Quirky shopping in Japan
We all love shopping when we travel. And we all want to take back things unique about that place. Globalisation has not left many such options as a lot of brands and stuff has become ubiquitous. But when we find something unique, we love to grab it. On my visit to Tokyo, I was talking to my husband about my day when he asked me what kind of shops I saw on the streets. Apart from food shops; there were a lot of these unconventional things which I had never seen before. Ever since that conversation, I began noticing the quirky shops. And they are definitely not in India, if not for the world. So here goes the list:
The second’s street — India has online shops like the Quikr and Olx to sell and buy old stuff. But having these shops in the busiest districts was unique. What was even more unique was that these were not about the less personalized good like the electronics; but clothes, shoes and utensils. Some of these shops even sold second-hand handkerchiefs and second-hand baby stuff. I waited outside these shops to see if they were doing it for charity. But the crowd walking in and out with the stuff certainly was not one who was interested in buying old stuff.
The custom-shops — Do you need a custom made shoe? Just the color, material, height right for you? Just the exact replica of what you saw the celebrity wearing in that song? Well, walk into one of these stores and get something custom-made. They can customize your clothes, shoes, musical instruments, bags, etc. What is ironical is that the second street exists in the same compound as the custom-made shops; making me wonder if its the same people who walk into both of these or does the same neighbourhood has different kinds of people.
The knife shops — Kyoto had a lot of shops selling only knives; and they had a huge variety of these. It seems different kinds of cookings and meats demanded different knives. I had a few of my colleagues interested in buying these as souvenirs, which was interesting to me. Even when I got to know, I was unsure if I wanted to buy knives for presents. Cultural differences I guess :)
Handkerchief & Towel shops — We walked into shops that sold beautiful towels and scarfs. Each of the towel was over 4000 yen. The shop was full of pastel coloured towels of all sizes and felt too soft and mushy. There was a shop called the ‘handkerchief bakery’; speaking a lot of the high-taste of the people living there and what they wanted the tourists to take away.
Paper shops — There were shops which sold hand-made paper stuff — envelopes, greeting cards, diaries, gift wrapping paper, invite cards. Each of this was unique, exclusive and delicate. I wanted to get them all for gifting.
Ink Shops — I saw a whole store selling pen inks; the ones we used growing up. It certainly make me nostalgic and wanting to pick one up; if not for the bottle being a glass one and susceptible to break in my suitcase.
There were stores dedicated to selling bottle covers; ramen bowls; the Japanese fans and the matcha ice-creams. What was unique was not just that they were all things one got only in Japan but that there were big stores selling only these and nothing else.
So while we all know Japan for the cameras and the tech gadgets; there were certainly other things which made the country so unique and beautiful to visit.
More about Tokyo in my other blogs:
