Japan's Largest Uniqlo: Okachimachi

On Friday Japan's casual fashion brand Uniqlo (which stands for unique clothing) opened up a new store in Okachimachi. In addition to being the brand's newest this store also boosts of being Japan's largest.

The great thing about Uniqlo is that you can find high quality clothes sold at cheap prices. I simply can't survive the Japanese winter without Uniqlo's heat tech products for instance, they're a real lifesaver for me. In Japan people are often willing to pay a lot extra just because a product has brand value. I still don't get why anyone would pay 10.000 yen for a sweater made of polyester when shops like Uniqlo sell sweaters made of pure merino at about a fourth of the price. But then again, I'm not really that into fashion (In fact, I can't believe I'm writing this post at all, haha..)

Various Uniqlo T-shirts

I really wonder how the conditions for Uniqlo's workers are though? Considering how cheap they're able to sell their products I wouldn't be surprised if the workers in their factories don't receive much payment at all.. When it comes to Western brands there is usually a lot of pressure from the public in Western countries if it is discovered that their workers aren't treated well. But I've never noticed similar movements from the public here in Japan (perhaps I haven't payed enough attention though)..

Anyway, Uniqlo is the place to go if you want cheap fashion that actually holds high quality as well. I would choose them over H&M any day, especially since they have a lot of nice formal clothes I can use at work.

Nippon Omiyage

Lately Uniqlo has also started selling souvenir T-shirts with Japanese motives on. If you're visiting Japan and want to bring home a T-shirt with some fancy kanji (Chinese characters) or random Japanese words on them you could always check out Uniqlo's collection. 

But to be honest, I guess the real reason why I wanted to write a blogpost about Uniqlo was that I found their range of "same is lame" T-shirts quite amusing. So amusing (/ridiculous) that I couldn't resist writing about them. I really like Uniqlo's clothes because their design is simple and the quality is high compared to their prices. But who am I kidding? I'm not really going to be seen as a "unique" & "trend setting" person because I choose to wear their products.. I mean, Uniqlo is Japan's most popular apparel retailer so there are obviously a whole bunch of people out there wearing the exact same clothes as me. These mass produced "same is lame" T-shirts aren't exactly gonna make me or anybody else stand out in the crowd, quite the contrary. 

Try to be unique and different with a mass produced Uniqlo T-shirt.

I personally think that people with talent don't need fashion (nor does anybody else for that matter), and that rather than hiding behind fancy clothes people should strive to improve themselves.

Anyway, I think I've been blabbering more than enough.. Time to do something productive instead.!

About Anette
Anette came to Japan as an exchange student in 2010, met the love of her life and got stuck. From her base in Tokyo she writes about her experiences as a full-time worker in Tokyo and about her travels in Japan and abroad. She's a free-spirited adventurer who enjoys both the great outdoors and her urban lifestyle.