Stormtroopers invade Harajuku
I mentioned a while ago that there was a Star Wars t-shirt event in Uniqlo Ginza and Uniqlo’s UT Harajuku stores. I didn’t have a chance to attend but a couple of Japanese bloggers did. Even if you can’t read Japanese you can enjoy the photos.
Photo used without permission
Check out these two Japanese Star Wars fan sites to see more pictures.
The tees that Uniqlo released are not great but they are officially licensed if that’s your thing. They do have a pretty cool vintage vibe though. Again, the site is in Japanese and you need to scroll down a little to see the 6 Star Wars tees on offer.
Star Wars T-Shirts coming to UT
Star Wars fans: mark your calendars. Uniqlo have announced that they will be releasing a Star Wars line on March 3rd 6th in the Harajuku UT store as well as Uniqlo Ginza. So if you are in Tokyo on that day you might want to check it out. They note that Boba Fett won’t be making an appearance at the stores. I’m not quite sure what that means though.
I have to go to Tokyo on that day and it is fairly close to Harajuku so I might just pop in to see what’s happening. That’s a big might though. Wrong day. Woops.
Graniph in Harajuku
Japanese t-shirt store, Design T-Shirt Store Graniph, will soon open a brand spanking new flagship store in Harajuku. Apparently there will be an art gallery inside in the store too. You know, just in case you get bored looking at the t-shirts.
Harajuku is amazing for t-shirt aficionados anyway but many of them are pricey. Graniphs tees are a very affordable ¥2,500 (or about that) and about ¥4,200 for two. Of course if you are in Harajuku you always drop into UT for even cheaper tees. The UT store is very cool.
Two New Tees from Tokyo Art Beat
Not only have Tokyo Art Beat released a couple of new shirts, they have reduced the prices too, by 500 yen (about $5). They are now sold for 3,500 yen. I still think they could drop the prices a little more but I understand the cost issues. From my own research it seems to be impossible to get tees printed as cheaply as in the US. Tokyo Art Beat uses Sweat Shop Union and while you can get tees printed for cheaper elsewhere you also have to look at the quality aspect.
The two new t-shirts are not bad. They have introduced the option of neutral colors for those of you like me, who wouldn’t don the bright pink and blues. I appreciate the concept and the detail in the designs of these shirts but as shirts they are definitely not a must have item for me. Although that might be different if I saw what they actually looked like. For those of you who want to stand out from the crowd with some limited edition fashion though it might be just what you are looking for.
Tokyo Art Beat T-Shirts
Fellow Japan ex-pat, Paul from Tokyo Art Beat (TAB) shot us an email to let us know about their new t-shirts.
Each year, TAB releases a collection of exclusive, limited-edition shirts. The designs are donated by both famous and up-and-coming international designers and artists living in Tokyo to share their love of this exciting city. Tokyo Art Beat is run by a non-profit organization so the proceeds of the sale are used to support our team of volunteers and paid staff.
They said that they are releasing 2 new tees every 2 months now. This year’s first 2 designs are by a Japanese designer, Ko-zou and his tattoo-style graphics and the second by Japanese illustrator (and semi-cult indies band: Kiiiiiiii’s singer) Tada Reiko.
¥4000 is a little pricey for a t-shirt but they are limited edition t-shirts by famous designers and there is not much chance of bumping into someone wearing the same top on a night out. The photo below was taken in a ’70s style love hotel.
UT T-Shirt Shop in Harajuku
While I was in Tokyo today I decided to drop in to Uniqlo’s UT store. I took some photos but with my mobile phone so don’t complain about the resolution. As you will see it is a pretty cool place and at the moment they are having a Sunday magazine 50th Anniversary tie in promotion. Hence the manga images on the front windows, the floors and of course on dozens of t-shirts.
For those who don’t know Uniqlo, it is a Japanese discount store that became extremely popular selling good quality but bland clothes cheaply after the economic bubble burst. Last year Uniqlo’s parent company made an unsuccessful bid for Barney’s in the US. UT is a relatively new project for Uniqlo and in my opinion is an attempt by Uniqlo to persuade the consumers to that it can be cool too as the brand was suffering. In fact we overheard someone in the store say that “it’s nice but it’s Uniqlo, so everybody will be wearing it”.
The store is just like you might imagine a Japanese store to be (with more space). It is very space age with the t-shirts stored in plastic tubes on racks lining the walls. Very futuristic. While you can see some other apparel it is 90% t-shirts and they have a great variety too.
The t-shirts in UT are reasonably priced at about 1500 yen and are available in regular Uniqlo stores too. I’m pretty sure you can also purchase them online. The advantage of going to the store though is that you can touch them and suss out their quality which I think is pretty good for a discount t-shirt shop.
Along with many exclusive and original designs UT sell many licenced t-shirts, from Japanese manga and American comic book characters such as Supergirl to images by famed photographer Robert Capa. And don’t think of shoplifting as Batman is the security guard.
Wanted Poster on a T-Shirt
I live in Japan so I am very familiar with the story of the Lindsay Hawker murder. It is now one year later and still the murderer has not been found. It is not not because there is no suspect though. In a case of Japanese Police incompetence (of which there are many) the suspect, Tatsuya Ichihashi, managed to get through a group of policemen and escape barefoot, never to be seen again.
This week, her family have arrived back in Japan, to see what they can do about finding him. Of course they want justice. There is a lot of support in Japan for this British family and one person has even thought to put the wanted poster on a t-shirt and sell them at cost from Cafepress. Of course if you are not living in Japan, there is very little point in purchasing the shirt for yourself as it is quite unlikely that he has fled the country. On the other hand they do have a system set up where they will give the t-shirts to people living in Japan so if you want to bring a little bit of peace to the family of the victim please purchase a t-shirt.
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