TOKYO, Japan

Where can you get shiseido tactics? Thanks!

are the fumes in Japan a lot more expensive the regular retail price in US?

I'd like to know the general price comparisons on Shiseido scents in Japan versus the US - in particular, Feminite du Bois and others that aren't easy to find here. Does anyone know?

The dept stores in Ginza haven't been too inspiring, but Matsuya now stocks a good range of Bond St and Penhaligons, seems a fair bit pricier than buying online. Found a small frag store in LaLaport on the the Tsukaba express line that sells a lot of fragrances that I have never heard of before.

50ml of FdB was widely available for around $35 last year when I was there. Surprisingly, I didn't see much of Comme des Garcons though.

Any update information since the last post?

I'll be in Tokyo during 31 July-3 August. I think that it's the sale period. I would like to know whether the discount is applied or not to the fragrance. Or it would be more interesting to buy at the airport duty-free shop?

Thanks.

Having hung around Tokyo a fair bit now, I have managed to sniff out interesting places for perfumistas...

The Nihombashi mitsukoshi department store has one of the best selections of perfumes in Tokyo, if not the best. The Isetan in Shinjuku also has an outstanding selection of Creed, Serge Lutens and SMN scents, as well as shaving related Trufitt and Hill products. The more accessible houses are also easily found in most department stores.

Going to Ueno, in the Ameyoko market area are many perfume shops in the covered market area. One even has a lot of Jean Patou (alas, no PH) frags, although most are out of the boxes and have been sitting out in the ambient temp and exposed to a lot of light. There are many smaller shops selling popular frags that tend towards aquatic (Bvlgari is extremely popular) scents.

For comme des garcons, I found a Conrad shop in the Shin Maranuchi building (I think), outside of Tokyo Station, that stocks a number of CDG scents.

For the moment, I would forget about buying anything in Narita airport, that has tantamount to the lamest duty free I have ever encountered...

Several years ago, I bought Comme des Garcons somewhere in the main building of Isetan Shinjuku. But now, I have no idea...is CdG still there somewhere?

Answering my own question: the CdG boutique on the second floor of Isetan Men has perfume.

I found a very interesting/weird shop in Shibuya's Dogenzaka called Marisol. I found it by googling Bandit Tokyo. Yes, the shop has Bandit, but it is a very vintage bottle. I was afraid to even ask the price. They claim they have or can find anything for you. However, they won't let you even enter the shop unless you tell them what you are definitely going to buy. I guess they have some kind of special commercial status as a membership club or something. Maybe this is necessary if they want to sell stuff that is not normally available in Japan. I asked about samples, and she gave me a spritz on paper of Perry Ellis Portfolio Elite, noting that it was Pres Clinton's frag. She also said she could advise on a frag that would suit my character and taste, and show me the correct way to wear it. The Perry Ellis prices were pretty outrageous, but it would be good to have these people on your side when looking for something rare. On the website, there was also mention of a class session for 15,000 yen (more than $150 US) that would include three museum-quality vintage frags--to take home? I don't know but it sounds intriguing. Has anyone heard of this place?

Is FdB still widely available over at Tokyo?

I saw it at the Shiseido boutique in the Imperial Hotel several months ago. That shop has a selection of Serge Lutens fragrances. I am surprised that FdB was only $35 in 2008. It is now priced in line with other SLs. Quite expensive, but the gap versus European/North American prices is less, probably helped by the strong yen. So, the perfume strength SLs are generally 13,500 yen, which at 100 yen/dollar is not bad, but the reality is one dollar is only about 80 yen so it is more like $160. But many other luxury houses are priced at 50% to 100% higher than US prices.

Also, the Shiseido boutique at the Imperial seemed very quiet on a weekday. The SA was very chatty, somewhat informed and generous with sprays, but no take-home samples.

Thanks for your reply. But is the older design/bottle of FdB possible to be found?


Do you have anymore info regarding this mentioned shop? Sounds intriguing to me! :P

I am an expat living in Far West Tokyo, and have just started up again with collecting scents. I have found the Shinjuku Isetan to have an outstanding collection of fragrances, and yes, they are $$$. The Shinjuku store has at least 4 floors on which one can find perfumes, candles, home diffusers, essential oils and a variety of "niche" perfumes.

Farther west from Shinjuku, the busy, bustling town of Kichijoji has several boutiques in a department store setting where the better perfumes are sold. In addition, I found a small street stall that sells the sample size bottles for the equivalent of $12USD. For me, it's a great way to sample a scent and not spend over $100.00.

C. Stone

Too bad there aren't many fumeheads in the Osaka Bay area on this board....

Is Shiseido boutique in the Imperial Hotel has complete collection of Serge Lutens ?

I am going to stay there on my vacation in December and I think I am going to looking for my 1st Serge Lutens there.

Now I am interest in trying Gris Clair, Serge Noire, and Five O'clock Au Gingembre, those are what likely to work in my country's climate.

Thanks.

I haven't been to the Shiseido boutique at the Imperial Hotel for a while, but I assume they still have a selection of Serge Lutens. Probably no shop could have the whole line. If they don't have the ones you want, go to Isetan Men in Shinjuku. I recently saw all three of your favorites there. On another topic, you might want to check out the Guerlain boutique in the Imperial hotel. Have a good trip!

Thanks, tsuzumi.

Now I need to see both boutique.

There are Serge Lutens at Shiseido The Ginza (http://stg.shiseido.co.jp/shop/1f-1/item/index.html), the site show that it sell SL on section No.19. Its FB also showS photos of SL.

Selection of SL
http://www.facebook.com/ShiseidoTheG...type=3&theater

An SA also said she that SL is one of her favourit in the shop.
http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?s...type=3&theater

I am going to visite that shop next month.

According to L'Artisan Parfumeur Official Facebook page, there is a boutique at

Omotesando
Boutique 1F, 3-2-6
Kita-Aoyama
107-0061
Tokyo
Minato-ku

I would not recommend Marisol in Tokyo, unless you are so desperate that you are willing to pay anything and to be treated like garbage. I'm in Tokyo on business and went there to try to pick up a couple of things. It was a terrible experience. Marisol is located on a side street near Shibuya 109. First, (as I quickly learned) Marisol is not a shop per se. They do have a shop with bottles in the window, but don't try to enter. You will be rudely shoo shoo'd out of the stop and forced to stand in the street to try to make a purchase. As the condescending lady working there explained to me, you need a reservation...to buy fragrances...and it's been that way for 50 years, and they are special, and a membership club, and their frags are like fine wines, and in essence, stand on the road and deal with us or go away. So, standing in the road she told me that she could sell to me, but I'd have to stand outside (it's February and 5 degrees here) and look at clear vinyl folder books listing fragrances. She told me, that they are the largest fragrance shop in the world and how special they are (uh-huh). In the small leftmost window are discontinued frags and so I asked her how much the older amber bottle of Chaps is (since I know what they are going for online). She fired back, without even thinking about it, 16,000 yen ($201). I asked if she was kidding. She was not. Clearly this lady did not want my business, no matter what. So, I asked about another easy one, Grey Flannel, that was in another window. 6800 yen ($86). Now, I've lived in Japan for 15 years, and speak Japanese pretty well and this conversation took place in Japanese so I'm not new to dealing with retailers here. So, I asked simply, do you really think people will want to buy from you if you force them to stand on the road and not allow them to see or sample the products? She said "If you take that attitude, we will refuse to serve you." Attitude? for asking a couple of common sense questions? Given that I was standing in the street and was getting quoted outrageous prices, getting refused didn't much matter to me. Fine, go ahead, I said. So she refused me, went back inside and I kept the cash I was planning to spend in my wallet. Please don't waste your money there!

Hello, SMC!

Too bad about your experience at Marisol. It is difficult to figure out what is going on there. In my imagination, it is owned by some very rich and eccentric person, with a huge frag collection, obviously not interested in making any money on this. Maybe it is a tax writeoff. Or maybe a front for something else? Who knows? However, if I had an unlimited budget, and looking for something very rare, this might be a place to look, especially since there is not much else in this country.

Here is a suggestion for your next trip. This didn't get put into the Tokyo thread for some reason. But anyway, I really recommend this place, it will take the bad taste of Marisol out of your mouth:

Parfum Satori
http://www.basenotes.net/threads/278...t=#post2195585

Thanks Tsuzumi! Your post saved the day. I saw it about 4:30 yesterday afternoon (on my last day of this trip) and after spending the day wandering Tokyo. I made a quick call to Satori and I was back on the train to Shinjuku. The perfume maker was very considerate and took me through each of the fragrances. She had me captured though, after the first spray of Satori. I like that kind of incensey vibe it has. I also liked Peony and Sonnet (osmanthus) very much. I left with a bottle of Satori and both of her sample sets.

For anyone wanting something truly Japanese this is definitely the place.

I am so happy I found this place while in Japan - I just got back yesterday afternoon. First, we were running late and arrived at her shop at 6:50 pm, and she closes at 7:00, but she took over an hour to go through all the scents with me and explained her philosophy and overall experience with fragrances. After that she took me upstairs to show me her workshop, perfumer's organ, and vast collection of vintage fragrances. I fell in love with Satori, Iris Homme, and Moss Water but ended up just buying the Iris Homme. They were all beautiful scents but what pushed me over into buying what I did was the big chunk of iris butter she showed me up in her workshop - hey, if all things are equal then little things like that can make a difference.

Her graciousness and overall aesthetic is distinctly Japanese and I was very happy to find a scent memento of this trip, but I will certainly be emailing her in the future to get a bottle of Satori.

On another note, her husband works in the same shop and is a jeweler. He showed me some of his work and they are elegant and unique. Lots of creative ferment going on in that small space!

there is one right here!!!! yoroshiku.

- - - Updated - - -


I was in Omotesando 4 weeks ago, but I didn't see the shop. Maybe I wasn't looking hard enough. Does anyone know if this shop still exists?

I was shopping in Tokyo 2 weeks ago and stumbled upon Marisol. The young lady was very cool. She let me enter and look around. I bought some nice for $20. She even let me take pictures. Maybe it's under new management? I recommend it!