Souvenir Hunting

Hi all,

I will be in Tokyo from Saturday the 7th through till Monday the 9th of March (so this Saturday until next Monday)

My question is where can I find good souvenirs that wont rip me off! I%26#39;m currently in Hakuba and all the gifts are mass manufactured, look as such and are far too costly. If they were more traditional and nicer items I could justify the cost easily.

I%26#39;m shopping for gifts for family and friends (girlfriend included) but want to better than the dodgy fridge magnets and what not. I%26#39;m open to suggestions on places to look and what items to actually look for as well.

I%26#39;ll trawl through these forums as I usually do but any suggestions would be more than appreciated. Oh and sorry for the late notice!!!

- Matt

Souvenir Hunting

This should help - http://www.tokyoessentials.com/shopping.html

Souvenir Hunting

Oriental Bazaar is a great place to go when you%26#39;re looking for distinctively Japanese souvenir:

tokyo-bazaar.com/harajuku/harajuku-oriental.鈥?/a>

There are tons of small shops that sell inexpensive jewelry, accessories and such on nearby Takeshita Dori in Harajuku too.

For fun Japanese snacks, you can%26#39;t beat Ameyoko. Cute, delicious and sometimes unusual Japanese chocolates like Macha-tea Kit Kat make nice small gifts. If you go to Shimura Shoten in Ameyoko, they%26#39;ll give you a bagful for 1,000 yen.

BTW, how was the B Akasaka? Did you get there OK? And how%26#39;s snow in Hakuba?

Oriental Bazaar has a nice selection of souvenirs at pretty good prices.

tokyo-bazaar.com/harajuku/harajuku-oriental.鈥?/a>

Kappabashi Street has a number of ceramics shops with nice wares -- we picked up a nice ceramic platter for around $15 CAD. You can also pick up some plastic sushi (very realistic looking) but it%26#39;s not necessarily cheap.

http://www.japan-guide.com/e/e3020.html

Most visitors go to Oriental Bazaar. Anyway, spend some time around that area walking around. Its called Omotesando and is one of the nicest places in Tokyo.

Hope you and your mates are having a good time at Hakuba. Did you get the taxi or train ok to Hakuba?

I%26#39;m curious why you guys picked Hakuba and not Niseko. I heard that Niseko has the best snow and its very welcoming to Aussie visitors.

Niseko has excellent snow and scenery. In fact, half the people who go there are foreigners with a majority being Australians and some Americans.

What sort of souvenirs? Nicer things can be had at museum gift shops and as someone mentioned, Kappabashi.

Oh yes, the Edo-Tokyo Museum has a great gift shop. I think you can access it without having to pay to go into the museum (but the museum is also worthwhile).

Check Bingoya for a wide variety of traditional Japanese handicrafts. It%26#39;s located just across the street from the Oedo Line%26#39;s Wakamatsu-Kawada subway station. Here is their website:

http://www.quasar.nu/bingoya/

Click on the links in the floor guide, even if in Japanese, for photos of the things they carry. Not the common trinket shop.

Also, look here for other options:

guardian.co.uk/travel/鈥okyo.shoppingtrips

Bingoya has nice craft items. Oriental Bazaar has good prices on items that are more obviously typical souvenir items. Kiddyland (which I think is just down the street from Oriental Bazaar) has kid-oriented gifts including plastic key covers decorated with Japanese cartoon characters. Kappabashi is a good place to buy pottery and also plastic replicas of sushi. You can find some uniquely Japanse pottery items at department stores. If your girlfriend is skinny enough to fit into Japanese sizes, Uniqlo has great prices on sweaters and supima cotton t-shirts.

Wow, good responses lol. We chose Hakuba purely for the fact that Niseko has (from all reports) lost that Japanese feel. While we are primarily here for the snowboarding we did want some culture as well. Besides for a beginner like myself the amount of snow has had no real detriment to my riding....although with a grand total of 10 days under my belt I did a 180 indy over the 20foot jump at Goryu today (and ate it badly a few times as well!)

The B Akasaka was very nice - I`m scared to say it will probably be the best accommodation we stay in all trip!

As for all those suggestion on where to look for trinkets ill check them out. Looks like I have some reading to do but hopefully I can go to one area and it will be all good lol.