PortaStyle Guide...The Best Vintage Store in the World

The PORTASTYLE
GUIDE
“The Best Vintage Store in the World”
by Michael Williams!

-J’Antiques-
—Tokyo

There’s no denying that I have a love of hyperbole, but J’Antiques in Tokyo is definitely one the of the top vintage stores in the world if not the greatest. Just look at the photos — no exxageration needed. This past summer I met the owners (and took their photos) at Brimfield and later when I was making my travel plans to Tokyo I knew I had to make the trip over to Nakameguro to see the store. Needless to say, It was worth the trip. I even lucked out that co-owner Hitoshi Uchida (the gent pictured below) was around to chat and he was kind enough to let me take photos of the store.

What really impressed me about J’Antiques was the shop’s supremely awesome merchandising. In my mind, I can’t decide if this place inspires Ralph Lauren or vice versa. And don’t get me wrong, that type of confusion is a honor of the highest order, because RL is the gold standard of retail environments. (Proof here.) In addition to the beautiful merchandising, J’Antiques was stocked with great vintage. The shop has everything from paper goods to vintage military clothes to work wear and a shit-ton of antique furniture (a good deal of which is probably from Brimfield). Granted, a lot of what is for sale there is from the States, but go for the inspiration, go for the wonderful dirty mix of old stuff and go to J’Antiques for that hard to find something that they beat you to.

J’Antiques | #101 2-25-13 Kamimeguro Meguro-Ku Tokyo 153-0051 Japan | (03) 5704-8188

.........................................................................................

"Go for the wonderful
dirty mix of old stuff!"

the portastylistic