Big in Japan

I'm a student who will be studying near Tokyo for a year, soon. My issue is that I'm a plus-size woman (hovering around size 20 jeans, usually at least XL top) and I know my kind is scarce over there.

What can I do? Are there shops I should know of? Places to shop online that will ship internationally?

First, to get an idea of your size in Japan, I'd recommend visiting Jshoppers.com. You should do your measurements and compare them to the one on the website. They sell Japanese clothing -- plus sized and regular sized to anyone OUTSIDE of Japan!

Two companies sell the most amount of plus sized items on Jshoppers: Nissen and Cecile. Nissen has a very nice online catalogue, but I don't know the Japanese website for it. I bet Cecile does too.

Other options include major department stores. I found a coat, a shirt, and some trousers in Isetan in shinjuku. Isetan is a very expensive store, but the customer service is fantastic, and I managed to get help by speaking only a few words of Japanese. I am a US 18 / UK 20 and they had plenty of sizes larger than me.

Good luck!

coldwater creek sells your size and ships to japan

Excellent info!

I am also a plus size woman who will be living in Japan for a while.

Hehe, it seems like all of us Western women have problems finding sizes in Japan. I'm average size, but finding things to fit my more hourglass figure has been a problem. One thing I've discovered is that the department store Marui (OIOI) has a "Marui Model" section with larger sizes (clothing and shoes!). Marui is a bit cheaper than places like Isetan, and I is geared more for women in the 20s and 30s.

I also recommend the website www.being-a-broad.com, which is a great resource for expat women living in Japan and has a great forum with an entire section on clothing! There are many threads about finding clothing, so that can help as well. Best of luck in Japan!

Torrid, an American store also ships all over the world (UK, Japan, anywhere really).

Land's End ALSO ships to Japan, Germany, and the UK (but those countries only).

Well I was gonna plan to lose weight and right now I'm also hovering around a size 20 too...do yukata's come in plus sizes??? and what ships international?

I had that same problem when I lived in Japan. What I did was I brought clothes with me and when I went home to visit I took an empty suitcase to bring replacement clothes with me. As for Yukata, they come in bigger sizes even Sumo wrestlers wear those.