In Koenji with Terry Ellis

In a city full of interesting and sometimes peculiar places to go shopping, Koenji is a site of pilgrimage. West of the chaos of Shinjuku, it’s where you go if you’re after an exact pair of 70s Levi’s, or that one field jacket, or a faded-just-so western shirt.

It’s also the home of Mogi, run by our friend Terry Ellis and his wife Keiko. A legend in menswear and design circles, Terry spent years as a buyer for Beams Fennica, and has had an outsize influence in shaping what men in both Japan and Europe wear. “I originally got into buying because it gave me a chance to travel,” says Terry, who grew up in-between London and Jamaica. “And I’ve certainly been able to do that.”

Mogi is the expression of all of those decades-worth of travels and experiences. It stocks tasteful men’s and womenswear, a little bit of vintage, a few things you can’t find anywhere else. There are ceramics that would look great on a shelf inside a tastefully-arranged midcentury apartment. Like most great stores in Tokyo, it blurs the lines between retail, vintage, and gallery. 

We leave the shop and take a short walk down the street. It’s late afternoon, the sun beginning to set behind the low-rise buildings. We pass a temple and a group of children walking hand-in-hand from school; immaculately-dressed staff from the rows of vintage shops lean casually against doorways. “This is a really interesting area,” says Terry, “which is why we chose to be based here. It’s a little bit alternative, a little more laid-back than other parts of the city. It has its own, very distinctive identity.”

A couple of minutes away is Mogi & Mogi, Terry and Keiko’s gallery space, a small room that houses a rotating selection of artworks sourced by the couple. There’s a beautiful painting in a hand-crafted frame, done by an indigenous artist in rural Ecuador; ceramics from Okinawa, Mashiko pottery and works by the late Tamiji Kitagawa. “Anything recommended by Terry is bound to be special,” says Drake’s Creative Director Michael Hill. “He has so much knowledge and expertise, so when he stocks something, you know that he believes in it.”

We’re shown around the Gallery, each object receiving its own Terry-approved origin story. “Back in the 80s, when I first started visiting Japan, it was a mysterious country,” says Terry. “People didn’t really come here. Maybe if you were a banker or had a specific business reason, but otherwise I was out on my own a lot of the time. It’s become home, and somewhere that still surprises me all these years later.”