Cibone in Gaienmae is one of Tokyo’s most beautifully laid out interiors and lifestyle stores, presenting an eclectic collection of furniture, lighting and homewares alongside books, CDs, artworks and body care products. Owner Masaki Yokokawa, 横川正紀, is an aesthete who is also involved in food businesses such as Dean & Deluca and is one of the founding Directors of DESIGN TIDE TOKYO, which has just enjoyed another successful year.
Casio’s first G-Shock watch was introduced in 1983 and these wristwatches, with their high-tech masculine lines and matt synthetic finishes, have since become a must have item for outdoor and sports events, fashion accessorizing and paramilitary maneuvers. The world’s toughest watch has been joined by sister lines Baby-G and G-Shock Mini and together they offer some of the funkiest watches on the market. WIth their resin coated casings and bands, and a series of technical innovations, G-Shock watches are nearly indestructible; as the name implies, they can withstand plenty of g-force and shocks: shockproof, waterproof, solar powered, radio-controlled time adjustments, automatic calendar, alarms, digital compass, back-lighting and chronograph functions have been worked into various G-Shock watch designs that remain highly original even after nearly three decades on the market.
Japan has established its reputation in fine craftsmanship over centuries of development of its various arts. Today both traditional and avant garde artists, designers and craftspeople draw on the traditional ideas and techniques applied in Japanese textile production, wood work and lacquer work, metal work, ceramics, glassware, paper making and printing.
Rin is a unique exhibition and retail space for some of the best crafted and designed goods produced throughout Japan’s many regions. The cool, modern interior makes a great showcase for all manner of modern individual items for the home that draw on centuries of traditional craftsmanship.
The arrival of the 21st Century heralded a major transformation in the center of Tokyo; areas that only came to life at night were recreated as cultural and lifestyle centers that now house a number of galleries and museums. One of the more interesting additions was the nation’s first design museum. 21_21 DESIGN SIGHT has been conceived by some of Japan’s most visionary creators as a site for the exhibition and exploration of Japanese and international design. The understated building’s modernist geometric lines give a hint to the center’s purpose as a place for interacting with modern creative ideas.
“Something’s going on in Japan.” This is the buzz we want to create throughout the world.
Issey Miyake 2003
Product and packaging design in Japan operates on a whole other level. Aside from the many ingenious products created by Japan’s engineers and designers, there is also an unmatched attention to the smallest details that subtly transform a user’s experience with a product. Whether a snack at a convenience store, something from a stationery store or a gadget at an electronics store, Japanese industrial design, packaging concepts, graphics and typography come together to infuse everyday items with personality and perhaps a touch of genius.
The Japan retail landscape is a rich mix of depato, brand stores, specialty stores, variety and lifestyle stores, shopping malls and ‘select shops’ that select and mix coordinated collections of local or imported labels to create a store’s brand identity.
BEAMS, the self-styled culture store, epitomizes the Japanese select shop concept, stocking a range of fashionable local and imported labels. BEAMS, however, is also a successful brand store and adds to the mix a number of BEAMS labels under which home wares, music, art and food are sold, either in dedicated BEAMS brand boutiques or as part of the merchandise in the BEAMS select stores. The company’s emphasis, though, is on men’s and women’s fashion and the various labels’ collections range from sophisticated classic styles to edgy avant-garde designs. The Shinjuku based BEAMS, which is made up of three separate companies, began in Harajuku as a single label and store in 1976. Today, the company is an established part of the Japanese retail scene and has dozens of stores scattered throughout the country, with the greatest concentration of BEAMS shops in Tokyo’s Harajuku and Shibuya areas, and a number of outlets in Hong Kong.
