Opening Ceremony

I think we all know that I'm quite keen on shopping. I love it... everything from the smell, the displays and the whole wrapping/purchase experience. I loved it in London and I have grown to love it in Tokyo, and have even now got used to the slow speed and precision at which the goods are packaged, and then the ceremonious way in which they are handed to the purchaser at the door of the store.

I could blog for ever about the shops I have found here. There are so many curious places to part with your cash. Whatever you seek, you will no doubt find it here. Stores such as the 8- storey manga art shop in Akihabara, where the cute manga dolls on the lower floors morph into pornographic versions the higher you go. There are specialist areas, Akihabara for things with plugs, Nippori for fabric, and bizarrely Fukusawa in Shibuya ku, where I live, for dog fashion. There is a wide range of shopping areas like Ometesando (Knightsbridge), Ginza (Bond Street), Shibuya (Oxford Street slash Soho). Daikenyama (NHG) and Shimokitazawa (Portobello Road slash Camden). There are a couple of other little areas where I am fond of releasing a few moths, such as Naka Meguro, where in Spring you can walk along the blossom covered canal, wandering in and out of galleries, little boutiques and cafes. Tokyo Midtown in Roppongi is pretty good too, particularly if you're into designer bean curd cakes or high fashion bespoke kimonos. There is an amazing bookshop in Roppongi, if you are like me and word-starved. Although I think its just plain wrong to be browsing books with a heavy base pop beat banging in your ear, so I wouldn't recommend it.

All in all, I think its fair to say that I have done my homework in Tokyo, as far as shopping is concerned. Bearing this in mind, it would be very easy for me to endlessly blog about this and that great shop but there are guide books and sometimes its just stumble across stuff on your own. If you're coming and you want something, just email me.

What I love most of all about shopping is the whole experience. I love the way the shops are laid out, I love the thinking behind the layout, the lighting, the smells. I am fascinated about why music is programmed to encourage spending at different times of the day and how supermarkets only bake bread in store, so you can smell it. I think Mary Portas is a genius and I am gutted I can't get her shows on iPlayer here. Before I came, I had heard about Japanese window design being outstanding which to be honest, isn't entirely the truth. I am also amazed at how a shop will put its new stock outside, so you can check it and then pass by but not be tempted by anything else.

The shopping experience is at its best in the new Shibuya branch of the American fashion store, 'Opening Ceremony' which opened at the end of August. I have long ago learnt to bypass clothing, which is always XS or S only. Frankly it looked perfect for glamorous Tokyo fashionistas who spend a fortune and are the only nation I have known to actually wear catwalk fashion in the street. We did try and buy a cool compass but discovered it was for display only. I was far more interested in the shop styling than anything else. Each floor is different, with a running theme of animals shlepping glass cases on their backs. There are automated running men wearing horses heads, brick walls with elephant shapes cut out, and school rooms with a shifted perspective. It felt like an art project and I loved it. I wonder though how well it will do as a shop.