Lifecycling visits the home of Takahiro Goko- collector and owner of Swimsuit Department, a retail store that exists online and through trunk shows. Prior to Swimsuit Department Mr. Goko worked with some notable Japanese brands including United Arrows and Landscape Products Co. The interview is a good read especially for those interested in “things” both old and new. His blog is one of my favorite places on the internet to see “things”, highly recommended.
With the start of a new season I always look forward to the Journal Standard lookbooks; always a nice selection of goods as well as styling and photography. Check out the men’s catalog here and/or the lengthier ladies catalog here. Oh, and don’t forget about all the other lines that fall under the Journal Standard umbrella, they’re all here too.
Pages pulled from both men’s and women’s Spring Journal Standard catalogs, lots of great styling of Breton stripes, madras plaids, and all those other Spring things I like. If you’ve been following this blog or my tumblr you probably already know I’ve got a thing for Journal Standard and all the sub-lines that it entails, check out the rest at Baycrews.
There is backpacker food, and then there is food made while backpacking. Photographs by Yusuke Kurosawa found on his blog Ridge which is a nice place to see where he’s been and the gear he’s using as well as read some jumbled translations if your browser is capable to do so.
Suggested reading: American Food
I don’t exactly recall I how found this magazine, but I like it. After a little digging (a post on Ridge) I found out that it’s aimed at a female audience, that much is unclear from these spreads though. From what I can tell it seems a little less fashion driven than other Japanese outdoor magazines like Go Out but not by much. The major difference between Hütte, German for cabin, and Go Out seems to be that Hütte is less mountain street style and more mountain style on the mountain. Either way, the photography is very nice- that’s Kasane Nogawa on the cover issue 3 pictured at the top. Perhaps the writing is good too, but I can’t read Japanese. See some more sample spreads here.
Suggested reading: Kasane Nogawa
Filed under gear, japan, outside, photography
Shoichi Watanabe is a craftsman of leather and canvas bags whose workshop and retail store are situated in the Kichijoji neighborhood of Tokyo. Watanabe specializes in touring style bike luggage for panniers and racks but also does a good deal of shoulder and hand bags. His flickr is filled with photos, pushing 3,000 of them, of bags along with both his own and customer travel/in use photos.
Images from Journal Standard’s Autumn & Winter 2011 catalog highlighting pieces from their standard line as well as their sub-brands TRISECT, J.S. Homestead, and Vulture (pictured above). View the catalog in its entirety here.
Spreads from Japanese brand Edifice’s 417 Fall/Winter catalog featuring photography that rivals the garments and styling itself. Unfortunately I was unable to locate any photographer credit, in English at least. Still, there are some really nice pieces- my favorite of which would have to be the Cowichan vest.. or maybe the tartan lined duffle coat. See the rest of the catalog here.
Filed under japan, photography, wear
cork grips 