Barclay Does Tokyo - Week 1

Editorials, Events, Experience, Read, Uncategorized

Someone thought it would be a good idea to send me to Tokyo for a month, and who am I to say no so here I am! I’m doing Tokyo, and you best believe I plan on seeing it all and finding the weirdest shit possible to get myself into. I touched down at Narita International and made my way to the shop in Tokyo, least to say the sites and sound were a trip. Oddly enough, Tokyo was pretty much what I had always imagined it to be, but what really surprised was me how impressive it continues to prove itself the longer I stay here. There are things people talk about and that you see online or on TV, that you pretty much expect to see and experience. You definitely do all of those things, but it’s not until you start wandering around the city that you start to understand what this place is about. All the random side streets, and the niche shops that inhabit them. The remnants of an older architectural styles tucked away besides modern ones. That gem of a shop you stumble across hidden in the basement level on a dead end street. There are so many layers to this place, I’m having a hard time trying to figure out how I’m going to see as much as I can in the time that I have. Spent the first week trying to learn the area, so the guys took me around Shibuya and Harajuku. After gaining a general knowledge of where things were I started to venture out. Most of my meals consisted of curry from Curry Up, the staff go-to spot, and 7 Eleven oddly enough. People talked highly of the 7 Elevens and convenience stores back at home and trust me I was a skeptic. But these aren’t the convenience stores you know, these are Japanese convenience stores a.k.a the next level. Just like everything else out here, its better than you ever thought it could be. So finally I ended the week by linking up with my buddy Garrett who frequents Japan, and is notorious for knowing where all the good stuff is out here. We found ourselves in Shinjuku to attend someone’s “private” party at the famous Robot Restaurant, and things got interesting. If the décor wasn’t enough some of the people I met certainly made this night one to remember. Furries, Crossdressers, Yakuza ran establishments, sounds like I’m off to a good start if you ask me.