There’s a family-run jewelry business in Harajuku called Goro’s. The original jeweler’s name is Goro Takahashi and he’s a legend all over Japan. He went to live in America on a [Native American] reservation and learned to make jewelry with feathers and beads. You can only buy his jewelry in Tokyo; everything is handmade, and the resale markup is astronomical.

You start with one feather and a certain material, and then you buy a new one every time you come back. Every time I went [to Tokyo] I added something, but you can only get one per visit. I just completed mine. I was very fortunate to be introduced to them and to slowly build my necklace six years ago. Even after all the years of knowing them and becoming friends with them, I still had to wait and get one bead each trip, a...