TRAVERSE TOKYO

The bar tender

“It had been such a long while, so I decided to go check out Harajuku. Man, it looked so different from the days I was hanging out there with the Gamblers. There were guys selling T shirts, cool new thrift shops had opened, and even some guys had launched their own private labels too. It seemed like people were starting up new stuff and it was turning into a movement. The word on the street was that they’re business were going well and they were making money. I was astonished. It was like man, Harajuku was our spot. We used to run this place!”
I wonder if the reader ever had a chance to visit the legendary bar HIDE&SEEK. It was in a blacked out building located in the centre of Ura-Harajuku that had two entrances: one to the bar and the other to the clothing store. All types of interesting people came by from designers that lead the Ura-Harajuku movement, to Hollywood stars, to notorious biker gangs, a total melting pot. Every night it became the destination of crazy people looking for a place to release their energy. Mano handled this venue well, not allowing any trouble to slip through his hands and somehow putting down a solution every time. Anyone who knows this bar would say that this pain staking duty could’t have been done by anyone else but him.
“Back then, there were so many talented guys in Harajuku. Tetsu from WTAPS, Mura from M&M, Jonio and Nigo just to name a few. So I always questioned myself. What is there that I could do? I knew that I didn’t have any specific talent like they did, so I naturally felt that I had to use my passion as my weapon, like entertaining someone or taking proper care of them or something that comes from the heart, you know? I think people recognised my efforts for that because a lot of them from those times are still around me giving support. Yeah of course I’ve had my times when I was young and rowdy but I can say that I never betrayed a friend. That was my pride. I think people took me in as who I was because of this.”
During this time, Hemmi and Nishi were each challenging lives in new environments overseas. Both of them went solo to new lands, Hemmi to London and Nishi to Los Angeles. Mano kept in touch with both of them, calling them once in a while, but couldn’t help feeling a slight crack in the tight relationship they had built up.
“I felt that I was the only one fighting and surviving each day protecting what we built up together and believed in. Protecting our Tokyo. It almost appeared to me that Hemmi and Nishi had gone on a vacation! But after seeing how much they matured and developed after they came back, I realised they were fighting their own wars in foreign countries. I wasn’t the only one going through hardships.”

The beginning of Rats

“It wasn’t about flossing or showing off no more. I simply had to survive. I needed to feed my kids.”
As the Ura-Harajuku boom was coming to a halt, HIDE&SEEK closes down. It wasn’t like he knew it coming, but Mano had begun noticing what he represented and what he was doing was starting to lose value in the eyes of the customers. For all involved, it was the beginning of the end of an exciting era of Harajuku. Still, he desperately tried to figure out how to overcome this situation over and over again, but the harsh reality kept creeping up on him. As the fear of losing control of taking care of his own family grew bigger, his drinking habit worsened. Mano knew he was going down a pitfall, back down into the dark times he had experienced when he ran from Tokyo.
But this time, it was a little different. Mano’s ernest efforts at the bar had gained him respect and many friends. They stayed around to lend a hand, to get him back on top. Out of them all, especially Nishi and Tetsu (WTAPS) were there to support all the way. Together, they composed a strong plan to launch a new clothing label to stage a killer comeback for Mano. This was how RATS came to life. This beginning may sound neither visionary or with style but it is a genuine mark of the man’s intense attitude to survive and also a monument to the bond of their brotherhood.
Mano’s concept behind RATS is simple as the name. “Crawl forward, to live and to survive.” It is a manifestation of his determination to do whatever it needs, a proclamation of putting one’s pride aside and just keep moving forward. Mano advances steadily, one step at a time. At the start, there was not even money to rent an office, but years of slow but steady progress lead to the founding of RAT’s flagship store JOLLY ROGER in Ebisu.
To people outside the industry, it might seem the world of fashion is flamboyant and flashy but behind the glamour there are painstaking efforts to survive. Keeping a lifestyle of making a living with what one loves and continuously releasing authentic products that challenge a market is an almost impossible feat. At the least, it needs a combination of an iron determination and a restless effort, putting in real work. This style and attitude toward life & work maybe another perspective that Nishi, Hemmi, and Mano share keenly. “Living the cool life ain’t easy. It could be the toughest thing for a man.” These few words from Mano pretty much sums up the philosophy behind his way of life.

For others

“In creating clothing or anything I do, I want to keep on being meaningful and useful to others. I don’t want my actions to be an egotistic masturbation.”
Mano and Nishi both say this time to time. In Japanese culture, people say something similar to this every so often so it may sound cheap if it came from someone else. But people who know them would understand the truth of what they mean. The fans must feel it from the aura of their products too. When they create, they go to the utmost detail, easily down to a fraction of a millimetre to tune a design. Or they would go to the extent of recreating lost parts of a vintage machine that’s been out of date for decades, just to reach the outcome they aim for. This pursuit with passion is carried throughout every step and that gives the products the life and meaning to its maximum potential. The authenticity that shine in the products of TENDERLOIN, RATS, and TIMEWORN CLOTHING is simply the reflection of their philosophy and the way of life they lead. Their creations are their blood and bones.
In this episode we have shed light on the fateful encounter of Mano, Hemmi, and Nishi. In the proceeding episode #2, we will dig deeper into their creativity and the philosophy that reside in the trio…

Continues to Episode #2