOME, one side is grey with metal floors dedicated to the clothing line, and the other black dedicated to toys and other shit. There are registers on both side, the sides are seperated by a GIANT KAWS companion. So all the shit is awesome, and reasonably priced compared to the US and UK prices (85 dollars in Union vs. 50 in OF fora shirt? Yes please) And with a 40% off sale on practically everything, the store went to the top of my list.

So thats pretty much it, some homeruns, some swings and misses, but overall, Tokyo is certainly up with NY, I could easily say well ahead of, but I love Alife too much to say so... DEF a hit up spot (somewhat obviously) Tok is like the basecamp, where every brand sets up their own space, so if you know what you want and what brands you dig, its untouchable, se easy to blow money here... and its not just Tok, this whole fuckin country rocks out, its up there with Germany as one of my all time faves. TOKYO IS FUCKING MASSIVE