Shopping in Toyko

A defining moment in Tokyo - a smal queue is outside the Hermes store waiting for it to open.  One woman is already holding a Hermes bag !  You need two ? Welcome to Toyko Luxe.

I have already described the Imperial Hotel for you and staying in the Ginza area where the hotel is located allows an insight into rich Japan.  While the Imperial Hotel has a certain establishment atmosphere, old-money feel, the rest of Ginza is about those luxury products you only once saw in the Harpers Bazaar magazines at the hairdressers: Chanel, Prada, Tiffanys.  But now I see these stores at Chadstone and I always marvel that they get enough customers to sustain their existance.  Who buys the stuff ?  But while I may sit here and scream disdain for people who already possess a $40,000 hand bag standing in a queue to but another one, I must confess, I have always had a hankering for a Burberry trench.

We did not go to Burberrys, nor any of the other Harpers Bazaar stores.  We went to Uniqlo.  12 storeys of Uniqlo.  Uniqlo heaven.  I converted to Uniqlo from the first week it landed in Melbourne.  I let the Zara craze pass me by when they came to Australia the year earlier, and I was very disappointed by H&M when that Swedish department store juggernaut hit town, but Uniqlo hooked me.  It also helped when I worked out that the Uniqlo symbol was not Unversity Queenland as I has always thought when I saw it emblazened on Adam Scott's golfing apparel.  I thought it strange that a small university was sponsoring an international golf star, but then I thought, hey Adam comes from Brisbane so that's nice.  I should have realised I how wrong I was when Novak Djokovic starting wearing the same logo. My sister laughs at my Uniqlo obsession and my description of my outfits as head to toe, Uniqlo, but at $29.99 why wouldn't you buy the cherry red leggings ?  So I dragged Tom into Ginza's signature store - and guess what, he loved it.  Shame that everything in the store is for the northern hemisphere winter, but that three-quarter length coat he picked up will be perfect for the train trips to work next June.  Ok, there was no room left in the case and he did have to carry it back on all the way to Melbourne, but worth it. Not Burberry, but this way he has a coat and enough left over to pay for our trip to Portugal next year.  So keep your eye out for that blog.

Iniqlo in Ginza