Where to Find Tokyo’s Creative Corners, According to a Spatial Designer

Welcome to Design Detours, a series where creative people whose tastes we trust share their well-curated, design-minded travel itineraries.

It was a work commitment that drew Christine Espinal to Japan for the first time, earlier this year. The Brooklyn spatial designer traveled with her colleagues from New York City design shop and incubator Lichen for a studio pop-up at Hako Gallery in Chiba, a city just east of Tokyo. "We brought some of our designs out there and made a beautiful display," says Espinal.

While the pop-up was the main reason for the Lichen team’s Japan visit, they snuck in some extra time to soak up inspiration in Tokyo. "We also went for research and design purposes," says Espinal. In fact, the minute she found out she was going on the trip, she scheduled an ikebana (Japanese art of flower arranging) class at the Sogetsu Foundation—something she’s long wanted to do. "I’ve been studying ikebana through books in the States," says Espinal. "It was by far the highlight of my trip." Here, Espinal shares some of her favorite spots from her additional few days exploring Tokyo, including an old-school vinyl bar, a shopping complex famous for its anime and manga products, and some very well-designed bookstores.

Day one: Pop into immaculately designed book and clothing shops and sip on Martinis at a speakeasy

I started with a meal at Breakfast Club, an American-style diner in the Meguro district, around 20 minutes by train from our Airbnb in Shinjuku City. The interior is homey with an American-Japanese flair. They have counter-style seating with pendant lights above the bar and a few brown booths, which are small and intimate. They serve pancakes and huevos rancheros. After breakfast, we walked to Cow Books, a little bookshop that specializes in vintage and secondhand books and magazines and carries its own clothing line and merchandise. It has this beautiful silver interior with an LED screen that wraps around the entire space above the bookshelves. I found some great vintage Popeye magazines.

We then walked over to Tsutaya Books in Daikanyama, which is such a cute neighborhood to stroll around and check out shops. The store is huge and made up of two big buildings with a white lattice facade. Inside, it has this beautiful reading space and a huge selection of design books, which is where I lived for a couple of hours. I bought Charlotte Perriand et le Japon, which can be hard to find elsewhere. I had to pick it up because I am such a huge fan of hers and I really identify with her as a designer. We spent some time in the area looking at shops like Nanamica, a clothing store with simple items like neutral T-shirts and trench coats. I didn’t buy anything but went to admire the store’s design, with light wooden beams built into the walls to display the clothing selection.

Later, we went to INC Cocktails, a speakeasy-style Shibuya bar that I found on TikTok. It’s really hard to get a table but luckily I was able to snag a reservation. In the corner by the bar, there’s a huge vinyl wall and a DJ playing live records. We sat in this little booth where the waiters brought us warm towels and I ordered an espresso Martini.

Day two: Head to a Tadao Ando–designed museum and study the Japanese art of flower arranging