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givin’ you guys a little break on the tokyo overdose… however, there is more to come. but for now, if you haven’t noticed, the forum is back for the zillionth time. you can access it by clicking the link on the top right corner, or just click the image.
tokyo: stussy x haze
so more about that stussy store in the shinjuku district…
stussy held an autograph session with world renown artist eric “haze.” infact, the stussy sign above the store, as well as the interior, were freshly painted by haze himself. it was an intimate setting with only 30 people allowed into the event. luckily our hotel was just a block away.
this dude below came fitted with haze items from top to bottom and took almost every article of clothing off for haze to sign.
dj hyro got his fair share of goodies signed as well.
big kid edward-up feeling like he’s in a candy store.
freshhhh off the press! edward-up’s one-of-one stussy x haze iPhone case.
now you might think 30 autographs would only take a few seconds to breeze by… but think again. haze gave everyone a unique piece with a unique experience. he took so much time on each item that i had to speed up the video. and if you listen closely, haze has seattle ties as well.
because we’re haze beasts.
tokyo: shoes & shopping
disclaimer: i did japan NO justice in this section.
after looking through my pictures, i scratched my head and thought “WTF?!” i must have been stuck in a trance hopping from shop to shop instead of taking pictures. so let me start this part off by saying that the shopping/shoe hunting experience in tokyo was the same as the rest of the trip… bestexperienceintheUS x 10. no joke. harajuku alone makes nyc look like they just started. in every nook and alley, you will find a billion of your favorite brands’ favorite brands. you will find what we consider “rare” in a store equivalent to zumies. unfortunately, my dumb ass can’t show you that better with pictures.
undefeated & undefeated office upstairs. stussy (harajuku division) downstairs and basement.
alife
stussy (shinjuku division). more on this later
this is outside of tokyo. this was a small hole in the wall store that had 3 floors of some fairly rare kicks.
like what you see? wait… cause that place was just a joke. right around the corner is this hidden gem that shits on all your favorite consignment sneaker stores in the U.S. combined. this was totally hidden in what looked to be an apartment complex converted into a room of holy grails.
incase you missed some things…
also stopped by the kikstyo shop.
burton flagship.
obvious.
oh yeah, the purpose of my trip to tokyo was to see how my business was doing.
tokyo: eats
being the fat kid that i am, i was super excited to get down on japan’s menu. and boy oh boy, they did not disappoint one bit. i’ve never waxed so many plates in my life.
just like our hotel room, the restaurants were tiny. i felt too big to be in them. but this is probably due to the way they eat more than anything. in the states, our fat asses tend to sit for a three-part meal: appetizer, entrée, and dessert. in japan, everyone is constantly on the go and it seems like they’re in and out (not in-n-out) within minutes.
what helps speed up the dine-in process, in some restaurants, is the substitution of waiters for vending machines. you select what you want to eat, pay, and hand your ticket to the chef. no tips. brilliance.
what i selected: fried egg over chicken katsu curry and rice.
as i’m sure you’ve all heard, there’s vending machines wherever you look. you can get anything on the go from cigarettes to warm meals.
my weapon of choice: hot chocolate.
just to show you guys how small most places are.
surprisingly, food wasn’t as huge of an expense as i had planned it would be. this thanksgiving meal was about $35 USD for everything you see here.
mmmm pepper lunch. cheap, delicous, cook-it-yourself steak. they serve up your order on this iron hot plate…
…then it comes out like this… even if you’re a horrible cook like me.
worst.poor.ever.
or how bout some back-alley yakitori action?
or maybe all-you-can-eat yakiniku?!
ramen house.
yoshinoyaaa
or if you miss home cookin’… you can always go for the double sausage patty with bacon, egg, and ketchup mcmuffin (or whatever it’s called).
shit im hungry now. who wants to go to sushiland :[
tokyo: intro
i’ve been looking over the tokyo pictures and thinking over the last few days, and i still don’t know where to start. that can explain the metropolis itself as well because there’s so many things to do in such a ginormous place that you don’t know what to do with yourself. but i’ll just put it like this… i <3 new york. new york was my favorite city on earth. was.
tokyo just shitted all over it. i've been to and through many cities and never once found one that would take me away from seattle. i could definitely see myself living in tokyo. the place - hectic yet serene at the same time. new york has about 2 million people living in manhattan, tokyo has about 12 million in the central part of tokyo... yet it is as quiet as the streets of seattle. coming from a loud-mouthed country where everyone wants to be heard, it was shocking to see so many people minding their own business. which brings me to my second point... the people - kind, respectful, and hardworking. this being my first time experiencing a language barrier, everyone was so understanding and more than willing to help. they have the best and fastest service, yet they refuse tips. al;kj9f8hq all of this reminiscing is making me miss this damn place too much so i'll just turn it over to the pics.
first things first, some sort of map is needed when entering this behemoth. i purchased superfuture's since it shows you points of interests, popular stores, and gives you suggestions on things to do.
it gives a fairly detailed map of each of the more popular districs of tokyo. this is crucial because of how huge this place really is. if you’ve ever been to new york city, you know there are districts within the city like soho, noho, lower east side, etc. well tokyo’s districts are like a bunch of new yorks.
first class treatment makes the 10 hour flight go by much faster.. thanks ms. yoshikawa.
as ZzZzZivan can tell you.
we stayed in the shinjuku district. the brown brick building in the middle is where we stayed.
our enormous room. this is usually how big they get in this dense area.
tokyo doesn’t have the tallest skyscrapers like we do in the US… but every corner and back alley look like times square.
inside nissan.
outside of sony.
the world famous shibuya intersection.
akihabra – the electronics district
of course there’s much more to come.
fun friday: 80′s edition
come join us tonight down at the crocodile while tuning in to SF’s finest.
kick it off
still going through the images and still trying to wrap my head around how to document the trip. but heres a glimpse at whats ahead.
we ain’t in footlocker no more
fresh off the plane
i’m back, but it’s going to take a couple days and a couple blogs to sort this tokyo trip out. there’s probably enough i could write about tokyo to blog for an entire year, but i’ll try my best in the next few days to sum it up as best i can. but if there was one word to describe tokyo, it would be WOW.
wake up in tokyo
not gonna blog much here… but im up early waiting for the crew to wake up. just wanted to show you guys how the world looked on this side about an hour ago.
steezy: adidas originals
just posting another thing i need in my life. this hoody by adidas originals for their 2010 spring line.
maybe if im lucky i’ll find it in japan. oh yeah, i’ll be in tokyo for the week… so please excuse me if there’s not much blogging in the next couple days. sayonara