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About Shopping in Tokyo
cullenwithak asked:
Hey! First of all loved reading and looking at the pictures of your trip to Tokyo, it looked super awesome! I’m living with my family in Japan right now actually and were planning on probably going to Tokyo near the end of the summer and I was just wondering if you could recommend any thrift stores or stores in general that are great for girls and guys to shop in? My sister and I shop together so it would be more convienent! : )
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Hello! and thank you very much :)
My Tumblr has been messing around with me so I’ll make this answer into a text post. Sorry I kept you waiting!
I can’t remember any charity shops myself but there’s a lot of second hand & vintage stores in Tokyo. Some shops even look like they have their own brand and even if they do produce their own clothes they still sale second hand stuff. This is why it’s hard to tell whether a store is second hand or not.
The best place to shop for clothes in general is probably Shibuya. In Shibuya I recommend going to Harajuku and the area around Shibuya station. Here are some shopping hints:
HARAJUKU
In Harajuku the best area is around Meiji Street / Omotesando Street crossing. The most famous mall (imo) is LaForet (men&women). It’s in the crossing and you can’t be not noticing it! There’s also TOKYU PLAZA mall in the crossing. The Meiji Jingumae <Harajuku> metro station (Fukutoshin Line & Chiyoda Line) is in this crossing so you can’t get lost. I prefer Tokyo Metro subway so i recommend you to take that instead of JR trains. There are some of my fav shops in this crossing, too, SPINNS and WEGO. They sell both their own clothes but also second hand, at least WEGO does. They both also have clothes for both men&women.If you go down Meiji street to LaForet’s direction you’ll pass H&M and FOREVER21. Go a little more and on LaForet’s side of the road you’ll get to Takeshita Street’s entrance! The other entrance is in front of Harajuku station (JR). Takeshita street is a famous shopping street and my fav shop is Momo&Wonder Rocket (for women).
On the other side of the road (Meiji street) is the entrance to Cat street. I think it says Harajuku street above it. My fav shops here: Nadia (women), Lost and Found (women), Jumble Store (men+women), Candy Stripper (women)._____
If you go to the other direction on Meiji Street you’ll finally end up to Shibuya Station.
SHIBUYA
The area near Shibuya station (Subway has Hanzomon+Fukutoshin+Ginza lines, also has JR lines and others) is a gyaru & gyaru-o paradise. The most famous malls are 109 (for women) and 109 men’s. They’re both located to the Shibuya crossing that is considered the busiest crossing in the world. The crossing is just behind (Hachiko exit side) the station so you can’t get lost. I haven’t visited 109men’s but the one for women is just amazing!
If you walk to Shibuya from Harajuku (not a long distance) on Meiji street, you’ll come to the crossing where the street goes either straight (left) and also under the train track (right). If you go to right, under the train track, you’ll finally get to the Shibuya crossing. This is the easiest way to walk to Shibuya from Harajuku.
There are many famous places on the way from that train track to Shibuya crossing. On the left side of the road is Tower Records, a great place to shop for music etc. Go up the hill to right from here and you’ll get to the Parco mall.
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SHINJUKU
Shinjuku is a cool shopping place too. I didn’t shop there that much though cus Harajuku area was much more important to me personally.
In Shinjuku I liked ALTA (mostly for women) and the one huge mall that Shinjuku station forms with it’s hundreds and hundreds of stores. Just go under the Shinjuku station and you’ll find cool shops :) Also is in front of Shinjuku station main entrance.
