The best fashion and gift stores Tokyo

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.

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.

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.

It is difficult to choose among all the traditional handicraft stores in Asakusa, but the front of this small store is so beautiful that one cannot but push the door. Oozeki specializes in bunkogawa, embossed leather boxes that were used in Edo period to keep personal belongings. Today, the house makes all kinds of objects from barrettes to purses. The leather is entirely handcrafted and painted in the workshops located near the Tokyo Sky Tree. Perfect for gifts with a touch of finesse.

From the outside, it looks like a souvenir shop like you'd find anywhere else. In fact, it was founded in 1936 by Yanagi Sōetsu (1889-1961), the founder of the Mingei movement for the development of Japanese popular arts at the beginning of the 20th century. If for a few years the clientele has been mostly foreigners, it was for a long time the appointment of the Mingei's relatives, who came to chat or drink tea. It quickly makes you want to sit down for a moment and soak up the work of the craftsmen on display.

In the bohemian district of Shimokitazawa, this café which serves a rather basic menu also acts as a record shop. The space is bright, the records are piled up. People come especially to listen to the music. All day long, Keiichi Sokabe, former leader of a mythical rock band of the 1990s, mixes live, adapting to the audience, in a unique atmosphere. You can also ask him to listen to any of the vinyls on sale in the store. Note that there are other very good record shops in the same neighborhood

Post is different from other bookstores in that it presents the publications of a particular publishing house in the world each month. The decor is uncluttered and the place is visited like a gallery. In fact, artists' exhibitions are regularly organized. Most of the time, the publishing houses highlighted are small independent companies, unknown to the general public. The bookshop has a predilection for photography and contemporary art. The whole is an ode to the paper book, at a time when its existence is questioned.

The latest addition to Nihombashi's Coredo shopping centres, Muromachi Terrace is designed as a space for living and discovering as well as shopping. In addition to the pleasant terrace, it is the gallery on the ^2nd floor that attracts our attention. There, Japanese artists and craftsmen exhibit their work: ceramics, fabric, jewellery, there is something for every taste. Rather than stores, they are small workshops, and sometimes you can see the creative process of the artisans as much as participate in it. The food gallery does not disappoint either.

If you are a fan of gadgets, computers or household appliances, this is the place for you. You'll find all the classic products of this type of store, spread out over several floors: cables, screens, adapters, etc., but with a touch of slightly offbeat innovation as well. You'll find umbrellas with built-in lights, ties with mini-fans to keep you cool in the summer, and electric lunch boxes to heat up your picnic. Useful or zany, the items are not lacking in humor.

The store of the chain of home products, stationery, decoration, etc., opened a few years ago in Ginza. The first floor is laid out like an urban garden, where flowers, organic food and a small café attract a bobo clientele. It is on the upper floors that you can find the most interesting items, between Japanese papers, design and handicraft objects, small kitchen utensils, beautiful bento boxes, as well as a wide range of beauty and make-up products. We go there for the pleasure of finding small souvenirs that are both cute and useful.