“How I Travel” with Make-up Artist Rae Morris
Make-up maven and entrepreneur Rae Morris is a regular visitor to Tokyo, a city she finds full of beautiful contradictions. Here are her top travel tips to the Japanese capital.
What keeps you returning to Tokyo?
I work there and I have a brand of make-up brushes that are made in Japan. It’s my favourite place in the world to go.
Why so?
There’s a real culture of treating other people with dignity and respect and taking pride in your work. I feel like I’m in business class whether I’m going to a bathroom, eating in a restaurant or shopping at a mall.
Where do you stay when you’re in town?
The Hyatt Centric Ginza Tokyo. I once came back to the room to find they’d polished my shoes while I was out.
And where do you head for a meal?
Ginza Himuka on the 11th floor of the Tokyo Plaza building. They serve the most incredible Wagyu beef that you cook yourself at the table. Get a private booth looking out towards the Louis Vuitton flagship store.
Do you have any hard-won luggage hacks?
I found this incredible travel kit from Somi. It’s all reusable and each product is the perfect size to take through airport security in your carry-on.
If you had to bring only one pair of shoes…
It would be the Y-3 Superstar collaboration between Yohji Yamamoto and Adidas. I bought them at Dover Street Market in Ginza, my favourite shop. I have wide feet and high arches and they are so comfortable.
Secret experience?
I always tell people to check out the grocery stores. Yes, the 7-Eleven shops have the best egg sandwiches in the world but the grocery stores will amaze you. The level of pride and presentation is unmatched, with every strawberry exactly the same size and so beautiful you don’t want to eat them.
What’s the first thing you do when you get home?
The only items I unpack are things that I bought, because they’re like my new toys. I take dirty clothes out for washing and then I literally leave my suitcase on the ground and look at it for the next three weeks.
