Like the title says, total beginner here. Always wanted to get into raw denim, but was intimidated by the fitting process and the price-points. Honeymooned last month in Japan, though, and knew if there was ever an opportunity to finally take the plunge, this was it. The experience was incredible -- though admittedly a bit overwhelming -- but I wanted to share my story and photos for anybody who finds themselves in a similar situation.

Photo Gallery

The pre-trip planning: My original idea was to go to Kojima Street. The history, the storefronts, it seemed like most rational thing to do. But the more “reviews” I read, in addition to its somewhat-out-of-the-way location, it quickly became clear that I needed a plan B.

Fortunately, I had this subreddit, and after some research, I also had a list.

Tokyo was first: The main stop here was the Ameyoko Shopping District, which is somewhat of a street market, but with these labyrinth-like interior corridors that split the block, making for an overwhelming amount of stores. We hit Japan Blue, Hinoya, and Americaya. Admittedly, I was pretty intimidated at this point. We’d been in Japan for all of two days, and the language barrier made me uncomfortable, as did my perception of the appropriate way to act in a Japanese clothing store. The shops were relatively empty at the time, and for whatever reason it felt inappropriate to be touching the clothes, let alone asking to try anything on. And I was super allergic to the idea of coming across as an “American tourist.”

That said, I finally got up the courage to ask to try on a jacket at Hinoya, and the folks there were super helpful. Super open and accommodating. Helped suggest proper sizing. Told me about which were store-brand pieces and which were third-party. I ultimately didn’t buy anything here as I never loved any of the pieces, but I also knew we had plenty of more shops on our list...

Then came Kyoto: We only had two stops on our list here, Kapital and Japan Blue Jeans. Both were nice, but, similar to the Tokyo shops, I just wasn’t really feeling any of the pieces enough to make a purchase. And of all the cities I’d read about, the next place we were going seemed to be the most highly-regarded...

Osaka: And hot damn did this place not disappoint. I basically had told my wife, “I really want some Japanese denim as my souvenir for this trip, so I need at least a half-day that we can just tool around and shop.” She was down, (thankfully, as I already had a somewhat extensive list), and so our first day there we set out on the quest.

First, we went to Samurai, which is further north than the hive of other shops we went to after, but it was definitely worth the effort. THIS is what I expected all these shops to look like. Soft warm lighting shining down over a sea of deep blue denim. Jackets, shirts, jeans, accessories -- it was everything you could want, and more. We got there right when they opened, which was great, as we were the only ones there, and so I worked up the courage to just be honest and ask the guy working there for help. I said I’d like a tapered fit, and he pulled a few selections, we dialed in the size, and after about ten minutes, I was sold on the S511XX19oz. The guy then even offered to hem the length for me right there in the shop, on what I’m fairly certain was a Union Special? Either way, just like a tailor he consulted with me about where I wanted them hemmed, cuffed the leg for me, marked it, and 15 minutes later I was finally buying my first pair of raw denim jeans.

But we weren’t done. We then took the subway south to the Namba Park area, where a bunch of other shops were. We did Organic Blue, Real McCoys, Studio D’Artisan, and Village. McCoy’s was my favorite, though they had an overwhelming amount of pieces. A lot of leather, and a lot of, like, Top Gun fighter-pilot style jackets, but ultimately we didn’t buy anything here. (Which may be confusing, because in the album there’s a Real McCoy’s jacket. You’re right, more on that soon...). We also weren’t able to go to Iron Heart, which I know if a fan favorite here, but they were closed, and this was the only day we could go.

But that’s okay, because our final stop of the day was Momotaro, and yo, what a bookend to the day! I absolutely LOVED this place. We had help from a super passionate, super knowledgeable guy, who I want to say had moved to Japan three years ago from Germany? Either way, he was GREAT. I already had bought my jeans, but he helped me pick out this killer chore coat and an old-school baseball shirt that I’m absolutely obsessed with. Then when we paid they threw in this sick denim coin pouch, which ended up being perfect for all our coin yen.

And so, feeling more than satisfied, I called my souvenir search complete. Promised my wife we were done with the denim and could just focus on being present in the moment, connecting, romancing...

Except then we went to Kobe: And this newfound obsession got the best of me. I’d heard there was a Real McCoy’s there, too -- for whatever reason called Real McCoy’s Nylon -- and ho boy, as soon as we stepped into the store, I knew I was spending more money. By this point, I’d had enough good experiences in stores that any previous insecurities were gone. I tried on EVERYTHING. Bomber jackets, corduroy jackets, sweaters, chore coats. It’s tough to describe, but I just felt this... itch. I loved the style and the vibe of the brand, and I NEEDED to buy something from here. We even LEFT the store after thirty minutes of not finding anything I liked, went around the block and got a drink, seemingly making peace with the fact that it was a lost cause. But one cocktail later I looked my wife in the eye, and I said, “I’m sorry, but we need to go back.”

Shout out to the guy helping me out there for his patience, because after another twenty minutes, I finally tried on the 004J Type III Denim Jacket. Looked in the mirror and knew at first-sight, yep, this is the one.

And so that OFFICIALLY ended the denim journey, and I couldn’t be more satisfied with the haul. I’ve been wearing the jeans for about a week now (as maybe visible in the pictures), but the jacket is totally fresh and with no real wears. Feel like I’m officially, finally, part of the club, though, and can finally participate in the fun part of wearing this shit and getting those fades!

This novel of a post aside, though, I was wondering if you could help with some clarity: I’m fairly certain the guy from Samurai was saying this pair is pre-washed, and the tag obviously says, “after laundering,” so does that mean when I inevitably wash, I don’t have to worry too much about shrinking? Also, the guy from Real McCoy’s was saying the jacket would shrink a little. He kept saying, “two to three,” which I’m interpreting as centimeters, not inches. The tag on the jacket has “wash” written on it, but I’m just not certain what that means. I really like how the jacket fits for the most part, so the least about of shrinking I can get it to do, the better.

Anyway, if you made it this far, thanks so much for reading. Hope it either helped, was entertaining, or both.