Japan travel advice  

No idea, but love to see pictures of what you stumble upon! Take too many photos please! A vicarious vacation to Japan is about all I'll manage this year!

I will definitely post some travel pics in here!

Hey!~

Oh I am so jealous! I have been to Japan many times. What cities are you traveling to while you are there? I went there for the first time in 2013 and have been back 3 times and stayed for a few months at a time. Beautiful place and surprisingly a HUGE love for vintage, mid century, and design. You see MCM literally everywhere. Its pretty badass and I was blown away the first time I went.

Here are some places to hit up.....

TOKYO:

Definitely go to the Daikanyama area and also the Tsutaya T-Site. Tsutaya is an incredible bookstore with some amazing books on design, mid century etc. They also have whole magazine sections dedicated to designers like Hans Wegner, Finn Juhl etc. I bought a design magazine last time I was there that was about traveling to Portland, OR and finding Wegner chairs. Random but awesome.

KYOTO:

You have to check out the b-generated workshop. We were biking one day and we rode past an open garage door with teak chairs poking out of it. It sparked our curiosity and we explored further and discovered an entire warehouse FULL of MCM stuff. Rare things like teak night stands only made for the Denmark market and not for USA export (in the 1960's) and some amazing Moller chairs, Wegner round chairs, Kai Kristensen chairs... it was PACKED full. No joke. But anways, they are on instagram as b-generated and they have a store down in the city of Kyoto but also a workshop up in the hills. Its AMAZING and worth a trip

TAKAYAMA:

A small town little far off the beaten path but worth a train ride and overnight stay coming from Kyoto. It is a small town that is known for their natural wood furniture construction. We stumbled upon a place that made amazing solid wood slab tables from a local wood that looks like a cross between teak and rosewood. Amazing grain patterns with a deeper hue. Its only local to that area and is amazing. Youll find shops everywhere that hand make things like this. Its not "made in china" kind of quality - its hand crafted in workshops and made by amazing craftsman.

Also whereever you go and whatever you do.. rent a bike. Its the best way to get around, incredibly safe (they have huge sidewalks in Japan dedicated to cyclists) and you can ride down little alleyways that cars cant go down. And you can randomly be riding to a temple and discover an entire mid century warehouse / restoration workshop like we did in Kyoto.

Probably too far out of the way, but possible from Tokyo or Nagoya, and near Takayama. Finn Juhl Hotel: http://houseoffinnjuhlhakuba.com/

I also think I remember that Onecollection does some of its manufacturing in the Takayama area.