Delicious rolls of rice and raw fish for your business lunch, kids’ TV shows full of puppy-dog eyes, shiatsu and miniature Zen gardens for personal relaxation, and an entire tourism branch that would be twiddling its thumbs in boredom without our friends from Japan. Whoever lives in Zurich as we do knows Japan is now an established fixture in our daily lives.

It’s high time for us to tip the balance somewhat in our direction and so on September 6 we open our second FREITAG Store in the country where handcrafted art is still practiced and celebrated. Almost two years after opening our F-Store in Tokyo’s Ginza district, we are keeping true to our motto “FREITAG connects” and situating the next one in Shibuya.

It’s not just a random site, but rather lies precisely between Cat Street – earlier the hangout of strays and now visited by very hip cats – and sophisticated Meiji Street. The store is equipped with a tricked-out, Gotthard-tunnel-like, stereo entrance system, which makes the store accessible from both sides.

The Japanese are fond of the saying “The child of a frog is a frog”, and consequently inclined lovers of unique things who stop by the store will be greeted by 1,400 FUNDAMENTALS and 60 REFERENCE R.I.P. (Recycled Individual Products), all of which are just waiting to be freed from their award-winning design V30 drawers and be carried off into the big, wide world.

Small repairs will also be done in the store. In a time when facelifts, liposuction and breast implants are scheduled into people’s lunch breaks, we thought it only fitting for FREITAG to be onsite with cosmetic tarp-surgery services to help weathered and weary bags recover their vim and vigor once again.

The store opening is celebrated to the full, of course. In addition to ‘hols d’oeuvle’ and dlinks, in cooperation with our longtime friend and F-Dealer “Urban Research”, artists paint, spray, color and finally skin a traditional K-Truck tarp, which will then be turned into small, never-seen-before F-Gimmicks that we will present to our guests. BANZAI !

Architect: spillmann echsle architekten ag (CH) and TORAFU ARCHITECTS (JP)