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| Go shopping in Japan with recommendations, reviews, tips and photos posted by real travelers and locals. Map |
 | Japan Shopping | Tips 1 - 10 of 89 |  |
One of the best souvenirs from Japan must be ceramics.
There are a number of styles.
Many have interesting glazing, partly unglazed, partly glazed with thick layers seemingly randomly and carelessly spread over the surface.
This style is often quite "rustic", and there are also more "delicate" styles looking a bit more like chinese style ceramics.
Items include
rice bowls (bowl in Japanese is "o-chawan"),
plates in different styles, often square ones (plate is "o-sara" in Japanese),
smaller bowls meant for pickles, soy sauce and the likes,
chopstick supporters (hashioki in Japanese),
tea cups,
saké cups and saké bottles.
Ceramics are for sale everywhere, from the 100 yen shop, or your corner shop, to the department stores. You can pay anything between 100 yen up to tens of thousands of yen a piece.
An average quality rice bowl should be available at 400-500 yen. Leave a Comment Theme: Local CraftDirections: A good place for ceramics is the Kiyomizu area in Kyoto, but you can check out stores everywhere.
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These stores are all over Japan and are really worth going into!!! You can get anything there and all the goods the shops carry are sold at 100 yen. So if you`re looking for cosmetics, kitchen utensils, clothes, food or stationary, or anything else, or nothing at all....just go into one, cause you will find something for sure!!!
The 100 yen stores, symbolizing a price collapse in japanese economy, are popular with foreign tourist as well as the Japanese. Some people go shopping there almost daily and often you catch yourself thinking "This kind of thing for 100 yen???". Not only you can find daily-use products there, but some great gifts to bring back home as well. I was surprised with the variety of things I could bring home as a gift. The variety of chop sticks and other traditionally japanese stuff amazed me every time I wet there.
So don`t hesitate, you will love them!!! Leave a Comment Theme: Discount Store
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The Maruzen megabookstore in Marunouchi Tokyo opened just this september (2004). It is I don't remember how many floors (9?) of books and stationary, all you can wish for. For foreigners there is also a huge selection of english books as well as some in other languages. Particularly fun if you want books on Japanese society, culture, cooking etc.
Stack up here. Not too expensive either.
Go for the titles you will find it more difficult to get your hands on in your home country. In today's world with internet shopping availabilities, the selection from home is of course much wider. However, the Japanese bookstores often don't offer their services abroad.
There is a range of small and cheap handbooks on Japan called "Japan in your pocket". Even if some are hopelessly outdated (from the 1980's), and even if they are sometimes a bit over-pedagogic "elderly people can often feel lonely when they live far away from their children and grandchildren" (duh!) they still offer some insights and facs about many parts of Japanese life and society, history and culture. They are prized about 900 yen each, and could make for a nice souvenir for you or your friends at home.
From a small paperback book of about 700 yen to as much as you like! Leave a Comment
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So, what's the deal here? You hear about these department stores all the time, yet what are they, and WHERE are they?
There is actually a great number of department stores in Japan.
They consist of several storeys of shopping goods, typically the ground floor is devoted to perfumes and make-up, the floors above to women's fashion and maybe kid's fashion, then there is a floor of men's clothes followed by floors of stationery,home goods, textiles, and at the top floor maybe a bridal shop and a kimono fitter's.
Famous store chains are:
Takashimaya
Mitsukoshi
Daimaru
Seibu
Matsuzakaya
Isetan
Tobu
and many more
One chain has several stores, often a few even in only Tokyo, often they are located within the station buildings of train stations, (eg Daimaru in the Tokyo station building, Isetan in the Kyoto station building or Takashimaya in the Kashiwa station building).
In Tokyo you can also find a concentration of department stores in the Ginza neighbourhood (Ginza subway st. or Yúrakuchó train station).
Generally department stores a a little on the expensive side (and let's hope the quality matches).
But it may be just the place for you if you are in search of a new mascara or some little outfit for the evening. Even if you want a silver ballpen and a croco filofax to spice up your life with.
Or if you are just interested in browsing, it is a great time-killer!
Special items to shop for in department stores would perhaps be make up and clothes. They seem to have the widest range.
Expect to spend someaht more than you would in a smaller shop down the street. But you will get your purchase wrapped and taped at least twice! Leave a Comment Theme: GiftsDirections: Ginza area, or search around the train stations.
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Ok, now this lacquerware "nurimono" in Japanese, is actually not my kind of cup of tea you know. But I know that many people really like it.
Nurimono is usually black (but can be red or even colorless), and made up of wood with special lacquer on it. This is put on in many many layers, hence fancy nurimono is really pricey.
The classic one is black with a design of gold and maybe other colors within the lacquer. To me it looks a bit too perfect, like it were made of plastic, and I am more a fan of the rustic style ceramics (see other shopping tip), but many people appreciate the skillful craft and sleak designs.
For a look at nurimono, check out the link below.
You can buy it at many places including souvenir shops although I suspect the quality isn't the highest here. Also, in department stores you can get your hands on really expensive nurimono. Antiques stores may also be of interest.
I can vaguelly remember reasonably priced items from around 800 yean for a small box, but these may have been of really poor quality. Leave a Comment
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Perfect gifts they are, these little eating tools of Asia.
In Japan they are called "hashi" and they are for sale absolutely anywhere.
Prized anywhere from 100 yen and up, and in all imaginable designs and materials, you should be able to find just the perfect pair. And conveniently small and easy to pack they are, as I said, a great gift for the loved ones at home.
For a fancy approach, try the department store; they carry gift boxes with chopsticks.
For a chepscate getaway; try the 100 yen shops for plastic hashis with colorful prints.
100 yen and up...up...up! Leave a Comment Theme: Gifts
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There are several options here. Is this banana choko a food? Is it a "toy"? Who knows.. it could mean music for some people. A hobbie for others... And if you pressed me too much a bath!!!!
Incredible 21 years around and have never bought one of those for my girl . At home, and on this particular matters, I do agree with the "Generalissimo" (-; Franco Bahamonde and his autarky: "A policy of national SELF-SUFFICIENCY and nonreliance on imports or economic aid."
Viva V!!!!! (-;
NEVER
NEVER Leave a Comment Theme: Toys and GamesAddress: In stands at summer festivals
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Originally "Noren" were widely used in Japan as restaurant and shop curtains.
A Noren hung in a doorway signaled that the shop was open for business. Noren are now widely used in contemporary home and business decor, enhancing any room or doorway.
Noren are split in the middle so you can walk right through, and have a closed top seam to insert a wooden or bamboo dowel for hanging.
You can see in the picture a variety of colors and designs...sold at 100 yen stores...
Leave a Comment Theme: Local Craft
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People love personalized gifts... but what could you possibly get that's uniquely Japanese? Hanko is the perfect solution.
The HANKO is an important part of everyone's life in Japan. It serves the same purpose as a written signature does in the West, and it is legally binding. Most Japanese own at least two hanko and sometimes as many as six or more.
HANKO
The hanko, or inkan (seal impression), comes from China. Legend has it that an emperor of China presented a Japanese king with a golden seal (kinin) 2,000 years ago. A golden inkan dating back to the 5th century has been found in Kyushu, confirming the use and importance of these seals in ancient times.
___There are shops and mail-order houses that will recommend the best material and size for a person's hanko after taking into consideration the date of birth and the number of strokes in the kanji used for the user's name.
Some of the most auspicious materials are, the horn of water buffalo, the wood of the box tree, and hard plastic, but crystal, bamboo, and stone are also used.
The kanji in a name are carefully studied and arranged to fit the eight sectors of the hanko's circular surface: success, happiness, fate, health, confidence, management, love, and money.
Many tourists who come to Japan buy hanko as souvenirs, and they have their names translated into kanji to be put on hanko. A considerable amount of care must be taken in the choice of characters used to represent foreigners' name, however. In the case of the name "Barton", an unknowing tourist chose the characters ba, meaning "horse", and ton, meaning "pig". Fortunately the hanko maker was kind enough to suggest a gentler ba that meant "leaves" and a ton that meant "sincerity". Leave a Comment Theme: Local Craft
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This is just a precautionary measure. When buying electronics in Japan, make sure to ask the store keeper or seller to give you a receipt for immigration purposes. You will probably needed this when you pass immigration going home!
When you buy an imitation samurai, make sure to get a declaration that what you bought is not a real samurai! There is a government policy in Japan that protects real samurai to get out of their country!
What To Buy: Electronics, computers and also samurai or imitation samurai
Electronics and samurai
Not applicable - depends on what you buy to bring home Theme: Computers and ElectronicsAddress: Japan
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