We met at a designated street corner in Roppongi. The driver approached me first to give me an update on the itinerary. The Gentleman emerged from the back of the SUV. He looked normal; down to earth; casually dressed (I had bought some new trousers and bag and wore a trusted ochre coloured grandad shirt I knew looked artsy enough if not part of the one per cent – but then he wasn’t that either; actually a hard working professional who had brought his family to Tokyo for a holiday and wanted a few moments to himself to indulge his love of perfume. I breathed a sigh of relief as we entered the taxi and I asked about his tastes in perfume. These were:)
Fresh.
Citrusy.
A little bit woody. A little bit floral.
But not sweet.
And absolutely no oud in any shape or form.
Nothing too girly.
But nothing too crass and chemical either
(though he had worn Sauvage in the past as well as Terre D’Hermes…..yet the niche, dry as tindersticks, slightly spiced clean woody citrus whose name flew out my ears the second I heard it because I was nervous in the car, did smell very good on him I must say; stylish, not overdone, slyly clean and erotic- he had picked up himself at some Japanese niche perfumery the day before, so clearly knew what he liked; had good taste….)
But this was the problem.
He had already been all over Tokyo himself, including some of the potential joints I had lined up….
–
the quintessential problem of course being that I have never really penetrated the inner sancti of the Tokyo perfumisti,
the reasons for this being as follows:
- I couldn’t be arsed.
2. My Japanese is crap.
3. I am not wealthy enough.
4. It is too far from Kamakura (which kind of bleeds into Fact Number One).
5. I got caught up in a war between two of the Leading Ladies; great Fragrance Friends until they fell out, I remained loyal to my side but was then silently blacklisted from anything Salons De Parfums oriented; she even publically sent my book Perfume:In Search Of Your Signature Scent back to the company she ordered it from in a pique of bitchness that maligned my good name.
No, now I am being a bit facetious.
But all the things written above are in fact true, meaning that I didn’t, unfortunately, have any remote and security guarded, moss-gated traditional Japanese tea rooms at my fingertips, where maidens in kimoni would slide silently across the tatami offering holy matcha of the very exquisitest quality while essences of kyara and live nightingales would be blended with crawling sakura petals and snake eyes boiled in exclusive plum wood urns
etc etc :
No, I had none of these things.
Just the same shops as the other plebs.
Perhaps, had I had more than 48 hours to get a more elevated and private ‘tour’ organized I could have rustled something up something a little more drop dead nipponesque; wielding my legendary Rolodex of contacts in the perfume world — the only issue being that I don’t have one.
So. Yes. It was going to simply have to be what it was.
I made a list of possible venues; and started with the best place I knew personally: Parfum Satori.
Seriously, not even a heads-up email about his taste in perfume? Wild.
I’m marinating in anticipation of this olfactory blind date.
NOTHING.
And all the ultraseriousness of the run up to it was a bit much, as if I were escorting the Holy Pontiff to The Garden Of Gethsamene.
Quite a fascinating glimpse into another world though, even if I don’t actually like meeting new people in this way (it was all a bit quite scary AF for me.)
I enjoyed writing about it today: hopefully I will wake up tomorrow and dive into the first perfume encounters.
Glad you liked it x
So exciting, like a spy movie… until the reality is revealed and you realize it’s just the exaggeration of marketing (of a bespoke experience) coupled with the unknown. I wonder how he had imagined it would turn out. Looking forward to reading the next chapter!
Perfectly summated : thanks Nose Prose x
Now this is exiting! Waiting impatiently for part II.