Isetan Men's — Local services in Tokyo

THEY DO NOT HAVE LARGE MEN’S SHOE SIZES. The largest size, in general, is Japanese size 28, equivalent to U.S. 10.

I searched high and low on the interwebs for an answer to the question: what shoe sizes does Isetan Men carry. Aside from some old Reddit posts, there is no straight answer. So I went myself to find out.

I am specifically referring to the fine men’s RTW (ready to wear) shoes in the downstairs gallery - “the largest men’s fine shoe store in the world,” as they call it. I do not know about the sneaker/cheaper shoes section, but I assume it is probably the same.

In the RTW (ready to wear) area, both the ‘very fine’ section (JPY 100,000+) and the ‘super fine’ section (JPY 200,000 -300,000+) [my terms] generally had up to JPY 28/US10.

The ‘very fine’ section had a couple of standard’ styles in JPY 29/US11. This included a pair of basic black penny loafers and a pair of black cap toes. An excellent British brand, I don’t recall the name. About JPY 120,000. I was in particular looking for a nice pair of chukka boots - this did not exist anywhere in my size (which is higher than JPY 28).

I was not naive about availability of large shoe sizes in Japan. I simply could not get an answer whether the self proclaimed largest fine men’s shoe gallery in the world was any different than any other Japanese RTW shoe store - I.e., no larger shoes. They do not, with little exception, carry larger shoes.

The rest of the place...

So this used to be one of my favorite places to shop in Japan. There was the signature ‘omotenashi’, a great selection of brands, and clean, well maintained facilities. However, my last experience here changed all this. I picked out a pair of sneakers that I thought looked good when I tried them on, but, as any shopper can easily attest to, that feeling doesn’t always persist when you take them home. So I attempted to return them the very next day—mind you, I never wore them for more than a minute (and never outside), the tags were still attached, I had my receipt, and the original undamaged packaging—and I was told that this was impossible unless I picked out something similar from a small section of the store (literally, about 3 different racks of clothes and maybe 4 different styles of shoes).

This is an unnecessarily restrictive return policy that will end up costing them money in the end as I will never be shopping there again. Pretty poor business decision on their part considering they could have put those shoes on the shelf and sold them to the next happy customer, and retained my future business.

I will stick to Takashimaya or the myriad small boutique shops that dot Tokyo, rather than support a luxury chain who is so desperate for cash that they wont allow what should have been a...

Good place to find traditional shaving goods such as shaving soaps, creams and aftershaves. It’s a little expensive but as the majority of the shaving goods here are imported and also close to impossible to find elsewhere in the city it’s a convenient resource to have. Carries lines such as Proraso (8th floor) and Muhle (1st floor). One thing to note was that particularly on the 8th floor there were Proraso products carried in the store but not on display. When I asked for a particular shaving soap they staff member went and brought it from somewhere in a store room. Unsure as to why they have some products neither advertised or displayed but could be worth asking if you don’t see...