Shimokitazawa what?

but regardless it's uh I'm having a fantastic time just know that I'm having a fantastic time here's the dilemma I have there are so many stores that I want to show you but there's not enough time in a day or in a video to show you them all so we're gonna focus in we're gonna go to monk next which just opened up around the corner one of the other vintage spots that I really wanted to check out while here in one of the other vintage stores I wanted to check out here in Shimokitazawa should be pretty cool we're gonna go check it out see what it's talking about so my mic died right as I entered monk but that's all good here is my MO on the vintage shop called monk definitely a cool spot well-lit had a lot of interesting items but nothing that really wowed me and what I was looking for in particular and this is because probably I had already purchased two items previously I had got the granddad shirt I had gotten a bunch of pins and it kind of felt like to me after Ragla Magla a watered-down version of that shop which might sound harsh but Ragla Magla was one of the best vintage shops I had ever been to up until this point there were some other really really cool ones in Shimo that I didn't get to show you but regardless Lauren was actually around the corner across the street somewhere in Shimokitazawa looking and finding cool pieces of her own and she was like yo I need your help like come help me decide on some pieces help me decide on some clothes so once I got that call like the the Batman symbol I saw it and I dipped at a monk and went to go help her you know it's been a long day when the microphone for your camera dies I think my consensus about Shimokitazawa is that you need to spend at least five days here to get to get to everything I'll give you my ultimate review on what I think about everything at the end of the video this district of this city is just packed with stuff like it's honestly you could feel you could feel an entire week just shopping here and I only went to two stores or like four stores and I could have spent and I did spend all day there so it is day three here in Japan today is absolutely beautiful it's like 70 degrees Fahrenheit I think that's 20 ish degrees Celsius I was about to say today's shopping adventure will continue in Shibuya we're gonna be hitting up Harajuku we're gonna be hitting up Omotesando street and Takashita street which should be a lot of fun the time spent here in Japan has been an absolute blast Shimokitazawa was a lot of fun in fact that already was one of the major highlights of our time here so far it was a beautiful city a place in my heart because of just how the vibes runs in there man I don't know how to describe it let's go to Shibuya let's go to Harajuku let's see Takashita Street heard a lot about that in the past I'm excited to see it firsthand I've always wanted to visit a beams plus and now that I'm in Japan this is the perfect opportunity there's one literally across the street let's go check it out such a cool store I'm gonna be picking through a couple of things I might pick up a pair of sneakers actually it's been a minute since I've done that music might be overpowering my voice but this is so cool I was this close to picking up those CP company a6 but they only had a US size 10 and a half so I guess I'm eating my own words because earlier I said the sizing is pretty accommodating they didn't have a US size 11 they said that he said that the largest size they had was a US 10 and a half which is crazy I've been looking at those shoes for a minute and I don't know it would be kind of fun to pick them up in Japan but no harm no foul we're gonna hit up a couple more shops check them out see what we can get into here's the problem that I have with Harajuku every time I step outside and I look at a new store I spend like 30-45 minutes just looking and it's impossible to index the entire thing I was at the beams record store which was beautiful and man words can't even come close to trying to encapsulate how much fun I'm having right now but like I said it's tough because there is so much goodness there's so much like interesting things that I want to show you guys that it makes it difficult to like take the time out of the like not difficult but like you know time is of the essence right like there's so much else I also want to see and show you guys as well when you get stopped by literally every other store it makes it um it makes it difficult in some respects right hopefully it's coming across correctly before we move on to the next day of shopping I promised I would talk about this handmade leather bag from Kamakura in a previous video so basically right before sunset in Kamakura Kamakura is about an hour train ride away from Tokyo FYI we stumbled upon a leather goods store that you could practically smell the quality from the street standing outside of the store this older gentleman made all of these bags and goods by hand and this item was probably my favorite purchase from the shopping I did in Japan Tokyo because it just was so serendipitous it wasn't something I was planning to buy and when I saw this man who had so much joy and appreciation for a foreigner coming into a shop and buying this bag I don't know it just means a lot more to me and it's a pretty special moment for I would assume for the older man as well for the leather the leather goods salesman another day here in Japan just got done at the local Lawson convenience store that is around the corner from where we're staying got my convenience store snacks for the morning or it's actually 1 p.m. so don't tell anyone I woke up kind of late today but today we're gonna be going to Nakameguro which is another very prominent kind of shopping district in Tobu Tokyo metro area I think it's like Shibuya metro area so it's gonna be a lot of fun this one's there capitals there some other really cool Japanese brands that I've loved in the States that I'm gonna actually visit for the crazy and there's a delicious looking sandwich Sando place like cream Sando cream fruit place where I got the cream sandwich place that looks just delicious so we're gonna try in that as well it's gonna be a fun day it's a bit rainy as you can kind of see from my jacket and whatnot but it should be fun being at capital in Japan was one of the coolest moments for my fashion journey I had no idea what to expect upon entering the shop and that freedom made me feel like a kid in an entirely different world again capital in the US is always being sold in tandem or in comparison to other Japanese brands that are on the shelves at multi-brand retailers what's displayed at these multi-brand retailers is their vision for what capital should be for Americans to sell to Americans it's weird to explain it like that but I had no idea the capital retail space would look and feel and move like this it was provocative very provocative for a lack of better words and it totally changed my point of view of the brand in terms of clothes there were a few things that definitely stood out if you watch the Japan pickups video you would know but overarchingly if you come to Tokyo do yourself a favor and come to capital in Nakameguro it was an absolute experience that I wish I had more time to soak in what's up everyone we're back in sunny warm summery New York City and there's a overarching things that I just don't feel like are being explained while I'm actually doing the vlog so that's why I have to add a little bit of a background voiceover talking bit to the video let me get situated here at the park and then we'll dive right into it okay all right now that we're all situated let's talk for a second I think the first biggest thing when it comes to shopping in Japan that might feel a bit understated in the video but I don't want to understate it at all it's just the sheer amount of shopping that can take place in Tokyo in Japan it's actually on it's on a level that I honestly I wish you guys could just see I wish I could take you there and just plop you in the middle of Tokyo or Shibuya or Harajuku or Omotesando Nakameguro and like so you could see just how much shopping is available there and so well I showed you guys be five stores of the 200 that were available to see like it just goes to show that you know Tokyo and its urban sprawl is on another level compared to what you typically see in cities even in New York City you don't see as much shopping and the ability to shop as you would as you do in Tokyo I think another thing that's huge when it comes to shopping in Tokyo is the conversion rate of the yen to the USD the yen right now is at an all-time well not an all-time I think it's at a 30-year low in terms of its value compared to the US dollar and so what that means is is that you get more for being an American being someone who has USD as their main currency in Japan so that means you're buying power is greater so that means while you are shopping things are cheaper than what they would typically be on top of that if you're shopping for those like from a place like capital for example like when a brand imports or when a multi-brand retailer imports capital they often charge more so that they can make more because they have to pay for the cost of shipping the goods to the United States where that cost doesn't exist in Japan so the goods are even cheaper than what they would typically be compared to something like compared to buying it in the US hopefully that makes sense one thing that I would do differently if I was redoing my Japan trip hopefully I get another opportunity to go to Japan and visit and experience everything again but when it comes to shopping what I would do differently is I would make sure I have the stores that I want to go to because it's easy to say like I want to go to Harajuku or I want to go to Omotesando or I want to go to Shimokitazawa and I did those things but I didn't necessarily have that much specificity to the brands that I wanted to see while in the places I was at and if I would have had that specificity maybe I could have had experiences or shop the things that I really wanted to not say I didn't shop the things I really wanted to maybe I would have had a better opportunity to do that if I had that level of specificity already outlined in my itinerary right overall I'll say that Japan was an unbelievable unbelievable country I loved every minute being in Japan and I loved being able to shop in Japan it was one of the places one of the few places where I've been to I've traveled a little bit here where I did like an extensive amount of shopping and I just felt like I was inundated with so much goodness so many interesting items and accessories and you'll see in future videos that there's a little bit more that I want to show as well anyways but yeah overall Japan was fantastic I even picked up this shirt I didn't even show it in the video but I picked up this shirt the Sun is like beaming perfectly right behind me looking all gorgeous but I'm in some ways I'm glad to be back in New York City because it's it's like amazing outside right now too it's pretty much all I have we're gonna conclude the video with this beautiful sunset behind me as always I'm spreading peace love and positivity in 2024 so that means I'm spreading peace love and positivity to you and more wherever you are in the world have a wonderful rest of your day I'll be onto peace oh what is good post vid vid let me cover this on for a second here to fist bump for the one time you feel me but there's one of them two of them were outside in New York City right now but thank you so much for saying to the end of the video dog just barked and post vivid the Japan videos the rollout is finally coming together everything's going really really nicely I I like the way this video came out hopefully you guys did too let me know down in the comments hashtag PVV when you answer do you have anything in particular that you're excited about for this summer I know for me I'm most excited about spending my first summer in New York City we of course have big plans travel plans a lot of things in the works for the channel and I don't know I'm just very grateful to be in the position where I'm at where I've been doing this for a couple of years now and hopefully we continue to get better and ride momentum and just just continue to nourish the community that I'm always trying to build so Lawrence over here just waiting for me like a what's up you want to say anything to the PVV all right guys we'll see you next time okay