Comme ca Ism in Japan is like the GAP in America – they offer affordable, yet stylish clothing, in stores that have become ubiquitous throughout the land. Serving the entire family, with men’s, women’s and children’s wear, they have garnered a large following due to their sensible, if not rather conservative, choice of styles and colors. Comme ca Ism also provides a full selection of accessories, like briefcases and wallets.

I once arrived at Kansai airport after an 11 hour flight and had to immediately attend a gathering at a famous Osakan nightclub. With nothing more than a day bag and the sweaty clothes on my back, I had less than an hour to look for something to wear! Comme ca Ism basically saved my ass (and on a budget); I walked out with an outfit (minus the shoes) for about $200.

I still wear a few pieces of that Comme ca outfit today. Their preference for black and white styling and mostly subdued color schemes makes their stuff a bit more timeless than that of other cheaper brands. Although they’re not exactly my number one place to shop, I still occasionally walk through their store in downtown Osaka and always smile when I hear loud Beatles music playing (they only play Beatles music!).

So if you’re ever visiting Japan, and you begin to feel a little under dressed, as many visitors probably do, try to find your way to a Comme ca Ism. Their stores are a lot more open and less intimidating than the innumerable boutiques you’ll inevitably stumble across, and their staff are quite friendly and helpful.

But after you get over that hurdle, it’s time to break out the plastic and go shopping for raw selvedge!

If Chuck Bass from Gossip Girl was older and Japanese, he’d probably be in Tokyo’s Ginza district drinking I.W. Harper at Bar Vespa.

I found this ad while flipping through an accessories magazine called Men’s Ex. Aside from the nasty goatee, this dude pretty much resembles what I’d imagine an Asian Ed Westwick would look like. 

Walk into any convenience store or pharmacy in Japan and you’ll likely find Gatsby deodorant and hairstyling products in the toiletry section. Gatsby is a maker of beauty care products, specifically for men, and is owned by Osaka based Mandom Corp.

So how does Gatsby Gold deodorant fair against its Gillette and Mennen counterparts?

Gatsby Gold has a pleasant fragrance, but one that diminishes quickly after use. Japanese people consider strong fragrances a bit offensive, so it’s not surprising that their deodorants lack that head slamming nasal shot you get every time you walk past a crowd of teenagers wearing Axe or TAG. Furthermore, most Southeast Asians lack any sort of body odor to begin with, so an olfactory smokescreen is not really what they’re going for.

When might you use Gatsby Gold?

This Gatsby deodorant is probably best used for short trips out of the house, and not for 9-to-5 workdays, riding crowded commuter trains and the like. Personally, I usually forgo the use of pure deodorants and opt for the chalky white stuff (anti-perspirants). I find that staying dry is pretty essential to smelling clean; spray on fragrances do nothing to keep your dry!

Next up, is Gatsby’s Moving Rubber hair wax.

This stuff comes in travel or bathroom sized allotments and is great for adding style and hold to your hairdo. Each type of wax comes with a unique name and container color, and each one is rated by shine and strength on an easy-to-read scale. For instance, the Wild Shake flavor that I’m using right now scores high in strength, but low on shine. This is something Astro Boy might use!

With 4-foot high hairdos being quite the norm in Japan, good hair styling and cleaning products are sold everywhere. In comparison, they’re not quite up to par with their domestic selection of deodorants. Although you can find a few western strength products in Japan, like Axe and Old Spice, those might not be your products of choice (well I’m hoping they’re not!). So when visiting – and I hope you will travel to the Island at least once in your life – you might want to pack a few extra spray cans of whatever you use to mask your explosive barbarian odor!

Most people, upon visiting Japan for their first time, remark how clean and sanitary the public spaces are. Even the insides of train and subway cars, which transport the bulk of Japan’s population in and around town, remain astonishingly spotless throughout the day. This allows a person to dress up and wear even their finest clothes when riding public transit. Trying that back home would be like playing Russian roulette with a slingshot loaded full of dirt, cat hair, spilt cola and discarded gum. The Japanese have a habit of keeping themselves neat and tidy, and this has translated into shared spaces that are remarkably sterile, despite the crowded nature of their environments.

In comparison, taking the bus or train back home basically forces one to dress for the ride – an event where you’ll probably inadvertently touch sticky surfaces, absorb offensive odors and sit on litter that has been shoved between seat cushions.

In most places around the world, if you want to get anywhere in style, you’re probably better off taking the car or catching a cab; it’s not eco-friendly, but nor is using the dry cleaners after every commute! But wouldn’t it be nice if we could all treat ourselves and the places we occupy with a little more respect?

You’re going to have to forgive me, because today’s post is not about a fashion item, or is it? A new camera, the E-420 DSLR from Japanese optics specialist Olympus, has just been released and I feel compelled to say a thing or two about this awesome piece of hardware!

Ever wonder why your compact digital camera never seems to produce professional looking images — the kind you often see and ogle over on Flickr? The reason is not so much to do with the megapixels your camera offers as it is with the size of its image sensor. Digital SLR cameras, the ones used by the pros and by people who take their hobby a little too seriously, have comparatively massive image sensors to that of regular point and shoot cameras. This allows these cameras to ‘see’ more light. The result is cleaner and sharper photographs, and vastly superior images taken in low light settings.

Now there’s obviously some drawbacks to owning a DSLR. For starters, even the cheapest models tend to cost twice as much as decent all-in-one cameras. Also, shooting with a DSLR can be difficult and time consuming, and getting just the right shot may exercise your patience more than you would care for. Finally, DSLR’s tend to be quite a bit larger than the average pocket-sized camera, which makes them somewhat cumbersome to lug around. Fortunately, the supremely engineered Olympus E-420 tries to find solutions for just these problems.

The E-420 is remarkably small for a DSLR camera – in fact, Olympus advertises it as the world’s smallest. The camera also weighs less than a pound, so unless you’re an anemic dwarf, carrying the E-420 around all day shouldn’t be an issue. Furthermore, it’s often sold with a specially developed pancake lens to keep its profile from growing outwards too much (although this may inadvertently tip off the ladies, if you know what I mean). The result is a camera that can fit in your jacket pocket, and one that can take stunning pictures wherever you go. The Olympus E-420 is also priced near the cheaper end of the DSLR market, so it’s quite affordable considering its unique attributes. Toss in a kickass live preview mode and a Ron Jeremy worthy “Perfect Shot” feature, and the E-420 becomes an excellent choice for the average Joe wishing to take his photography to the next level.

There’s something wonderful about Japanese service. On the bustling island, it is said that the customer is King, and you really begin to feel it when some minimum wage server sprints from the kitchen to your table just to shave three seconds off your wait time. In Japan, everyone is working like hell for everyone else, and they always seem to find ways to serve the customer better.

So when I saw this unusual picture of washers and dryers sitting in Denime Tokyo, I immediately thought of how cool this service would be if it were available in all denim shops. In truth, Denime Tokyo is not the only place that provides this full service. Now, other stores, like the best Evisu boutiques, have caught on and give the option to shrink and hem purchases for next-day pickup. But Denime Tokyo shortens the turnaround to a couple hours, and I don’t think I’ve ever seen washers so prominently placed in a boutique before!

When you see raw denim, in it’s clown-sized original form, stiff like cardboard and only awkwardly wearable around family members and empathizing denim connoisseurs, providing an in-store shrink and cut gives the option for immediate gratification. It’s kind of like tossing a craps table, a couple strippers, and Hunter S. Thompson’s briefcase in front of a loaded Daniel Baldwin. It gets the plastic swiping (or chopping)!

Anyway, I’d love to see this service offered by more high-end denim shops, even though I’d probably side with caution and do the shrink myself.

A lot of times, I look at the youth of Japan and wonder where they get their inspiration to look so outrageously defiant. There’s the ganguro and yamamba of yesteryear, and the many other tribal micro-cultures that flourish everyday amongst the country’s rebellious youth.

Then I take a look at some of Japan’s traditional wear.

On the right, we have some apprentice geishas (maiko) loitering in Gion, Kyoto. On the left, a modern ganguro chats it up. My analysis: They’ve dug the tropical batshit crazy look for centuries.

And just because something is labeled ‘traditional’, doesn’t make it any less likely to bring back memories of staring at old people on the bus after inhaling a canister full of melting Bubblicious, smoldering cigarettes, and humid Mountain Dew vapors. Not that I tried that over the weekend. OK, so I might of. But it was a dare. And for charity. Hey, at least I fared better than Cody’s salvia induced narcoleptic ape-man regression.