Going to Japan - Page 5

Ok, I have details now. If I can just keep from hitting the goddamn "Japanese character" button, I might be able to get them to you. We are in a Gera Gera internet cafe in Akihabara, drinking the all-you-can-drink beverages for 100 yen each and using the confusing computers with no card reader ( ) for 400 yen/hour. Remember, everything is extremely expensive in Japan. Uniqlo has one type of selvedge jeans, totally raw, unwashed, stiff, cut like 501s with a pretty high rise, semi-straight leg, etc. Those are regular 6000 yen but they are on sale right now for 3000 ($30).  I was thinking of picking up a whole bunch of them to bring back because I figured you guys would like them. Uniqlo really is like the Gap, but I like their jeans a lot more. I bought three pairs for myself - one dark rinsed ring denim pair, one cotton/linen pair for hot days, and one of the selvedge pairs. The former two are regular medium rise cut and all were 30 bucks. All the rest of the clothes at Uniqlo were boring, but they had good prices on some basic stuff like undershirts, etc. Yesterday we went down "American blvd." in Shinjuku where I "took" about 50 pictures with my camcorder to post here, and subsequently learned that I wasn't pressing the button down all the way. There are a bunch of great shops there that had all kinds of jeans, streetwear, Western wear with about 500 belt buckles, tons of shoes, etc. I think I got some video there too. There is one denim store that you guys would go crazy in - tons of Levis premium, Sugar Cane, a bunch of brands I didnt recognize. We will probably go back to Shinjuku and I will borrow Slim's camera to take pictures of all this stuff. We have yet to find Denime, but I plan to find one of the shops and check them out. I doubt there will be any cheap deals judging by the prices at American Blvd. Right by our hotel is a shop that sells industrial work clothes and we are all going to buy some of the amazing shoes they sell there. They have these awesome velcro suede high-tops for like 12 bucks and also some black denim-looking ones with yellow stitching for about 20. With jeans I think I could easily pull off the first kind. When we get to somewhere with a card reader I'll post some pics. Today's later missions include finding a compass, a pocketknife and a better Japanese phrase book than the ones I brought, and probably buying a card reader since I didn't bring the docking station and cable for my camcorder. More later.

BTW, the selvedge Uniqlos say not to wash them and they have a very long inseam. I had to fold it up about 6" and I usually take a 34" inseam. I bought my pair an inch big in the waist because they are cut so big generally that I think they need to be rinsed down and shrunk to fit. I have a feeling they will be really awesome once I do that. Might be a project later at the hotel. The dark rinse ring denims that I am wearing right now and the selvedges both use indigo dye.

All models have one inseam size, about 34". These are washed, and not selvedge etc, so I'd buy normal size. I could pick up a pair if you want to pay the shipping.

I'm at "Cafe Break" now in the Ueno JR station, so I can't upload pics again. They don't want me to use the USB. We'll try to find a place with more complete access to do a more in-depth report later today. I'll wait to go back to Uniqlo until later so everyone can get orders in. Yesterday we wandered around Akihabara a good part of the day. Finally found a compass and a pocketknife, and I bought a card reader so I can transfer pictures off my memory stick. Ran into some New York girls at the local bar-cafe and we might try to meet up with them in Roppongi later tonight. Those weird shoes we found were safety shoes, some of which had steel toes, and they were canvas, not suede. I picked up a pair of the lower hightops in blue canvas and Johnny (mnemonic) picked up a couple pairs of the higher high tops in the black denimish looking canvas and the grey canvas. Today we are exploring Ueno, which is where a big park and a zoo with a panda are, among many office buildings and a massive train station. As I said we will probably head to Roppongi (seedy bars district) later tonight. BTW, if anyone is wondering why I am reporting all kinds of crap here, it's because I have pointed my family and friends here to read about the trip. More later, hopefully with pics.

I'm going to try to find the Denime store in Ueno. If anyone else has any ideas for shops I should visit (Get Smart, where is your friend's vintage store?) PLEASE post them and try to get some details as to where they are. It's pretty hard to find things here so any info you can get would help me out a lot. I'll also go to the Denime in Shinjuku when we go back there.

I'm at Gera Gera in Roppongi now. They have English keyboards... refreshing. We are just starting out for the night  (9:23 PM here) after a day in Asakusa at the temple and the shops near there, and before that Ueno. The Denime store in Ueno is at the top of the Oi City / Marui City dept. store along with about 15 other "shops" on the open floor plan... all of your heads would explode, I swear. The stuff they have on the 2-1/2 floors of menswear is unbelievable. Denime was somewhat unimpressive but they did have a good selection of jeans from about $160-$270 or so. Must have been 1000 pairs of all different shoes up there: Trickers including those two-tone wingtip boots ($800ish), Cheaneys, Grensons, C&Js, and tons of other stuff. They have a line I can't remember the name of, some Italian name, of reasonably priced suits, shoes, shirts, etc made in China of varying quality. The suits went from business appropriate to fashionable (with the obvious machine pickstitching I have come to hate - incidentally, Paul Stuart is still overdoing this), and some were Loro Piana fabric, etc - from about $500-$800. Actually some really nice stuff. Their shoes were made by Grenson and various other high end makers. I will try to get pictures when we go to the Marui in Shinjuku - I expect it to be about the same. Asakusa had a few alleys with various interesting shops. One of the best was devoted to motorcycle jackets, with most of the Vanson models, tons of Aero front quarter horsehide (even tougher looking than my own jacket, but about $1000 here), Schott, Indian, and some others. I got a few pics inside there. Unfortunately I didn't bring the memory stick and card reader tonight so you will have to continue to wait for those. We went to the famous temple in Asakusa which was packed with tourists and locals - didn't expect to see all the shops there. Got a bunch of pictures of that as well. Then to another department store there where in the basement level they have a HUGE food section - all kinds of prepared foods. I thought I was going to fall over dead at all the stuff. I was extremely hungry by then and everything looked delicious. There was a really amazing looking/smelling cold squid salad that I may have to go back for. I also tried some delicious saba shioyaki (mackerel I think, with a soy glaze IIRC) but you could only buy it in a "loaf" for about 11 bucks, more than I wanted to eat. I can't even explain how amazing all this food was. Might just have to go back through there taking pictures of everything. We picked out a bunch of different stuff and walked back to the temple to sit and eat it. I ended up with a couple of chicken skewers, a fish cake that I thought was going to be egg, a katsu fish cake, and a katsu potato/shrimp/egg ball - all very tasty. Slim got what he thought was some kind of steak, took a bite of it and looked pained - it was either heart or liver, not what he was expecting. Back to the hotel for a nap since by that time I was completely wiped out, then out to Roppongi (bars and foreigners district) where we found an amazing falafel stand and ate, and then the internet place where I am now. We are on our way out in a few to hit the bars. Tomorrow the plan is to check out the weirdness festival in Shibuya (IMMSMC) where we plan to take lots of pictures of the fruits for everyone to enjoy. Someday, we'll get around to posting all of these...