Japan Pop-Up Tour! - Part 2
Mt. Fuji, Three peaks hike, and a Pop-Up at One of Tokyo's Best UL gear Stores.
If Part 1 was about Off the Grid, meeting customers, and introducing more noggins to Parapack — Part 2 of our trip was about exploring the local neighborhoods, Tokyo’s food culture and experiencing the city/outdoor lifestyle through the eyes of our hosts.
April 13-14 — Waseda & Tachikawa
A Few Days to Reset + an Unexpected Highlight of the Trip.
After Machida, we moved into an Airbnb in Waseda — a non-touristy neighborhood about twenty minutes north east of Shinjuku station. It is home to one of Japan’s most well-known private universities and has a calm vibe with lots of tasty coffee & food spots within walking distance. We even found a Taiwanese dessert place nearby, which was a welcome treat for Jaiyu’s taste buds.
We did laundry, caught up on emails, and enjoyed a slow morning at a great coffee spot down the street called Akha Ama Coffee. Great coffee and some really tasty sandos. It was just what we needed after two busy days at Off the Grid….not to mention all the travel & work leading up to the event.
After recharging our batteries, the time came for us to make our way west to Tachikawa to take up Atsuko & Saito san on their invitation for a tour of the Paago Works studio. Needless to say, we were super excited!
After an hour ride in a sardine packed train car, we arrived at Tachikawa station and took a mellow 15 minute stroll to their office. As we departed the station we noticed that Tachikawa had much of the same high energy hustle & bustle as central Tokyo, but the further away we got from the train station the feel & pace began to soften into something more suburban. Though in Japan, even “suburban” still feels quite dense by American standards.
We arrived to an office door that was slightly ajar, so we knocked as we poked our head around the door and slowly let ourselves in. Inside was a friendly sign that made it clear they'd been expecting us. The team welcomed us with warm smiles and firm handshakes as we made our way around the room. We even said hello to their development and QC team member based in Vietnam, who clocks in to work each day over video chat.
Immediately after entering their office is a ping pong table with no net set up. We asked curiously, “do you guys play ping pong often?”, Saito san laughed and said “no, it’s actually our conference table and cutting table.” Ideal as it is wide enough to cut fabric and because it can be folded up and rolled out of the way when not needed.
The prototyping area had tools neatly organized all over the wall and a single straight-stitch portable Juki machine used for all in-house sample work sat near Saito's desk. I was surprised to see a Juki portable machine versus an industrial version I had imagined they’d have. Saito explained that it’s all he needs for inhouse prototyping and prefers it because it’s light and easy to move around the office.
As we learned more about their office & workflow, it became clear that an adaptable office space was preferred so it can adjust to the varying project sizes that ebb & flow through the Paago office. From small packs, running vests, big backpacks, titanium cook wear, as well as tents - they really make a lot of stuff! Saito san joked that at their previous smaller office the largest tent he could prototype (& therefore what Paago could offer at the time) was only a one-person tent. However, now that they'd upgraded to a larger office, he finally had enough prototyping space to make a two-person tent! Ha ha.
Next we moved our attention to the neatly laid out display wall along the left side of the office, which showed off many of their most recent products - like the Zenn backpack with Allula fabric. We came to find out that behind the pretty display wall was more bag storage overflowing with old prototypes & samples. Years and years of Paago Works projects tucked away.
After a couple of bag hoarding jokes, we asked Saito san if he was hiding more bags anywhere….. and to our surprise (or maybe not??) He led us out the back door to reveal his overflow stash of about 20+ cargo boxes neatly stacked along the exterior wall. With a big smile he said, "Yeah,there are more bags here too, hehe."
He brought one box inside and opened it. What was inside was a backpack with the label “Journey Junky”, Saito sans very first product he made for his first brand.
After a tour around the space we sat down at the ping pong conference table to share some jelly desserts, and listen to Atsuko and Saito as they walked us through the history of Paago Works. You can read more about Paago works beginnings from this blog post about his first product - the map bag:
https://www.paagoworks.com/en/blogs/magazine/product-switch-focus-pathfinder-behind-the-scene-1
After the tour they took us out to dinner to a nearby Yakitori restaurant where we talked about sewing, bag design, mountain bikes, cameras, pizza ovens, swimming, and of all things - rollerblading. It was a really fun evening and we ended up staying till the restaurant closed. We only left because we needed to catch the last train back to west Tokyo! On the way out we joked with Saito san that if, by chance, we missed the train, we'd need to borrow a Ninja tent and crash at their office. He laughed and seemed genuinely open to it.
April 15-16 — Mt. Fuji views
Camping near Lake Motosu, Sushi conveyer belt, & a surprise birthday celebration by the fire.
On the morning of the 15th we woke up early and hopped into a car with the Sunriver team (our distributor) and started the two-hour drive toward Mt. Fuji. Pulling into a small mountain town near lake Kawaguchi, we visited a temple so that we could cast a couple 5 yen coins into the shrine and do a small ritual for a safe trip ahead. Following this we did a mellow hike up to a set of arches staged in front of this amazing view of a snow covered Mt. Fuji where we waited in line for about 15 minutes to take a group photo. There were lots of other tourists with the same idea, I guess.
We descended into Fujiyoshida to have lunch at a local noodle spot off the main street. It had a simple menu, with your choice of either hot or cold Udon served in a clear broth with cabbage and fried tofu. An optional local red spice powder placed at each table was so tasty and made such a big impression on Jai-Yu that we ended up buying some to bring home afterwards.
As we continued the drive to our campsite, we stopped for a short walk through the Aokigahara Nature Trail for a break and impromptu casual photoshoot. This forest, for those who aren’t familiar, is known for being a haunted forest with a reputation as being a suicide site. It is quite sad to think about, but as we made our way into it we found the atmosphere to be very quiet and peaceful. There is a very well defined walking path that meanders through trees and volcanic rock covered in a healthy moss. You can read more about the forest's past here. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aokigahara
After our walk we went through a fun little ice cave called the Narusawa Ice Cave. Which descended into the earth about 30-40 ft and had some tight sections where you almost needed to crawl. We were all giggling as we made our way thru. It reminded us of the lava tubes in Lassen National Park.
As evening approached, we made our way to the campsite. And on the drive over, Jaiyu revealed that it was my birthday. And to our surprise, Sakurai (the journal editor at Bamboo Shoots) revealed that it was also his birthday! Ha ha So we stopped at a grocery store and bought some slices of strawberry cake to share with the group. We set up our tents and enjoyed each others company next to a open fire until it was time for bed.
After a dewy night near the lake, we shared a small stove to make coffee while our tents dried in the early morning sun and started packing up for our hike. We stopped at this grey scale 7-Eleven to refuel and grab snacks for the Mitsu-Toge (三ツ峠) hike. We can only imagine that its signage was B&W because of they didn’t want to hinder the view of Mt. Fuji. Jaiyu & I each enjoyed a warm corn soup and a natto maki roll. We bought some small sandwiches for lunch on the trail.
Mitsu-Toge is a six-mile loop connecting three peaks in Yamanashi Prefecture. It features steep single track sections with several views of Mt. Fuji and the surrounding landscape along the way.
The first 1/3rd of the trail followed a mellow fire road up to a ridge that transitioned into a single track trail as we started to make a steeper ascent to the first peak. We took many photos and stopped for snack breaks along the way. Once we reached the top of the third peak we did a round of high fives, ate our lunch and started the descent.
We navigated around a very muddy fire road, stopped by the hut (which was closed still) and passed the time by recording funny videos of us jumping down the path spreading our arms like a group of pelicans gliding down the hill.
After the hike we had dinner at a Hoto noodle restaurant. Hoto, is a localized variation of Udon soup that is specific to this region. This particular spot makes Hoto with mushrooms & miso. Paired with these special fried potato skewers that were so tasty, especially after a solid hike. Good company, the views of Mt. Fuji filtered through two giant cherry blossom trees out the front, and the smell of an old wooden cabin brought the whole meal together as one of our favorites of the trip.
Mountain lodge — Mitsutoge Sanso
Near the summit there's a mountain lodge, Mitsutoge Sanso (三ツ峠山荘), where you can stay overnight — no camping gear required. Rates run ¥9,500 per night with two meals or ¥6,000 without. Showers are available in non-winter seasons. It's a genuine option if you want to catch the sunrise from up there, which we're now told is worth waking up for.
Access: about 1h20m from the Mitsutoge trailhead bus stop, or 4h10m from Kawaguchiko station.
April 19 — Bamboo Shoots Pop-Up
Hanging out at the shop & meeting some great people!
The final work day of the trip was a pop-up at the Bamboo Shoots store in Tokyo. We arrived before it opened and meet Arata and Kuroda outside. Inside we meet Taiyo and Ashley who operate the store on a day-to-day basis. The store carries a tight assortment of US and Japan outdoor gear: Parapack alongside Jolly Gear, Light AF, Hyperlite, Patagonia, and some harder-to-find Japanese UL brands you likely won’t find in the US. We joked that if we'd had unlimited cash on hand (and more room in our luggage) we'd buy 1 of everything in the shop.
The energy throughout the day was more relaxed than Off the Grid, which allowed us to spend more time with each customer and enjoy longer conversations & a deeper connection.
We did custom cord color swaps for anyone who wanted one and gave out the remaining silk-screened shirts we'd made. By now the running joke about the shirts was that they were technically “made in Japan” because we screened them in our Airbnb only a few days prior. The customers loved it even more and felt so honored to receive it. It made us so happy to share it with them! The last of our Parabiners went to a couple kids visiting the shop with their parents. Investing in some up-and-coming UL enthusiasts.
At one point, a customer asked us to sign his hat. Feeling excited Jaiyu turned the request back on them and said we’d only sign their hat if they signed our hat in return. So we signed it with a couple hat sketches and he signed ours with his name. Then from that moment on, every customer (and even the staff) now wanted a sketch on their hat.
That evening, we had our final dinner with the Bamboo Shoots team at an excellent tempura restaurant. Small fried fish with three different kinds of salt for tasting, mini shrimp dashi steamed egg (which even Arata declared was “the first real one” he’d ever had, ahhaha!), shiitake mushroom & vegetable tempura, sake from Kyoto, and cold Kirin beer. After two weeks working closely together, our conversation with them came easily. We wished we had more time to keep talking and exchanging ideas about the Eastern v.s. Western culture and the ever changing industry we all care about. We said our goodbyes at the train station and ended the night feeling grateful and full of happiness.
This Japan trip gave us so much more than we expected going into it. Before we left, our main goal was simply to delight some customers and bring the California style Parapack Pop-up experience with us. What we left with far exceeded that accomplishment and was immensely more special. We built a stronger partnership with our distributor, got a better understanding about how they operate, we gained many new friendships, met some amazing people in the industry, and left feeling refueled. The only downside was that we knew we hat a lot to catch up on once we got back to the US… but as a small business, there is always something to be done.
Many thanks to our hosts! You all are amazing and we feel so grateful to spend this time with you all. We are already looking forward to come back and do it all again next year….Hopefully. :)
If you missed Part 1 — We prepped for the Off the Grid event (the main reason we planned this trip) and spent 2 big days interreacting with customers and spreading the news about Parapack.