Inside Chowa's TriBeCa showroom with founder Ray Suzuki

Visit a Japanese oasis many floors up above the bustle of downtown Manhattan.

When I was a kid, I was obsessed with Japanese culture. I watched anime, which is what I assume to be a fairly typical 90’s-kid gateway to the wonderful world of all things Japan. I started with Pokémon, then Yu-Gi-Oh and Digimon. I watched Yu Yu Hakusho, Ruroni Kenshin, and Dragonball-Z. I found myself wishing I was a samurai in Feudal Japan. Sure, there are glimpses and tropes and cliches of Japanese culture in all of these shows, but in the end, I really knew nothing about Japan or its history, save for the video game Samurai Warriors and what I could read on Wikipedia. One thing I did glean early was a sense of formality and respect that is somewhat foreign here in America, affirmed now that I’ve been to Tokyo (sadly for only 4.5 days) and have since met many incredible Japanese folks in the menswear industry and in my travels. Perhaps my biggest takeaway during my brief time in Tokyo was just how clean a city that sprawling is and the respect its citizens show for it, and one another—and how horribly we treat our own cities and comrades stateside.

But still, hours of movies and documentaries and real-life interactions later, I’ve only scratched the surface. Recently, I sat down with Ray Suzuki for Five Fits With, and was so taken with his Chowa showroom that I thought to feature it here, along with an extended interview discussing the space and his kiri-bako samples. “We make boxes,” says Suzuki when I ask him what Chowa is. “Chowa is dedicated to the artisans in Japan that we work with who make boxes called kiri-bako. It's a style of box-making that has more than 300 years of history. It's a very, very sustainable practice with a specific tree called kiri or Paulownia in English. It grows 10 times faster than pine trees and most hardwood in the world. We provide these boxes as a super customizable premium packaging solution for luxury brands in the West.”

Suzuki at Chowa’s TriBeCa showroom.