Clotheshorse Episode 250: A Japan-isode, featuring Mr. Dustin Travis White

(Aired December 25, 2025)
Host: Amanda Lee McCarty | Guest: Mr. Dustin Travis White

Overview:

In this special year-end “Japan-isode,” host Amanda Lee McCarty is joined by partner and frequent guest Mr. Dustin Travis White to recap the second half of Amanda’s month-long trip to Japan. This episode meanders through art scenes, malls, vintage shopping, odd festivals, and the cultural quirks of Japanese consumerism, offering practical travel tips and deep dives into food, style, urban design, and the analog-vs-digital divide—all with Amanda’s signature humor and Dustin’s dry wit. It’s both a love letter to Japan and a resource for would-be travelers and vintage/shopping fans.

Episode Structure

1. Introduction & Context
2. Nagoya: Art, Malls, and Denim
3. Fukuoka: Records, Festas, and Supermarkets
4. Christmas in Japan: KFC, Cakes, and Omnipresent Cheer
5. Secondhand Shopping: Bookoff, Hardoff, and Beyond
6. Beppu: Hot Springs, Hells, and Thrifting
7. Tokyo Return: The Museum of Extinct Media and Analog Life
8. Q&A: Favorite Experiences, Funniest Moments, and Travel Advice

1. Introduction & Context

• Amanda opens the episode, noting it's a recap of her recent month in Japan, with this episode focusing on the portion spent with Dustin ("I recorded the part of the trip with Dustin first and it ended up being so long...I didn't want to bore you with a three hour episode..." [02:04]).
• Amanda encourages listeners interested in the first two solo weeks of her trip (Tokyo, Matsumoto, Kanazawa, Kyoto) to reach out if they want a dedicated episode on that.
• No ads in this episode—described as a “fun little gift at the end of this year in this holiday season, a gift for surviving 2025” [04:39].

2. Nagoya: Art, Malls, and Denim

The Record Drop-off & Stiff Slack

• Dustin flies into Tokyo, takes the Shinkansen (bullet train) down to Nagoya to drop off records at the renowned independent distributor/store/venue Stiff Slack.
  • “They do a lot of stuff...For a handful of smaller labels they’ll do a Japanese-only pressing and like a different color that's limited to them...” – Dustin [06:49]
  • “It felt like every single record in there was the best record but also had a venue space attached.” – Amanda [06:37]

Art Triennial & Department Store Museums

• Amanda explores an art triennial and visits an art museum inside a department store (“...there were some incredible paintings there that were making me tear up because they were just so amazing.” [08:44]).
• Reflections on Japanese department stores hosting art: “Why don’t department stores here in the US have museums?” – Amanda [08:58]
• Discussion of US malls once having more public/cultural space, now lost to “the hunt for the bottom line” – Dustin [09:37].

Mall Culture, Layered City Design & Unimall

• Japanese urban centers utilize vertical and underground spaces for commerce and life.
  • Unimall is a vast, thriving underground mall (“...thriving and busy. It just happened to be under the city.” – Amanda [12:24])
  • “When you build a mall like that basically attached to a train station, you don’t have to have a mile of parking lots around it...” – Dustin [12:36]

Grocery Stores Under the Station

• Accessibility and environmental impact of Japanese urban supermarkets: “How convenient is that...to get off the train from work and be able to get your groceries under one roof?” – Amanda [13:53]

Lee Jeans & Japanese Denim

• Dustin finds Lee Jeans in a Japanese mall, is amazed by their transparency and quality.
  • “Every step along the process of manufacture is listed...this is not something that’s sold as sustainable or luxury...it’s just here’s Lee jeans at the mall...” – Dustin [15:09]
• Amanda unpacks the supply chain and licensing (Japanese Lee is produced by Edwin, made in Okayama, Japan's denim heartland).
  • “You can actually go to Okayama...Pretty much all the denim in Japan is made like from beginning to end...Totally different quality, totally different supply chain. And priced pretty affordably.” – Amanda [16:10]

3. Fukuoka: Records, Festas, and Supermarkets

Arrival via Hello Kitty Shinkansen

• The duo takes the special Hello Kitty-themed Shinkansen, a slower but whimsical train about to be retired.
  • “...I felt like I needed to ride it one last time.” – Amanda [20:54]
  • “It was interesting to be on it eight years after it launched and see the wear and tear on it.” – Amanda [21:36]

Local Vibes & Urban Comparisons

• Fukuoka’s vibe evokes the Pacific Northwest for Amanda (“...it felt like Portland or Seattle to me. The way people were dressed, the way the air felt. And it’s really beautiful there...” [22:13]).

Records, Distributors, & Scene

• Dustin continues his record drop-off tour, praises cross-cultural connections: “To be, you know, in Japan talking about discord records, bands and stuff was like a weird moment that was really, really fun.” – [23:29]

Festa de Santa

• Serendipitous attendance at a surreal, local, “off duty Santa” festival with light displays, churros, opera, and crowds snapping selfies.
  • “At Festa de Santa there were like hundreds of Santa statues, life size. And most of them were this off-duty Santa.” – Amanda [25:14]
  • “These were much more like party Santa than anything else.” – Dustin [25:14]

Ramen, Dancing, and Street Life

• They witness a nightly performance at the flagship Ichiran ramen chain: dancers appear in windows to music as crowds gather (“...it felt like some weird, like, red light district...Just people in windows dancing.” – Dustin [28:05])

Hotels & Serendipitous Location

• Stayed at The Lively (same company as favorite Hotel Graphi): “I feel like it just serendipitously was in the best location...we were just out walking and came across this Festa de Santa.” – Amanda [26:36]

4. Christmas in Japan: KFC, Cakes, and Omnipresent Cheer

Omnipresent Christmas

• Japanese Christmas is intensely secular and highly commercial.
  • “I heard more Christmas music in that month than I have heard in my entire adult life...Every store, every mall, Christmas music...” – Amanda [29:43]
  • “The music is what surprised me the most...It was in English. I didn’t hear anything that was not an English Christmas song.” – Dustin [30:01]
• Decor, food, department store trees, and seasonal markets everywhere.
• Christmas Day in Japan is the equivalent of Western Valentine’s Day: the most romantic day of the year for couples (“You’re gonna go out to dinner with your sweetheart and give one another gifts and have a very romantic evening.” – Amanda [31:31])

Cakes and KFC

• Christmas dessert: strawberry cream cake (even though strawberries are out of season!).
  • “It’s layers of white cake with whipped cream and strawberries...very unchristmassy to me and not even seasonally appropriate.” – Amanda [35:25]
• Christmas means Kentucky Fried Chicken—immensely popular, promoted by special commercials, orders placed far in advance.
  • “...yes, Kentucky Fried Chicken and Christmas, aka Kentucky Christmas, or Chicken Christmas, is a real phenomenon...People place their orders far in advance and wait in line for a very long time on Christmas Day to pick it up.” – Amanda [37:09]
  • “...presented because, like, you don’t know that this isn’t actually a thing that happens in America. But it’s enough American things placed into a bucket that it seems like it makes sense...” – Dustin [41:48]

5. Secondhand Shopping: Bookoff, Hardoff, and Beyond

Bookoff & Hardoff Chains

• Bookoff: Japan’s answer to Half Price Books—used books, CDs, DVDs, and more.
• Bookoff Super Bazaar: Expanded to include clothing, electronics, home goods, etc.
• Hardoff: Strictly electronics and instruments (“...we went to one in Fukuoka...cameras, video games, instruments, TVs...stuff from all eras.” – Amanda [44:51])

The Secondhand Shopping Experience

• Hardoff described as “like what you would find in a pawn shop here, but way better organized; you could get electronics from the ‘60s and ‘70s.”
• Pro tip: the best Bookoff/Hardoff stores are in suburbs, away from touristy city centers.
• Amanda’s reflection: “It made shopping secondhand and rehoming your stuff accessible to everyone. And I just wish we had more of that here.” [46:44]

6. Beppu: Hot Springs, Hells, and Thrifting

Beppu: Hot Springs Destination

• Known as the “hot springs capital,” with volcanic activity and food cooked in steam.

The Hells (“Jigoku”)

• A cluster of “tourist trap” geothermal pools with themes ranging from raccoon dog statues and drinking/steaming stations to a full-on crocodile center and a fish tank “aquarium.”
  • Amanda: “With each one we visited after that, it got a little trashier...” [54:32]
  • Dustin: “But why?” (on the crocodiles) [56:33]

Thrift Stores

• Beppu thrifting reveals: “People have junk everywhere... maybe in different colors or have different characters on it.” – Dustin [58:12]
• Finds include single-use appliances, character goods, “gachapon” toys, and more.
• Second street: Japanese chain of “buy/sell/trade” stores with clothing, toys, electronics, outdoor gear. Now also open in the US (“I wish we had more places like this here that were just like multi-category for everyone.” – Amanda [62:55])

7. Tokyo Return: Museum of Extinct Media & Analog Life

The Museum of Extinct Media

• A tiny, hands-on space devoted to obsolete devices: flip phones, MiniDisc, Walkman, Discman, typewriters, computers.
  • “It’s basically what my office is. But cleaner, though.” – Dustin [63:56]
  • Amanda was struck by the “reminders of a more analog life,” imagining a less digital existence.

Analog vs. Digital Divide

• Japan maintains thriving physical media and analog infrastructure: bookstores, magazines, brand new cassette/CD players, and towers full of CDs.
  • “CDs never went away in Japan at all. It’s a combination of really two threads: they didn’t give away all the rights for pennies [to streaming], and there’s a really underlying collector culture.” – Dustin [69:17]
• Amanda: “What if I listened to music without my phone? What if I received information without my phone?...real, tangible, physical media and real moments with real people.” – [72:24]

8. Q&A: Favorite Experiences, Funniest Moments, and Travel Advice

Favorite Moments

• Dustin: Meeting with fellow record collectors/distributors: “To be...on the other side of the world and interacting with people who are just that invested in the same sort of world that I've...spent my life participating in...just really, really cool.” [73:34]
• Amanda: “...the two times that I hung out with Sushmita, who I met IRL, like an Internet friend...talk to someone who is so invested in thinking about ethical and sustainable fashion and consumerism and all these things...” [74:31]

Favorite City

• Dustin: Fukuoka. “It just felt like more like less planned and more just like stumbling into something interesting, which is always kind of my favorite part.” [76:19]
• Amanda: Kanazawa (visited before Dustin’s arrival): “It was so beautiful. It was like Japan in its full autumn glory...There was a lot of cool stuff happening there.” [77:28]

Favorite Meals

• Dustin: Taqueria in Beppu—“...it doesn't make sense it was as good as it was. Normally I'm apprehensive about fusion, but there was something about it that was just really, really cool.” [78:23]
• Amanda: Vegan burger at Two Foods (Loft, Ginza)—“One thing they had was this vegan burger that was so good...after a month in Japan, I just really wanted a burger...” [80:33]

Convenience Store Faves

• Dustin: 7-Eleven egg salad sandwich (“Never disappoints. That is eternally my...I have one almost every day.” [82:39])
• Amanda: Seasonal “side dish” of pureed sweet potato and pumpkin (+ all the desserts), convenience store peeled persimmons for breakfast, Manhattan donuts [82:57–84:03]

Funniest Moments

• Dustin: The “foot bath guardian” in Beppu: On two occasions trying to use the mall’s free foot onsen, both times foiled by a strange, territorial man: “He starts to try to talk to us or tell me what to do… It’s just really weird… this guy was, like, guarding it.” [85:47–88:47]
• Amanda: Accidentally flooding their hotel bathroom due to a malfunction (“the water is starting to go over that ledge into the hotel room...I was like, Dustin, the bathroom is broken!” [89:56–91:55])

Reflections on Japanese Travel

• Amanda: Japan’s rail and public transit infrastructure is “incredible” and “makes me jealous, honestly... affordable...you can literally get anywhere in that country without getting in a car.” [94:08]
• Dustin: “Once you’re there, it’s not expensive. You can get around via public transit really affordably and go anywhere, and now that the bus anxiety is gone, that’s great. And food: there’s so much cheap food, and you can eat well for very little.” [97:19]

Money-Saving and Travel Tips

• Amanda highlights:
  • Luggage forwarding: Pay $10–$20 to have your bag sent ahead to your next city/hotel [104:30+].
  • Laundry: Hotels universally have cheap laundromats (“...the machines are great...the machine puts in detergent for you...you create a PIN...so only you can open that washing machine...”). [112:19]
  • Vegetarian/Vegan food: Far more accessible than it once was; chain restaurants and conbinis almost all have options now [103:21+].
  • Overnight highway buses: Reclining seats, privacy hoods, $20 trips across the country.

Packing Advice & Final Thoughts

• Dustin: “I think I’m going to pack less and just do laundry more...and I just want to go more places.” [110:45]

• Humorous discussion of the “hype” on travel subreddits of bringing absolutely nothing and regenerating a wardrobe onsite (“I can’t even imagine behaving like that...Good for them. I hate it” – Amanda & Dustin [115:00])

Closing Reflection

• Amanda and Dustin joke about organizing a Clotheshorse Japan group tour (“A tour of hard offs...and parfettoriums”). [116:18]
• Parting message:
  • “Just...you should go.” – Dustin [115:31]

Notable Quotes & Timestamps

• "Every step along the process of manufacture is listed...this is not something that’s sold as sustainable or luxury...it’s just here’s Lee jeans at the mall..." – Dustin, 15:09
• "I heard more Christmas music in that month than I have heard in my entire adult life." – Amanda, 29:43
• "Chicken Christmas, Kentucky Christmas—yes, it’s a real phenomenon." – Amanda, 37:09
• "It made shopping secondhand and rehoming your stuff accessible to everyone. And I just wish we had more of that here." – Amanda, 46:44
• “It’s basically what my office is. But cleaner, though.” – Dustin, 63:56 (The Museum of Extinct Media)
• "What if I listened to music without my phone? What if I received information without my phone?...real, tangible, physical media and real moments with real people." – Amanda, 72:24
• “Just… you should go.” – Dustin, 115:31

Further Resources

• Amanda references extensive show notes and promises links to all the shops, restaurants, hotels, and quirky spots mentioned ["be in that very elite 1% of people who actually use the show notes" – 03:52].
• For listeners wanting more details on art experiences and Amanda’s first two weeks (Tokyo, Kanazawa, Matsumoto), Amanda welcomes feedback for a possible follow-up episode.

Summary authored in the warm, candid, and slightly irreverent tone of the Clotheshorse podcast.