Shimokitazawa vintage

What the guides say about Shimokitazawa vintage

Afternoon. Cross town for one small neighbourhood and give it everything left in the day. Shimokitazawa is the pick, a neighbourhood Daniel knows well and a short ride from his corner of Tokyo. Vintage shops by the dozen along the Shimokitazawa vintage streets, Sidewalk Coffee Roasters for the mid-afternoon reset, Shimokitazawa curry row for a late lunch chosen by smell. The Shimokitazawa neighbourhood guide explains why the area matters. The alternative is Nakameguro, where restaurants and one-off shops line a canal under cherry trees. It's at its best in blossom season and quietly good the rest of the year.

This is the densest second-hand clothing scene in the city, dozens of shops within a ten-minute walk. The vintage cluster runs from curated American workwear at serious prices to chaotic by-the-kilo racks where the fun is in the dig. Two names to know are Flamingo, for American vintage, and Chicago, the largest of the lot. Most shops don't open until around noon, which is another reason to spend your morning wandering and drinking coffee.

Choice one is Shimokitazawa, a few minutes from Shibuya on the Keio Inokashira line. The Shimokitazawa vintage streets, an afternoon coffee at Bear Pond Espresso if it hasn't sold out of beans, and dinner at Shirubee, the izakaya down an alley that fills the moment it opens at 5pm. The Shimokitazawa neighbourhood guide covers the ground.