| BUYLINE |
| Shibuya’s Zenmall (29-4 Udagawacho, Shibuya-ku; 03-3770-1641), known for offering large clothing for men, is holding a two-day Early Bird Pre-Summer Sale. The sale will take place on the mornings of April 12 (Sat) and 13 (Sun) for three hours (9am-noon) each day. During these times, nearly everything will be marked 20-80 percent off. Some of the bargains include suits with a spare pair of pants for \9,800 (sizes 3-8L), and summer casual jackets for \8,000 (3-6L). Imported designer suits by makers like Calvin Klein and Boss are also marked down to \39,000 and \59,000, respectively. Those who spend over \10,000 can take part in the Cash Grabbing Contest, where shoppers can dig into a box full of cash. Spend over \30,000 for two chances to grab, and \50,000 for three. Don't miss this rare opportunity, as it could be one of the few chances for those looking to buy large sizes in Japan, especially at affordable prices.
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ADVERTISERS:
Ash 03-3770-3755
Biodanza
Boots
Clinique
TCA
Club Boy Beau
Crunch 03-5459-123-
Dr. Allen Leroy Robinson
Hair Dressers Archecal 03-0449-6106
Hayato New York 03-3498-9113
Hugo
BOSS
Japan Electrolysis Clinic (Ginza)
Maiko
Make Over Studio Shiki
My Boo Nail Salon 03-5428-1121
Neal's Yard
Natural Therapy Center
03-3405-7216
Roksen Bar Cosmetic 03-5658-7675
Sin Den
Takagi Skin Clinic
Tamariba.inc.
Tokyo Skin Clinic
Toni&Guy
Japan 03-3797-5790
Watanabe Hair Dressing 03-3405-1188
Who Ga 03-5570-1773
IN STORE ARCHIVE:
535: Anything goes
Add a little spunk to your life at Tokyo's zakka housewares shops. Hanna
Kite visits five of the best.
531: To a tee
Tokyo’s hottest T-shirt shops boast designs by some of Japan’s
top talents. Hanna Kite dresses down.
527: Treasure chests
Hanna Kite checks out five Tokyo jewelers that offer the perfect setting
for your next shopping excursion.
523: Arts and crafts movement
Trina O’Hara goes in search of the Japanese creative spirit.
519: Bra-vo
Move over, Hello Kitty. Sexy has finally replaced cute in Tokyo's lingerie
stores. Hanna Kite reports.
515: Bowled over
Trina O'Hara tracks down the latest tableware to suit any time of day.
511: East meets nest
Trina O'Hara finds that Tokyo's flea markets and shrine sales suit all types
of personalities and interests.
503: The write stuff
Hanna Kite takes notes at Tokyo's finest pen and paper boutiques.
499: Blasts from the past
Tokyo trendsetters have a knack for making old fashions new again. Jennifer
Au goes back in time at the city's coolest vintage clothing stores.
495: In the bag
From haute to mass-market, designer to dowdy, Tokyo has a tote to suit every
taste and budget. Jennifer Au tracks down the best.
491: Paper chase
Steve Trautlein goes on a search for Tokyo's best English booksellers.
487: Happy trails
A love affair with the great outdoors is easily consummated at these Tokyo
retailers. Steve Trautlein gears up.
483: Top hats
Whether it’s a rooftop barbecue, a riverside picnic or an afternoon
stroll, there will be times this summer when you’ll want to keep the sun
off your face. †Martin Webb hunts down Tokyo’s best headwear suppliers
so you can stay shady in style.
479: Oriental express
This summer, all things Asian are hot stuff. Martin Webb finds out how to
get the look without breaking the bank.
474: Haute haven
Forget Roppongi Hills’ aspirations to be the city’s cultural hub.
This is the consumer capital of the world, and it’s all about shopping.
Martin Webb reports.
468: New kit on the block
Backed by street-wise fashion chain store Beams, these seven new stores
are upping the style quotient in Daikanyama. Martin Webb sizes up this brand
new shopping experience.
463: Can buy me love
Stuck for ideas about how to make Valentine’s Day extra memorable this
year? Martin Webb shops around for some great gift ideas for lucky ladies.
452: Perfect timing
For the rushed residents of our fair metropolis, keeping an eye on time is one
of life's little necessities.
448: House of style
The newly open Marunouchi Building is drawing legions of eager shoppers from
all over Japan
445: Present perfect
Tired of wasting your yen on last-minute gifts at duty free?
441: Toy story
Martin Webb tackles every parent's annual ennui and finds playthings that could
earn you more peace and quiet than you bargained for
437: Natural selection
Seven new "select shops" are giving style seekers an excuse to keep
spending
433: Window shopping
Stephen Cotterill indulges his yen and peers into the retail oasis that is Glassarea
Aoyama
429: Jet, set, go!
With the holiday high season just around the corner, trendy travelers are in
hot pursuit of packing accessories
425: Loud and clear
No home is complete without a sound system, and for audiophiles, time at home
revolves around those little black boxes
421: Red brick revival
Once at the heart of Yokohama's bustling port industry, Akarenga Soko has a
new lease of life as an exclusive entertainment and retail complex
417: Eye browse
An eyewear boom has seen new stores open and old favorites prosper
413: Sporting goodies
Shibuya sportswear
409: Go Figure
An army of action figures
405: Puff 'n' Stuff
Tokyo's best cigar shops
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Paper chase
Steve Trautlein goes on a search for Tokyo's best
English booksellers.
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| Kinokuniya |
The good news for Tokyo bibliophiles is that the city has
tons of bookstores; the bad news is, unless you're
looking for Harry Potter or the latest David Beckham pictography,
most shops hold little of interest. But with so many gaijin
about and a populace forced to learn English until the end
of high school, Tokyo does indeed have a bookstore to suit
every taste, from the cluster of shops in the Kanda-Jimbocho
area to tiny furo honya (used bookstores) to the city's
gleaming megastores.
The big boys
These mega shops are well-known but are worth a visit nonetheless.
The seventh floor of Tower Records in Shibuya has the best
range of English-language magazines at great prices, stocking
everything from Time to High Times. They also carry a large
number of trade paperbacks, culture and entertainment books.
The fifth floor of the Shinjuku branch of Kinokuniya has perhaps
Tokyo's largest selection of English-language books,
with lots of titles on Japan, magazines, fiction and a great
lit-crit section. It's the place to go for that new
hardcover but, unfortunately, prices are quite high. On the
other side of town is Maruzen's main shop in Nihonbashi,
with English books on the fourth floor. An ESL teacher's
delight, they offer many textbooks, activity resources and
more. Maruzen also has a shelf full of maps-both French
and English-and dictionaries in a wide variety of languages,
plus a great selection of art books on the second floor. Just
up the street is Yaesu, a chaotic store that's served
as a bibliophile's delight since the '70s. The
seventh floor has lots of English books, including paperbacks,
film and art titles. They also stock textbooks and calendars.
Tower Records
Open daily 10am-11pm. 1-22-4 Jinnan, Shibuya-ku. Tel: 03-3496-3661.
Nearest stn: Shibuya.
Kinokuniya
Open daily 8am-10pm. Takashimaya Times Square, 5-24-2 Sendagaya,
Shibuya-ku. Tel: 03-5361-3301. Nearest stn: Shinjuku, south
exit.
Maruzen
Open daily 10am-8pm, Sun and hols until 7pm. 2-3-10 Nihonbashi,
Chuo-ku. Tel: 03-3272-7211. Nearest stn: Nihonbashi (subway)
or Tokyo (JR).
Yaesu
Open daily 10am-7:30pm, second and fourth Sun till 6pm.
2-5 Yaesu, Chuo-ku. Tel: 03-3281-1811. nearest stn: Tokyo,
Yaesu south exit.
Kanda-Jimbocho area
Surrounded by several colleges, including prestigious Meiji
University, Kanda-Jimbocho is home to a high concentration
of used bookstores. In contrast to the pristine, well-ordered
condition of most of Japan's retailers, the shops here,
specializing in everything from first editions to vintage
magazines to movie posters, are chaotic and messy, with stock
that spills outside into sidewalk bins. It's an area
that rewards poking around. A good bet is to walk down Yasukuni
Dori, starting at the A1 exit of Jimbocho station and away
from the big intersection. First is Ogawa Tosho, which stocks
mostly first-edition English-language literary criticism and
literary biography. Kitazawa Shoten, one of the bigger and
more orderly shops, has a gorgeous granite-and-brick facade
and offers new and slightly used humanities books. Unfortunately,
their second-floor rare book section is now by appointment
only. The second floor of Isseido Shoten is notable for its
selection of antique English books on arts, travel and the
Orient. The Charles E. Tuttle shop, now known as Tokyo Random
Walk, is the bookstore of the renowned Japan publishers, with
a large selection of magazines, erotica, and steeply discounted
second-floor titles. The area's lynchpin is the flagship
store of publishers Sanseido, where English books, magazines
and postcards occupy a corner on the fifth floor. Just a little
farther on, across the Meidai Dori intersection, lies Subun-so,
which has rare, antique and first-edition English books on
the second floor.
Ogawa Tosho
Open Tue-Sun 10am-6pm, closed Mon and hols. 2-7 Kanda-Jimbocho,
Chiyoda-ku. Tel: 03-3262-0908. Nearest stn: Jimbocho, exit
A1. www.book-wave.com
(Japanese)
Kitazawa Shoten
Open Mon-Sat 10am-6pm, closed Sun and hols. 2-5 Kanda-Jimbocho,
Chiyoda-ku. Tel: 03-3263-0011. Nearest stn: Jimbocho, exit
A1. www.kitazawa.co.jp
Isseido Shoten
Open Mon-Sat 10am-6:30pm, hols 10:30am-6pm, closed Sun. 1-7
Kanda-Jimbocho, Chiyoda-ku. Tel: 03-3292-0071. Nearest stn:
Jimbocho, exit A7.
Charles E. Tuttle/Tokyo Random Walk
Open Mon-Sat 10:30am-8pm, Sun 11am-7pm. 1-3 Kanda-Jimbocho,
Chiyoda-ku. Tel: 03-3291-7071. Nearest stn: Jimbocho, exit
A7. www.bookshop.co.jp
(Japanese)
Sanseido Bookstore
Open daily 10am-7:30pm. 1-1 Kanda-Jimbocho, Chiyoda-ku. Tel:
03-3896-6332. Nearest stn: Jimbocho, exit A7. www.books-sanseido.co.jp
(Japanese)
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Subun-so
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Subun-so
Open Mon-Sat 10am-6pm, closed Sun and hols. 3-3 Kanda-Ogawamachi,
Chiyoda-ku. Tel: 03-3292-7877. Nearest stn: Jimbocho, exit
A7.
Used books
Good Day Books has long been a favorite haunt of expat bookworms
and is the one Tokyo shop many of us couldn't imagine
living without. Just steps from Ebisu station, Good Day is
heavy on paperback novels but also stocks drama, poetry, biography,
history, business, travel and science titles, among others.
A small but well-put-together selection of new books complements
the pre-owned ones, and high turnover ensures that there are
always good finds of Japan language-learning and travel books.
Caravan Books, open since November near the west exit of Ikebukuro
station, offers a large selection of paperbacks, travel books,
and non-fiction. Their fiction inventory is online, so you
can see what looks good before you go, and just this month
they've added a café service with light meals
and drinks-including beer and wine. Caravan is small
but offers seats so browsers can take books on a test run
before purchasing, and they host monthly wine and cheese parties.
Blue Parrot Books on Aoyama Dori, also open since November,
is a tiny but well-stocked used bookstore in a great location.
They have bargain bins holding CDs, books and manga, in addition
to weekly sales. All three of these shops offer some type
of book exchange; call or check their websites for details.
Though not technically used, the discounted books corner on
the seventh floor of the main branch of Yaesu features great
deals, including Penguin paperbacks for ¥500 and Taschen
art books for under ¥1,000.
Good Day Books
Open Mon, Wed-Sat 11am-8pm; Sun and hols 11am-6pm; closed
Tues. 1-11-2 Ebisu, Shibuya-ku. Tel: 03-5421-0957. www.gooddaybooks.com
(also offers info on Tokyo-area book clubs).
Caravan Books
Open Mon-Thu 11am-8pm, Fri-Sat 11am-9pm, Sun noon-6pm. 2-21-5
Ikebukuro, Toshima-ku. Tel: 03-5951-6406. www.booksatcaravan.com
The Blue Parrot
Call for open hours. 2F Aoyama Seven Heights Bldg, 1-7-5 Shibuya.
Tel: 03-5485-5558. Nearest stn: Shibuya, east exit or Omotesando,
exit B2. www.blueparrottokyo.com
Yaesu
Open daily 10am-7:30pm, second and fourth Sun till 6pm. 2-5
Yaesu, Chuo-ku. Tel: 03-3281-1811. nearest stn: Tokyo, Yaesu
south exit.
Art and children's bookstores
Tokyo boasts many shops catering to picture-book aficionados,
be they young readers or art lovers. For the latter, Shimada
Yosho, a charmingly cluttered store in Aoyama, features a
mind-boggling diversity of titles. In addition to books on
obscure subjects like WWII military uniforms and 19th-century
hand-painted porcelain, they sell conventional coffee-table
tomes, including design annuals, interiors guides, cookbooks,
gardening, automotive and, of course, photography, art and
art history books. The bookstores attached to Watari-um, GA,
Nadiff and Logos galleries have a wide variety of Japanese
and imported art books; Nadiff is the most attractive, and
Logos offers the biggest selection. The main branch of Aoyama
Book Center has a large art section, while their Roppongi
branch has fewer volumes but houses them in a cool second-floor
loft area that looks down on Roppongi Dori. For the little
ones, Crayon House has mostly Japanese titles, but the 10,000
foreign selections and kid-friendly atmosphere make it an
expat family favorite. Fiona in Jiyugaoka is tiny but well-stocked
with kid-lit and activity materials, everything from picture
books to the complete works of Jack London. The Maruzen store
listed above has an excellent kids department, with English,
Japanese and French titles, while Tokyo's English-language
used bookstores also carry children's books.
Shimada Yosho
Open daily 11am-8pm. 5-5-25 Minami-Aoyama, Minato-ku. Tel:
3407-3863. Nearest stn: Omotesando, exit A5.
On Sundays (Watari-um Gallery).
Open Tue-Sun 11am-8pm. 3-7-6 Jingumae, Shibuya-ku. Tel: 03-3470-1424.
Nearest stn: Gaienmae, exit 2.
GA
Open Tue-Sun 12-6:30pm. 3-12-14 Sendagaya, Shibuya-ku. Tel:
03-3403-1581. Nearest stn: Yoyogi or Harajuku. www.ga-ada.co.jp
Logos
Open daily 10am-8:30pm. Parco Dept Store, B1F Part 1, 15-1
Udagawacho, Shibuya-ku. Tel: 03-3477-5873. Nearest stn: Shibuya,
Hachiko exit.
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Nadiff
Gallery
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Nadiff Gallery
Open daily 11am-8pm. B1F Casa Real, 4-9-8 Jingumae, Shibuya-ku.
Tel: 03-3403-8814. Nearest stn: Omotesando, exit A2. www.nadiff.com
(Japanese)
Aoyama Book Center
Open daily 10am-10pm. Cosmos Bldg, 5-53-67 Jingumae, Shibuya-ku.
Tel: 03-5485-5511. Nearest stn: Omotesando stn, exit B2. www.aoyamabc.co.jp
(Japanese)
Crayon House
Open daily 11am-7pm. 3-8-15 Kita Aoyama, Minato-ku. Tel: 03-3406-6492.
Nearest stn: Omotesando.
Fiona
Open daily 11am-8pm. 5-41-5 Okusawa, Setagaya-ku. Nearest
stn: Jiyugaoka, towards Den-en-Chofu. Tel: 03-3721-8186. www.fiona.co.jp
Photos
by Steve Trautlein
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