Leaving for Tokyo soon and was hoping for some insider info. Has anyone been recently and Shops/Bars/Restaurants to recommend?

Cheers
tom

Tokyo is a very large city, if you are into your clothes then I suggest you spare at least two full days , below are district by district lowdown of worthy shops:

Daikanyama

Lift Etage & Ecru - located close to each other, these two are in a shopping complex close to daikan-yama station. not that hard to find. very good selection of Carol Christian Poell at both (unfortunately biggest sizes are 46 and 48 in some stuff),Ecru has Rick Owens, Guidi, Stephan Schneider, Dries Van Noten… Etage hasLabel Under Construction, Ann Demeulemeester, Damir Doma, m.a+, Avantindietro and others. probably the best stores in tokyo. I didn't get a chance to go to Lift Position, but apparently they carry Raf Simons and such. Ecru had the cutest SA in the city <3

Julius - the flagship shop is on the second floor of a small small shopping arcade, a bit hard to find but its the only shopping arcade at the location. gloomy, dimly lit concrete interior with odd rainforest sounds. good selection of the line, about3/4 of the total stuff I've seen.

Attachment - two stores close to each other, other one is Kazuyuki Kumagai and other one plain Attachment. allright selection of the lines at both.

Aoyama

L'eclaireur - slightly off the street but not hard to find. stock wise quite dissapointing, not a huge selection and everything was disorganized. only one Poell piece on the racks, I had to ask for more and they only had 1-2 trousers, one shirt and one jacket all from an earlier season, Lift had a lot of new season already at this point. some random pieces from Dries, Berrini, Ann D, Rick Owens etc.. womens selection was a lot bigger.

Loveless - the store itself is amazing, like an underground dungeon so worth a look, the entrance goes unnoticed easily, a stone staircase next to a Goyard store,stuff they have is very mixed, cant remember what brands they had but nothing that interested me a lot..

Comme Des Garcons - cool store, the usual selection of CDG stuff that available at most of their outlets.

10 Corso Como - dissapointing, mostly CDG stuff, some Lanvin and a couple of other brands, maybe Balenciaga or something. really boring compared to the original Corso Como.

Undercover - cool store, though personally I dont like the spring line much. good stock of it though, lots of womens wear as well.

Dover Street Market - I'm pissed I even walked here.. another CDG store with nothing but all the Comme basics available at every one of their sale points around the city. I dont know why they'd call in DSM if it has nothing to do with the original one..

Yohji Yamamoto - was closed when I got there, but it looked like a Y-3 store…?

Omotesando

N. Hollywood - one of the coolest stores concept and interior wise, hidden in a residential area somewhere behind Omotesando Hills.. at the end of a small dead end street, theres a metal gate and what looks like a wooden storefront from some smallrural town. the interior looks like a 50's-60's american home or office, very cool and surprising when you walk in.

Addition Adelaide - small store behind also Omotesando Hills, they had Raf Simons, some Rick Owens and others.. not a huge stock though.

Omotesando Hills - shopping complex that has a cool interior, houses the Ann Demeulemeester store as well a boutique called Edition. I had no idea what it was and simply went in after my girlfriend, only to notice a table full of m.a+ belts! their lineup is pretty weird with Stephan Schneider next to some Nudie Jeans.. a good selection of m.a+, some items from Nicolo Ceschi Berrini, Rick Owens, Whyred etc.

Harajuku

The Viridi-Anne - I love their latest collections so this was a must-go for me, small store with onlya signless black glass exterior, a good selection from s/s, though, friendly staff and apparently a regular customer decked in full V-A, who I thought worked there untill he paid for something..

Beams International Gallery - good lineup of designers incl Robert Geller, Rick Owens, Kolor and quite a few other brands I cant remember.. worth a visit for sure.

wjk - the store is inside the Laforet teenager mecca, which is good for eyeing shopper chicks I guess. decent selection of wjk and Reluxe stuff.

Shibuya

Via Bus Stop (Seibu)-if Alexander McQueen and Marc Jacobs are your homies, go here, not exactly what I expected.

Space Tokyo - two 2nd handstores, I checked the one next to Tokyu Hands, mostly the same stuff they have online as well, worth checking out for sure.

Midwest - nice selection of stuff on 4 floors, quite a bit of m.a+ including bags which are hard to come across. some Viridi-Anne, Mihara Yasuhiro, some local labels, ann demeulemeester, RO, Guidi.. the top floor artsy cafe is alright and cozy.

Shinjuku

Isetan - good selection of menswear and the most annoying SA's in retail history at the womens floor. damir doma, ann demeulemeester, dries van noten, stephan schneider, attachment, viridi-anne, rick owens.. N(N), undercover, cdg and some others.

Barney's - the mens floor is small but some interesting labels. decent rack of Poell but mostly older season at that point. couple of really cool avantindietro shirts.. decent selection of LUC, also Dries, Lanvin, CDG, m.a+and some other stuff.

In that case why don't you contribute the "relevant" stuff Shay, we can all benefit from it

This thread might help
http://www.fuk.co.uk/threads/going_japan_what_should_i_be_looking

any tips for bars/hotels? jiro movie is excellent!

Thinking of moving to Japan for a year and working. I'll have holidays and time to travel but would people definitely say Tokyo over Osaka and also has anyone had any experience of Seoul as Korea is also a potential option.

Cheers

Cheers, have you had any experience of Osaka either?