Tokyo Fashion City: A Detailed Guide to Tokyo’s Trendiest Fashion Districts

383 Pages·2016·22.73 MB·English

by  Philomena Keet

Contents
The Ultimate Fashion City
Map of Tokyo
CHAPTER 1
HARAJUKU & OMOTESANDO
Tokyo’s Style Mecca
Backstreet Harajuku
Vintage Harajuku
Takeshita-dori
Street Fashion and Street Snaps
Omotesando
Minami-Aoyama
CHAPTER 2
SHIBUYA
From Gyaru to Hipster
Gyaru: The Shibuya Girl
A Shibuya Icon
Makeup Magic
Jinnan District
Fake Tokyo Building
Shibuya Nightlife
CHAPTER 3
SHINJUKU & IKEBUKURO
Bustling Urban Giants
Bunka Fashion College
Isetan Shinjuku
Shinjuku Marui Annex Fashion Building
Kabukicho Fashion
Ikebukuro
Otome Road
CHAPTER 4
KOENJI, NAKANO & SHIMOKITA
Chuo Line Culture
Vintage Koenji
Kitakore Building
Postmodern Koenji
Nakano Broadway
Geeky Gear
Shimokitazawa
CHAPTER 5
DAIKANYAMA & NAKAMEGURO
Upscale, Creative and Hip
Unique Boutiques
Fashion Pro Style
Select Shops
Bicycle Fashion
Café Society
Fashionable Families
CHAPTER 6
GINZA & MARUNOUCHI
Fine Shopping Among Tokyo’s Oldest Brick Buildings
Ginza
Ginza Department Stores
Marunouchi
Ginza Pet Fashion
CHAPTER 7
AKIHABARA & OKACHIMACHI
Geeks and Artists in East Central Tokyo
Maid Cafés
Cosplay
2K540 Aki-Oka Artisan
CHAPTER 8
EAST TOKYO
A Trip Down Memory Lane
Eastern Tokyo Districts
Excursions Out East
Kuramae & Bakurocho
Traditional Kimono & Yukata
Festival Fashion
Tips and Resources
Acknowledgments

The Ultimate Fashion City
A
ll big cities have many faces that they present to their inhabitants
and visitors: culinary, architectural; commercial, traditional; old, new;
rich, poor. For Tokyo, the sprawling yet dense megacity at the heart of
Japan, fashion is one of the most alluring and expressive of these faces,
changing as one moves through the urban jungle from chic to
outrageous, well-heeled to bohemian. Where else in the world could one
so openly and unashamedly dress in anything from the pretty and
innocent frills of the Bo-Peep or Victorian-doll Lolita style to the sharp
suits, pointy shoes, and long, feminine hair of the nightclub host—not to
mention the exuberant outfits of Harajuku fashionistas? In Tokyo, one
can bask in looks ranging from the mundane to the extravagant without
fear of drawing public criticism or unwanted attention.
Tokyo’s cacophony of styles has long provided a source of fascination
to those perusing images from afar, whether on blogs or in the pages of
magazines and photo books. But its urban fashions have an important
and complex relationship to the urban jungle that surrounds them—one
which is impossible to grasp from afar and difficult to properly navigate on
the ground.
Each style has a Tokyo neighborhood or two in which it feels most at
home, thrumming in its cafés, shops, and bars; adorning its streets; and
complementing its architectural backdrop. Tokyo’s fashion people are to
its streets what accessories are to outfits, both embellishing and
complementing the underlying fundamentals. Together they make Tokyo
Fashion City, which this book will present in all its glory.
NEIGHBORHOOD GUIDE
Each of the eight chapters covers a geographic location within Tokyo with
its own distinctive sartorial landscape. Chapter 1 introduces what is
perhaps Tokyo’s most famous fashion spot, Harajuku—known for its
outlandish street fashion—along with its more sophisticated neighbors,
Omotesando and Minami-Aoyama. We move down the road in chapter 2
to Shibuya, where fast fashion meets youth culture in the fashion mecca
for Japan’s trendsetting gyaru “gals.” In chapter 3 we head to Shinjuku
and Ikebukuro, mini-cities in themselves, with world-class department
stores and a legendary fashion college as well as underground offerings.
Chapter 4 takes us into the alternative and vintage warrens of Koenji,
Shimokitazawa, and Nakano, only to emerge in the urban chic of
Daikanyama and hipster central Nakameguro in chapter 5. We hop over
to the east side of Tokyo from chapter 6 onward, starting with the swanky
shopping and business districts of Ginza and Marunouchi. Heading north
into less salubrious territory in chapter 7, we explore the geek culture of
Akihabara and venture into an intriguing arcade nestled under the railway
tracks. Finally, we ride further out to the more traditional neighborhoods
around Asakusa in the east of the city, including a visit to the new city
icon, Tokyo Skytree.
Tokyo is a city of diversity and change; accordingly, it is hard to pin
down on paper. This book could not cover the many intriguing outlier
fashion shops that pepper the expansive urban sprawl, nor every single