Serene, calm, intimate park

Sailosaibin is tucked away on Kannon Street, a 3-minute walk away from Sasazuka Station on the western side of Tokyo. The shop is situated next to a duck-filled Tamagawa waterway and the neighborhood park adjacent bears sedentary housecats. The scenery here is nostalgic and peaceful, nearly hidden next to bustling Sasazuka. It’s a space for us to indulge our loves — fashion for Yuki and books for Ian. The clothing is a mix of things we have designed and produced, as well as one-of-a-kind handmade pieces filled with other designers’ thoughts and sensibilities. Our accessories and zakka are distinctive and idiosyncratic — objet that evoke mystery and humor. We carry a range of new, used, and antiquarian books that relate to design, art, photography, and culture.

Another good found in the Nihonbashi area where I usually stay in Tokyo. The sourdough based toast simply stole my heart and inspired me how to enjoy sourdough as a healthier base of nutritious and simple breakfast. It was impressive how popular he bakery place is - long line started soon after the opening time in the morning. Apparently they are one of the local favorites who is well known to the foreign visitors too like me:-) Fortunately they manage it properly to maintain a quality experience. Located right beside a community playground, Parklet also has a lovely grocery inside where you can find their selection of artisanal food and drinks. Will come back next trip! 

Citylight Book at Yoyogi-uehara is the type of independent bookstore where I would wish to hang every week. It opens in the afternoon and runs through late night as a bookstore, as well as a meet-up place, a bar for book lovers. Founded by Kaminaga-san, a veteran who had worked with publishing industry for many years before creating his own version of bookstore, this is a cool place to browse for new titles of books and magazines of a wide range of genres/topics. The second floor works as a nice study room too. CABO, the mix place where the bookstore is located also offers other original selection of snack bar and fine dining. You can easily drift in and out, encountering interesting souls in the hood. I had a book launch and talk event here in May, 2024. It's been such a wonderful experience, good crowd and good vibes only! 

It’s a really big beautiful botanical park in Tokyo with a nice green house. I went there a few months ago after the big typhoon hit there, many trees were knocked down by the killing wind, even big ones. Recently some newscaster’s body was found there, but hey, it’s still an amazing park.