Japan is known as an expensive destination, somewhat unfairly I think. Sure, JR passes are pricey and hotel rooms are okay if you're fine with living in something the size of a mini fridge, but the country really gets a bad rap overall. Take food, for instance. There are plenty of affordable eats to put in your belly, even in some of the nicer spots, and you never pay gratuity on top of your food bill (unless I got that wrong, in which case I blazed a tremendous asshole trail throughout the country). One of the biggest pluses, though, is definitely secondhand shopping, also known as "reuse" or "recycle" shopping - an experience that I'd estimate, on the conservative end, to be a million times better than that in the US, for reasons I point out below.
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| Kindal - Kyoto |
For starters, Japan has a wealth of secondhand shops that populate every major city. While we traveled in Osaka, Kyoto, Tokyo, etc., there were always a number of reuse shops dotting the landscape, many of them franchises you can find in multiple cities. Moreover, they have a tendency to group together in certain areas, so you'll often find a few in one place (Shimokitazawa seemingly has a million all clustered together, for example). If you've been thrift shopping in the US, you've also probably noticed that the experience is usually equal parts disorganized, dingy, and disheartening, with a mix of mostly bad vintage clothing thrown in with a rack of Gap chinos. In contrast, there's certainly a spectrum, but Japanese shops tend to be extremely organized - so much so that there are several shops that specialize in only vintage menswear or Mode (high fashion) brands. I still remember walking into the Jam store in Osaka and marveling at the size of a shop that seemed to go on forever, packed wall to wall with vintage Americana and heritage menswear.
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| Jam Store - Osaka |
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At a minimum, you'll usually find shops with sections clearly labeled with markers for domestic clothing, Mode, Americana, etc. or specific brands themselves. When you're used to searching for a needle in a haystack, it's hard to describe how refreshing it is to have a pile of needles already sorted out from the bunch waiting for you. And if you like Japanese clothing, selection an be an embarrassment of riches. Kapital, Scye, Blue Blue Japan, and ts(s) all cram the racks in addition to more "standard" Japanese brands like Beams, Ships, and Journal Standard.
Sales and Pricing
Shops tend to use varying types of sales strategies, but many I visited had extra % off events going on. When I bought my Tomorrowland cardigan and Buzz Rickson's shirt, for example, they were running an additional 20-25% off that day. I get the impression that this happens frequently, if not all the time, but obviously your mileage may vary.
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| 2nd Street - Osaka |
With regard to pricing, I'll start off by referencing Styleforum's
Thrift Store Bragging Thread, which shines a spotlight on the frequent level of unfamiliarity and inexperience many US shops have with nicer clothing. It's not uncommon to hear about someone thrifting a $500-1000 item for $10-20, with the caveat that this usually takes a dedicated amount of digging and the right location to put yourself in those situations. Japanese stores, however, usually know exactly what they have - maybe even more than you do. Consequently, the pricing is much more uniform across the board, and I think you'd be much harder pressed to come up with the same sort of dumpster diving treasure stories you hear about over here.
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| Bingo Store - Shibuya |
That being said, I found their prices to be extremely reasonable - for Japanese brands, at least. For Western clothing, you'll also find plenty of stuff you could get
over here - perhaps with more quality selection in Japan - but compared to
paying domestic prices on Japanese clothing it may just not worth
it. You might recall from
my Japan haul post that I paid a little over $100 for my Blue Blue sweater, $70 for my Camoshita cardigan, and $50 for that Buzz Rickson's shirt - all in pretty much like-new condition. This is a gross over-generalization based on purely anecdotal evidence, but I feel clothing also tends to be more frequently cared for than secondhand clothing on this side of the world. Aside from the true vintage stores, I don't recall any other Japanese secondhand store smelling faintly of Salvation Army or eau de your grandmother's armpit. Again, your mileage may vary, as well as your grandmother.
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| Dylan - Shimokitazawa |
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| WEGO - Shimokitazawa |
Locations
For my Japan trip I made and updated a map of every major city we visited, including the reuse shops I was able to find along the way.
You can find that resource here, though I'll note that it is both under-representative of what's truly out there and by now likely a bit outdated. I also found this old blog named "
Where to Buy Secondhand Clothing in Tokyo" helpful, although it unfortunately appears it is no longer updated. In any event, much of its information should still apply, and at the very least offers another useful perspective about the past time.
Some of the more well-known chains across Japan:
Jumble Store
Bingo
If you're planning a trip to Japan, do let me know how your experience was. Or better yet, bring me. I'm free. I like to party - gently, from the hours of approximately 10 AM to 10 PM maybe on a Friday. If you're not planning on taking a trip anytime soon, you can still trawl the online secondhand market on Yahoo! JAPAN, Rakuten, or any of the online shops and
purchase through a proxy (
2nd Street also has a smaller US site) - not quite as cheap as in person due to shipping and a small proxy fee, but still worth it if you're looking for something like a Kapital Ring Coat -
which you should be, because they're awesome.
As always, any questions feel free to drop me a line.
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| A few reuse jawnz I picked up in Japan - Buzz Rickson's HBT Shirt and Tomorrowland Cardigan (from Bingo - Shibuya) |
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| Blue Blue Japan Sweater - 2nd Street Osaka |
Thanks for a great post! I just went to Tokyo for the first time in January and experienced these second hand shops. I love a good deal (and I love the hunt) but I am frustrated by the local second shops here in Vancouver. The quality of the stuff isn't great and that smell :( I was amazed at how organized and almost new all of the clothes were in Japan. I picked up an orange Head Porter jacket at Ragtag for a good price and spent hours browsing the various shops around Harajuku and Shibuya.
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