Issue 09
What caught our eye
Every week we walk the city so you do not have to. Here are the openings our team stopped for: the rooms, the counters and the shelves shaping Tokyo right now.
Gochisou Soup Pasta is the newest of the chain formats in Monday's field notes. I'm curious to see how Pancho's soup pasta holds up next to the specialists.
New restaurants
3 openings
YoyogiSoup pasta
Gochisou Soup Pasta
Spaghetti Pancho, the Napolitan chain, opened its first soup pasta shop by the west exit of Yoyogi Station on October 2. Eleven bowls, from cream to Japanese-style broths, at ¥1,419 to ¥1,749, with 25 seats, open until 11pm.
Shinjuku-gyoenmaeUnagi
Hirudake Unagi-ya
The Nagoya eel shop that only serves lunch opened its third Tokyo address on September 28. Charcoal-grilled unadon from ¥2,340, 32 seats, 11:00 to 14:30, closed Tuesdays.
GotandaTea house
Sabo Marusankakushikaku
A tea house set behind a moss garden in Higashi-Gotanda. It opened on October 1 and serves a set lunch around ¥3,000, on weekdays only.
New shops
2 openings
HarajukuFashion
HUMAN MADE TOKYO
NIGO's label opened its largest store on September 26: 595 m² over three floors in Jingumae, four times a standard shop. Sneakers join the full line for the first time.
ShibuyaFashion
thisisneverthat
The Seoul streetwear label opened its third Japan flagship in Udagawacho on September 19, with an interior by Wonderwall. The store carries a Shibuya Black collection and a collaboration with Undercover.
Coming up
2 openings
Ginza · 9 OctoberFlagship
agnès b. Matsuya Ginza
The French brand opens a new flagship on the Namiki-dori side of Matsuya Ginza, with a café inside. Ginza-only items include a fukiyose tin made with Ginza Kikunoya and a Japanese black tea and cassis ice cream with Scream (¥770).
Harajuku · 10 to 12 OctoberPop-up
UGG Season
Three days at WeWork Iceberg in Jingumae, free with a reservation. You can customise a pair at the UGG Feel Studio, and the first 900 visitors get a boot-shaped cake with a hojicha drink.
Campaigns worth a look
1 openings
NationwideCampaign
Lady Gaga x FamilyMart
For its 45th anniversary, FamilyMart cast Lady Gaga as a store clerk in a recruitment ad, shot on a full store set in a Los Angeles studio. She wears a one-off couture take on the staff uniform the chain introduced on September 1.