Time flies and we're already in October! It feels like autumn has arrived all at once, and it's so cool that you don't even need an air conditioner. Over the weekend, I went to the city of flowers, Tokyo, for the first time in a while.

First of all, on Friday I went to the reception for the opening of Totonoi Laboratory (commonly known as Totoken) , a running lounge, sauna, and beer bar in Nihonbashi.

Located in Nihonbashi Hamacho, a five-minute walk from Suitengumae, this towering building offers tap beer on the first floor, a women's sauna on the third floor, and a men's sauna on the fourth floor. There are also two types of cold water baths, each with a different temperature.

This is a must-see for sauna lovers, and is sure to become a new attraction in Tokyo. For more details, click here → Totoken

When I went to the reception, I had a great time, chatting with many acquaintances.

Then on Saturday, I finished shooting for next year's catalogue early in the morning, and then headed to TOKYO BASE, the flagship store of outdoor manufacturer finetrack on Cat Street in Harajuku, to discuss the purpose of my trip to Tokyo: "Tell me! Milestones."

On the way there, there was a wonderful event, so I decided to take a detour since I had time.

There is a Helly Hansen shop that is popular among sailing and yacht enthusiasts. There are many people in front of the store, and inside the store, craftsmen are pouring liquid into large containers and performing some kind of performance.

I see, indigo dyeing... I thought it was a service that would dye any Helly Hansen item you bought, so as I was leaving the store I asked the staff about this system. And lo and behold, it turns out that if you bring in your own clothes or anything else, they'll dye them for free. Hmm, indigo dyeing for free!?

As someone who has been using polyester and wool-nylon fabrics lately, I realized that I didn't have any cotton items that are easily dyed with indigo, so I checked my bag and found a 100% organic cotton Norda T-shirt that I had just purchased the day before at "downbeat running, " a new running shop that had just opened in Shinjuku in September (mainly stocking a variety of overseas shoe and apparel brands)! ​​Norda: A Canadian trail running shoe brand

Thinking that this must be some kind of coincidence, I decided to have it dyed without any hesitation.

The result is a one-of-a-kind Norda T-shirt dyed in indigo.

Then, across the street, there was a Patagonia store, with a tent set up outside and someone working with a sewing machine. I thought, "Oh, I see, this is a service where they'll repair any Patagonia product you bring in," so just to be sure, I asked a staff member about this system before leaving the store. And lo and behold, it turns out that if you bring in any of your own clothes, they'll repair them for free. Wow, repairs for free!?

During an early morning shoot, a model accidentally fell and tore a hole in her NattyLongPants 2.0 (coming soon to be released), which she had left with the promise that they would "repair it and return it to you!" and by chance, it was in her bag! When I asked them, they said they would do it, but since they were over capacity, they said they would do it at the nearby The North Face.

What?! The North Face (TNF) is also doing this? What's more, the kind person walked with me and guided me to TNF. As we talked on the way, I learned that he had come from TNF's repair factory in Toyama for three days to carry out repairs.

When I asked him for more details, he told me that for three days, last Friday, Saturday and Sunday, outdoor manufacturers on Cat Street in Harajuku were holding a joint event called "DO REPAIRS."

As a manufacturer, they would like customers to buy new products, but given the current trend, this event is also about sharing with users the mindset of taking care of things and repairing them. For more details, please see the GORE-TEX website.

He also gave me some other useful information.

Apparently, KEEN offers a service to clean dirty shoes. I thought that anyone who wears KEEN shoes would qualify for the service, so I checked just to be sure, and it turns out that anyone who wears sneakers will be eligible. And, um, um, they'll clean your shoes for free... and it's even done by the makers of Jason's Mark.

*JASON'S MARK is a specialist manufacturer that sells cleaning fluids and brushes that are so well-known that every sneaker lover knows about them. I especially recommend them because they really make the white part of the sole shine.

Coincidentally, my sneakers were covered in mud from filming in the park that began early in the morning, and since I had a talk event that evening, I was just about to buy a cheap toothbrush and toothpaste at a convenience store and give them a good cleaning in order to look presentable when I heard some good news.

Before cleaning

After cleaning

They treated me extremely politely and I was able to go to finetrack with a completely fresh feeling.

Could something as timely as this happen?!

Once again, I would like to thank DO REPAIRS for planning such a wonderful event. As a fellow outdoor manufacturer, I learned a lot from this project. "Take good care of your things and use them for a long time." This is something that seems so obvious, but I realized I had almost forgotten it. I would like to take this opportunity to thank everyone who helped out. Thank you very much.

With that in mind, I went to finetrack and was greeted warmly by the staff. We had a preliminary meeting and took a commemorative photo in front of TOKYOBASE.

I was really happy that people interested in headlights, or rather, milestone headlamps, came to join us at 6pm on a busy Saturday, and we had such a fun time that the time flew by. There were a lot of things we could only talk about here! Haha. If you're interested, I might show up somewhere, so please come along.

Finally, I would like to thank finetrack for giving me this valuable opportunity, and also to everyone who attended.

The next morning, I went for a run around the Imperial Palace with Yamamoto-san from finetrack, better known as Massan, who I usually go to the mountains with or go to Budouzaka with, and who was also the moderator for this event, before returning to Osaka.

It was a very productive weekend.