Travel: Luxury Shopping & Good Buys in Tokyo
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Burberry Blue Label was the first thing on my mind when I woke up. Had a quick pasta meal & took a train to Meiji-jingu station, my next BBL stop.
The famous "fashion-trendsetting" area is located around Aoyama, Omotesando & Harajuku. The latest fashion designers & apparel retailers come & define their business base here. Omotesando is where the international high-quality stores converge & the area is often used for photographing models for magazines.
The BBL store here is just as big. This is the one I often pop by when in Tokyo. I've no interest in BBL bags so I went direct to the clothes section. Took some time to browse around & spotted this stylish short coat.
It looked a little like a Burberry trench coat that I have, except that mine is longer & came with a hood. I bought the coat more than 10yrs ago & it still look as good as new. This shorter version has 2 ways to wear the collar & the detachable inner lining has buttons instead of a zipper.
Look at their packaging. Although the coat didn't come with the Burberry signature hanger & garment bag, it came with the BBL very own cute garment bag with ribbons. They even put a plastic wrap over the paper bag. Oh, don't forgot to carry your passport with you cause you'll get a 5% tax rebate on the spot!
After the BBL stop, I took a stroll along Omotesando down to Harajuku. The gorgeous boulevard of Omotesando, often called the Japanese Champs Elysees, attracts many nostalgic foreigners. Beginning with Louis Vuitton & the Esquisse Omotesando building complex, which offers all the luxury brand names like Chanel & Gucci, Omotesando offers you dozens of different brand names.
Here, the immaculate streets look like they’re steam-cleaned nightly & every shopper looks American Express Black-card wealthy. After walking & walking, take a load off & rest your sore feet at any of the lovely street cafes here.
Every Sunday, many young people dress in a variety of styles that include gothic lolita & cosplay, among others, spend the day in Harajuku socializing.
The popular Harajuku is not only about teenage culture, there're lots of cheap & nice food there. Takeshita Dori is a narrow, roughly 400 meter long street lined by shops, boutiques, cafes & fast food outlets targeting Tokyo's teenagers. Since I've only got 48hrs in Tokyo, I chose to skip Takeshita Dori this time & went in search of my Fancl store. There's just too much to do with so little time.Good Buy: Tense Up EX. I stopped by a Fancl outlet here to check out my collagen drink. This is a popular product among airline crew. It's an intensive care to firmer, smoother & more radiant skin. Apparently, this refreshing fruity beverage containing Fancl's original creation, HTC Collagen, is more easily absorbed & boosts collagen synthesis far more effectively than normal collagen.
This drink costs S$7 a bottle or S$61.50 for a box (10 bottles) here in Singapore. Guess what? Despite the high Yen, it only cost ¥2,650 for this box of collagen, which is about S$4/bottle!
I went back to my hotel to drop off my stuff before heading to Ameyoko, a place I must go in Japan for my snacks. Various products such as clothes, bags, cosmetics, fresh fish, dried food & spices are sold here. This is a place to go if you enjoy cheap stuff.
Look at the incredible prices of these fresh seafood. Sooooo cheap! If only I could carry them home, which I did, once. I bought Mentaiko back to Singapore but it was messy & troublesome .......
Prices of Japanese snacks here are much cheaper than in the supermarkets & you'll be spoilt for choices.
Most snacks here cost less than ¥300 except for the Wasabi Pistachio which is ¥800.
I'd planned to recount the full day itinerary in this post but I'm getting tired. Guess I've to keep you in suspense while I relate my fine dining experience in the posh Ginza in my next post ....... to be cont'd.