The best fashion and gift stores Japan

Founded in 1952, Tsubaya is one of Japan's most prestigious cutlers, located in the famous Kappabashi district, where food professionals come from all over the country to get their knives. It is possible to have a design or a name engraved on your blade (on request), and to learn how to sharpen a blade in the right way. The English-speaking staff will be happy to help you, advise you and teach you some aspects of the trade. For a gift or out of curiosity, Tsubaya is an address not to be missed!

Don Quijote, commonly called "Donki", is a chain of stores that has the particularity to sell absolutely everything. It is a bit of a mix between a shopping mall and an oriental bazaar. While browsing through the shelves, you will find a wide range of products from electronic devices to low cost or trendy items for all audiences. This is also where you can find the famous Japanese Kitkat lines with wasabi, green tea, cherry blossom, etc. flavors that are a hit in the country.

Founded in 1673, Mitsukoshi was the first company to open a Japanese style department store in 1904 in Nihombashi. The store offers a selection of quality products and services. It has become a major shopping destination in Tokyo. Its selections of kimonos and Japanese handicrafts are of high quality. The Renaissance style building has been designated as a historic building. Other branches have become just as mythical, like the Ginza branch.

This maze of alleys recalls the black market that developed there after World War II. "Ame" is as much about the Americans as it is about the candy that was sold there (among other less innocent things). Today, it remains a popular market where you can find stores of all kinds offering clothes, gadgets or fresh products. It is especially the fish stalls that attract attention and the small bars that set up makeshift terraces along the streets. In the evening, you can drink a beer or sake in a warm and friendly atmosphere.

The concept of Daiso stores is to offer all kinds of small items from storage to cleaning, decorating and stationery, all for 100 yen (plus tax). The Takeshita Street sign has become famous for its products that are 100% Japanese, or at least, 100% evocative of Japan. Sushi gums, small fans, stickers, chips and cookies with local flavors, t-shirts, face masks, dishes... there's really something to fill up on small souvenirs and gifts, at an unbeatable price.

The famous souvenir and antique store had stood in the middle of Omotesandō since 1951. Initially catering to American soldiers stationed in the neighborhood, it conquered a wider audience. The store closed in 2020, but reopened in July 2023 near its former location. L'Oriental bazar lives up to its name, selling everything from prints and old kimonos to antique furniture, crockery and stationery. It's a convenient stop-off point for good-quality souvenirs to suit all budgets.

This is the Mecca of electronics in Japan. Bic Camera is a chain that can be found in every district of Tokyo, but the one in Ikebukuro is particularly large (9 floors!) and complete. You will find a wide range of cameras, cameras or computers and other cell phones. And if that's not enough, in the same area there is another Bic Camera store specialized in computers. The stores also offer a convenient service of delivery of purchases directly to the airport.

This shop and art gallery specializes in Japanese prints and etchings from the Edo period to the 20th century. You will find works by 18th century artists such as Utamaro as well as contemporary artists such as Tanaka Ryuhei. We also discover a pleiad of lesser known but equally talented Japanese painters who have contributed to the transmission and evolution of the art of engraving over several centuries. The range of works exhibited highlights the incredible dimension and variety of this artistic expression.

At the foot of the Sky Tree, there are no less than 300 stores that delight visitors to the tower. From typical Sky Tree souvenirs to more traditional gifts such as manekineko, those little cats with their paws up, or offbeat ones such as mamegui, squares of fabric in the shape of little animals to wrap gifts (guaranteed cute), you will find all sorts of souvenirs to take home. The Sumida aquarium and other cultural activities are also within easy reach. A favorite destination for families.

The new Parco may look like just another luxury shopping mall, but it hides a few nuggets. In the basement, the Chaos Kitchen showcases rare or strange bars and restaurants: vegan izakaya, insect bars and other unusual meats, all in an atmosphere of yatai, those little alleys full of bars found all over Tokyo. The ^6th, on the other hand, is a cyberspace featuring Nintendo, Pokemon and Jump stores, with all the heroes of the famous magazine in the spotlight. The queue is long, but this new mall is seductive.

Lacquer store.

Famous wooden dolls.

In this store you will find the most beautiful Nanbu tetsubin (fonte teapots). Master Nobuho Miya speaks English a little.

There is a superb lacquer (Ryūkyū shikki) with scales and a different style from other Japanese and Chinese lacquers. The lacquer keeps a brilliant and transparent character.

Located in Heiwa-dōri

There are local fabrics.

This is where you will find a fairly good sampling of traditional and modern textiles, ceramics and lacquers.

Prominent at the beginning of the arcades, Yamashiroya can be spotted from afar thanks to the gashapon, these distributors of sometimes surprising trinkets. This store which rises on 6 floors offers everything that Japan creates of derivative products that the geeks of the planet tear off. It's a real Ali Baba's cave, where anime and video game figurines are sold, but also toys and dolls for children and offbeat gadgets as only Japan knows how to make them. Children, young people and adults, everyone will find something in Yamashiroya.

It is a paradise for Sunday dressmakers and fashion or decoration enthusiasts. A hundred stores line the main street. You can find a multitude of fabrics, for clothing as well as for cosplay and furnishing. Not everything is cheap, but it is a good place to find traditional fabrics and tanmono, those 12 meters rolls of fabric used to make kimonos, yukata and other traditional clothes.