(Former) Tsuruya Tailor

(Former) Tsuruya Tailor reveals almost nothing from its name. The building was constructed in 1928 in the kanban kenchiku style, a type of early Showa-era shophouse architecture with a Western-inspired façade. It once housed a bespoke menswear business that continued for three generations; today, the former tailor’s niece has turned it into one of Jimbocho’s most delightfully unclassifiable shops.

Inside, vintage books, clothing, tableware, accessories and Showa-era curios compete for every centimetre of space. There are also original bags and small goods made with suiting fabric left from the tailoring days. Being inside elicits the same feeling as opening a particularly eccentric family drawer.