Tokyo is one of the most varied, creative and stimulating retail experiences in the world. Not only is the city huge, but each area has a distinct feel and atmosphere, reflected in its shopping. There are small, niche brands everywhere, as well a...

I was more nervous than usual at this, our first Symposium in Japan. Partly I think it was because of the speakers: sitting alongside Kamoshita-san (above) is intimidating for anyone. But mostly it was cultural. I was very conscious of being the only...

The Japanese tailoring tradition is relatively short. After all, until the Meiji Restoration in 1868, almost no western-style tailoring was worn in the country.The Restoration made western dress required for courtiers and bureaucrats, and increasingl...

Last week I was in Japan for 10 days, mainly in Tokyo but also travelling around to Kobe, Osaka and Wakayama prefecture. It was the fourth time I’d been to Japan, but only the third for PS, and one of those had been for only a few days around our J...

You might be forgiven for wondering why a luxury Japanese gardening shop opened last year on Chiltern Street - I mean, who buys axes and ladders in Marylebone on a casual Saturday afternoon? The explanation lies in the history of that store, Niwaki, ...

There is a bewildering number of shoemakers in Japan, somewhere between 35 and 40 depending on how you count. Although many have people working for them, they are all essentially sole operators. One person founded the house, is in charge, and there i...

Of all the tailors we visited in Japan last year, Ciccio was the one I was excited about seeing.I'd seen and tried on examples of his work on friends, and more importantly heard good things about his attitude to style and working with customers.We me...

Given Japan’s reputation for quality and craft - particularly in denim and bespoke menswear - it would be natural to assume its suit manufacturing was of a similar level. But until recently, most factories in Japan produced at a fairly low qualit...

There are more vintage shops in Japan than anywhere else. Particularly in Harajuku, the fashion area of Tokyo, and in Koenji, a district about 40 minutes from the centre.  But elsewhere too - Osaka, traditionally a fashion centre in Japan, has high-...

Five or six years ago, it was easy to find young people that wanted to be shoemakers in Japan. The wave of enthusiasm for both craft and menswear elsewhere in the world had washed up here just as strongly.  Today, with Covid having only just effecti...

The Real McCoy's headquarters in Kobe, Japan is extraordinary.  I had been warned it would be, but it really didn't prepare me for the scale of the operation or for the mix of craft and eccentricity.  The company owns four warehouses in the port of...

Adrian Hogan is a PS reader and an illustrator living in Tokyo. We met at Midori So, a charming Ivy-covered building that’s used as a shared workspace, set on top of a hill in a largely residential area but just a couple of blocks from the Nakamegu...

In recent years I've been wearing more belts with tailoring, as I've worn other accessories such as ties and handkerchiefs less.  That's meant me upping my belt game, with a couple of commissions from Tightly Stitched, some great belts from Rubato, ...

Our trip to Japan this week was meant to be roughly split into three parts: retail (for a shopping guide), bespoke makers (for a range of posts and freelance articles) and Japanese crafts (around Osaka and Kyoto).But strangely enough, it was the bes...

When we were in Japan last month, Jamie and I tried to see a sprinkling of traditional Japanese craftsmen alongside the usual tailors and shoemakers.This was both for general interest (always interesting to see how things are made) and to note any...

In most areas of the world, tailors commonly outsource their trouser making: cutting in-house but then sending the work to ateliers used by several different houses. Just as common in recent years has been the move for those ateliers to push their o...

Japanese fashion drives so much of classic style that we barely see in the West. Italian brands can be huge in Japan, yet barely be covered here. Partly as a result, Japanese buyers are some of the most knowledgeable in the world. They are usually be...

When I was in Japan at the end of last year, I was keen to see not just menswear crafts, but traditional crafts in other areas as well.Previous articles on swordmaker Sasuke and kimono maker Motoji attest to some of that, but there were also three ma...

I thought it would be interesting to do a post on what clothing I packed for my recent Japan trip. People always seem to like these capsule pieces, although this trip was particularly challenging for a couple of reasons.  First, I needed a full rang...

To what extent can rags be beautiful? Is there even a point at which fetishising the clothes of the poor– how threadbare they are, how re-worn and re-hashed – can be disrespectful? Twenty years ago, when Stephen Szczepanek began importing them ...

Yohei Fukuda is one of the finest shoemakers in the world. And given his longevity - he set up on his own 12 years ago - he’s been at the forefront of Japan emerging as the primary world force in bespoke.  But like many Japanese, it's taken him a ...

For all readers in Japan - or who happen to be travelling there next month - you are cordially invited to our first Symposium event in the country. The talk will take place on Wednesday, May 22nd in the Quartz Gallery, Shibuya, and will discuss the r...

By Tony Sylvester “A few years back, I posted a photo of Paul Weller on my Instagram (above). It was taken in 1984 in his Style Council era, where much to the consternation of the Mod faithful, he was constantly tinkering with his attire - alienati...

Best-dressed non-professional 2019: @Gusvs9 Runners-up: @urbancomposition, @flannels_and_tweed @Gusvs9 doesn’t like people to know who he is. You never see his face on Instagram, and there is no biography. Such an approach is almost weird ...

Seiji McCarthy is someone I've wanted to cover on PS ever since we hung out in Tokyo some six years ago. But with no prospect of travelling to Japan soon, I turned to local writer and friend Christopher Berry to visit Seiji and report - on Seiji's Am...