Shopping in Jp!!
For those of you who LOVE shopping as much as I do, Japan is a prime location for shopping. Depending on your style: City Chic, Urban Queen, Harajuku Lover, or Low Key Doll, Tokyo has all of it. Of course if you love the Harajuku Fashion, please visit Takeshita Street in Harajuku. If you want to see the Harajuku you’re familiar with in movies, go on a Sunday around 3pm. School girls and boys dress up in their SUNDAY BEST outfits ;) from bright colors that pop to band-aids with cute designs, you’ll find it all.
For the City Chic look, shop around Ginza. Here you will find that the Ginza to Shimbashi district is a Workman’s Salary Area however, don’t let this term fool you. As you get closer to Ginza you have a more rustic chic look and shops that flood the streets, colors of black, maroon and dark colors fill the shop windows with leather prints and matching hats. You can’t miss those bright neon lights that shine throughout the night. If you’re looking for more fashion check out Roppongi Hills. My go to place for business savvy attire. As much as I love shopping, I didn’t buy much from Tokyo. But I did get to check out the famous Shibuya 109, the store that’s an entire build devoted to woman’s fashion on nine floors. Men, don’t feel left out, shibuya 109 men’s is right across the street so while your Boo is getting lost in the shopping fever, you can go ahead and shop for next seasons attire. I wont tell ;)
I do have to admite, I didnt get to shop a lot in Japan because David reminded me that we still had to travel to Thailand! I had been to Japan before and knew what to expect as far as shopping. A LOT OF CUTE STUFF!!!
Basically if you know and love the Japanese Fashion, shopping will be easy for you. What wasnt easy for me was the size difference. Since I do not have the typical asian build, it is extremely hard for me to find clothes that fits my body type. Even in America, I have a really hard time because of my short but muscular stature. Just imagine the Hulk in a kimono, Im not nearly as big as the Hulk, nor as green as he is but, you can spot a person who doesnt match their clothes by their size! LOL.
My advice to shoppers: TRY EVERYTHING ON!!! In Japan, this will be easy, simply because there are dressing rooms available, in Thailand its a different story.
Take note of their dressing rooms, make sure you take your shoes off before stepping into the dressing room. Its custom to remove your shoes. Dont be alarmed if you get reached! :)
Understand that the sizing may be different so, grab two sizes of the same top or bottoms. Asians tend to be smaller than European and American fits so dont think youve grown too much to fit into that size small!
When checking out at the cashier, take note of those small trays (mostly metal tray). Japanese people like to lay their money out on the tray. Both when paying and returning the tray. Its a polite way of exchanging money.
Notice the currency (I will have another section on Yen currency). Its easy to think that you are spending a lot of money since Yen doesnt incorporate a decimal. Just keep your eye on the exchange rate for that day. Yen tends to fluctuate frequently and if you like to save money and are up-to-date with currency, it never hurts to calculate how much youre really spending in your native currency. Sometimes its actually cheaper to by in Japan than it is in America, dispite rumors about Japan being expensive.