Since I needed new clothes for my job (I had only brought from home one suit, two long-sleeved dress shirts, and a few short-sleeved dress shirts), Vence and I went on a hunt in Shinjuku yesterday and today. We spent about 3-4 hours each day scouring the various department stores and independent stores.
I felt bad for the sales associates in the shoe sections. =( It's so hard for me to find shoes that fit properly and that don't cost too much. That's why I usually like stores like Famous Footwear--because I can just try on all the styles in sizes that I think might fit without having some poor associate run back and forth.
It was hard to find a pair that fit my buniony wide feet, weird toes that can't wear any semblance of pointy shoes, that didn't make my heel come out the back when I walked and that didn't look ugly or too casual. I ended up getting a pair of Aravons (a New Balance dressy-shoe line) for $237! (Damn that exchange rate! If it had been 4-5 years ago, when it was $1 USD to 127 yen, it would have only cost $157.)
It's the most expensive pair of shoes I've ever bought and they kind of plain-looking. Granted, the leather is pretty soft and doesn't dig into my feet and and are all-around comfortable, but still...they're Mary Janes.
Not that I could wear my thick winter boots under my dress pants again. I did it twice already and felt like an idiot both times, but it was either the boots or sneakers. Or worse, flip flops.
Clothes-shopping is insane in Tokyo. If you think Roosevelt Field Mall or Tanger Outlet is big, imagine 10 of these, but vertical, spanning blocks and blocks. This is the map I created for today:
http://maps.google.com/maps/ms?ie=UTF8&hl=en&msa=0&msid=200632267985550414341.00049dc9b6840853dedfb&z=16
Here's another map of the area, by Sony:
An explanation of the stores:
Imagine department stores like Macy's or Bloomingdales or Lord and Taylor, and each of them having multiple buildings for all their merchandise. Take the department store Marui, for example. There are five locations, all around the same train station. (Granted, the station is pretty big...more like Grand Central than 74 St-Jackson Heights, you know?)
As the japanvisitor.com article above describes, there are 5 buildings in Shinjuku alone:
1) Shinjuku Marui Main Building
8 very stylishly presented floors of mainly women's clothing and accessories,
2) Shinjuku Marui Curren
8 floors, plus two underground floors, of women's clothing and accessories
3) Shinjuku Marui One
8 floors of women's clothing and accessories, as well as CDs on 8F.
4) Shinjuku Marui Annex - Wald 9
Wald 9 cinema complex occupies the 9th to 14th floors. 5F-7F devoted to men's clothing and accessories. 8F restaurants.
5) Shinjuku Marui Men
8 floors of men's clothing and accessories.
I wasn't sure which Marui to go into, so we just went into the main one, and I checked Marui off the list of department stores to hit. There are also two Zara stores and two Uniqlos within a 10-15 minute walking distance from one another.
There is an overwhelming number of options when it comes to shopping. Not only are there dozens of department stores and independent stores, but when you go into each store, there are countless varieties of styles, fabrics, colors, etc.
I think the food stores are like this too. For example, in the US, there's only one kind of Kit Kat chocolate-wafter bar. In Japan, there are over 100 varieties. While you may not see them all displayed at the same time in the same store, this is the idea I'm getting at:
American supermarket shelf - 5 kinds of bread, but more than 20 loaves of each
Japanese - 20 kinds of bread, but only 5 of each
It's just insane. It's both great and horrible at the same time to have so many options--especially when you don't what the quality or price is like for which kind of store. (Here, I'm thinking specifically of department stores and Japanese brand stores.) Where's a Target when you need one??
On the upside, I found many great suit options at The Suits Company, Aoki (which only sells suits and the like) and Mitsukoshi Alcott (which is, as you might have guessed, one of the many Mitsukoshi department stores, in this area alone). But I needed more time to try them on, so only bought a shirt and a pair of shoes this time and will go back for the suits. I really like the quality, and the price is pretty good (according to Vence; I don't know...I've only ever worn suits for interviews, so I only have one or two).
The only thing is, the shirts don't fit! =( I'm in Japan! Why are even the fitted shirts so big?? And the largest dress shirt size Aoki (which specializes in suits and dress shirts) was a 36, which is one size larger than what I needed. Very weird. Then again, the shirts I bought in Taiwan had to be altered too. I love that the malls in Taiwan will alter your clothes for free in just 15 minutes--at least, they did the last time I bought button-down shirts there. Aoki charges 525 yen ($6.25) to hem pants, which is not bad, but and it takes a week.
I never thought I'd say this, but shopping (in Tokyo) is mentally exhausting! Between trying to communicate to the sales associates or getting Vence to translate back and forth what little he could (and one associate looking up a translation online) about what I'm looking for, what's wrong with the thing I'm trying on (too narrow/wide/small/big), walking around with our iPhone maps in hand, trying to find the store themselves...it's really stressful!
Although Vence was really helpful in locating the stores (I'm super directionally challenged) and translating, and even going around the shoe department to find other shoes for me to try one while I waited for the sales associate to bring a pair in the right size...I felt a little pressure because I know he doesn't like shopping. I like to take my time, peruse the racks--especially here in Tokyo, where the fashion is in many ways quite different from the US. But with him, I feel like I can't spend too much time looking around, you know?
I'm going to do some shopping on my own next time. I really want to check out Daiso or Don Quijote (100-yen and discount stores, respectively). The latter has many locations, but the ones in Roppongi and...somewhere else...are open 24 hours. It's hard to convey the attraction without pictures, so I'll try to post pictures next time.
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