Last month, I was lucky enough to finally make it to Japan for the first time ever. My husband and I initially booked a trip to go in March of 2020, and I think it’s safe to say we all know what happened to world travel then. I had created a full itinerary for that trip, and I built off of it a bit when planning it the second time around. While the wait was hard (and that initial cancellation painful), I’m glad that I had more time to do research on all the crafty places I could potentially visit on our trip.

Here, I will share that research, and where I ended up going – as well as what I discovered along the way – with you.

FABRIC & TRIM:

Our first day in Japan, we took it easy on our jetlagged selves and walked around in the Ueno Park and Tanaka neighbourhoods, which weren’t too far from where we were staying in Arakawa-ku. It was a beautiful day and the streets were quiet, and we walked by a store called Biscuit – I was very intrigued, but the lights were all off and the door shut. The sign on the door translated roughly to, “I will be opening late today”, but with no indication of when “late” would be. We decided to continue walking around the area and went back about half an hour later. I was disappointed to see the store still dark, until Eitan pointed out the shopkeeper making her way down the street to open up shop.

I had so much fun browsing Biscuit – it was full of fun little vintage knickknacks, as well as vintage fabrics, buttons, and a wall filled with spools of vintage ribbons. Unfortunately I didn’t find any vintage fabrics I liked that were in a large enough piece for me to make use of, but it was still fun to look through and see what was there. I couldn’t help walking out with a few yards of vintage ribbon, which was, in typical Japanese fashion, perfectly wrapped up for me to take home.

Now, I’m sure that if you’re into textiles and you’ve looked into or gone fabric shopping in Tokyo, you’ve heard of Nippori Fabric Town. Well, you should know that I take my fabric shopping very seriously – so much so that I booked our Air BnB about a 12-minute walk away from Nippori. I imagined carrying so many loads of fabric that I would want to easily return to the Air BnB to unload and have a snack before heading back for another round.

In truth – and maybe this is a very unpopular opinion – I actually was very underwhelmed. Sorry, I know. Nippori Fabric Town is like a mecca for textile lovers visiting Tokyo. Maybe that’s the thing – maybe it was so hyped up that my expectations were just too high. I didn’t find all that much that I didn’t feel like I could find at home (maybe I’m just spoiled with Toronto’s fashion district?). I had visions of incredible printed linens and exclusive Nani Iro prints… and, well there were cute quilting cotton prints and lots of cute canvas prints, but not the kinds of things that got me excited. Maybe this was for the best, as I didn’t feel overwhelmed and as though there was too much pressure to choose.

The star of Nippori Fabric Town is Tomato. There are a few locations, all specializing in different types of fabric. My favourite location was the “fancy” store (Tomato SELECT-KAN), where I saw some of those beautiful linens and wools I had dreamed of, and purchased what was left on a bolt of dark green floral linen. I was tempted by some fabrics in their “interiors” store (I always have been drawn in by curtain-y type fabrics for garments, à la Maria from Sound of Music), but the thought of fitting bulkier fabrics in my suitcase, and right at the beginning of the trip, had me nixing that idea.

One of the reasons I’m glad I was staying nearby was that I had a chance for a second round. When I got home that first night, feeling underwhelmed by my first experience of Nippori Fabric Town, I checked out their official website to see if there was something I had missed. Turns out, I had missed l. musee buttons, which I had had on my list of places I wanted to visit. They have a location on the main street that’s focused on beads, and I was so disappointed not to have found any buttons there. It was only after I checked out the website map again that I realized the button shop was a separate shop on one of the side streets.

I also learned from a second look at the website and map that there were more stores east of the main “strip”. My favourite of these was Humongous, a store specializing in block prints. The store is small, but very beautifully organized (photos were not allowed). The fabrics were expensive, but beautiful, and I felt they had that charming and unique Japanese quality I was after. The staff member working there was also kind and incredibly helpful, and more than willing to communicate using the translation apps on our phones.

So aside from stopping in at Humongous on our second visit to Nippori, I picked up some vintage buttons at l. musee (embarrassingly enough, I didn’t realize that the price listed was per button and not per card…) and some stunning woven ribbon from E & Son Fabric’s trim shop (which also did not allow photos – trust me, though, it was a beautiful shop). The trouble I have with trims is I love them, but have no clue what to do with them. I have a drawer full of beautiful trims…and yet, I can’t resist buying more. If you’re a fan of special trims and ribbons, you’ll have fun exploring the little trim shops in Nippori.

I think what was a little overwhelming about Nippori Fabric Town, and about Tokyo in general, is you kind of don’t know what’s down the little side streets or in the teeny tucked-away shops or in second-floor shops (many multi-storied buildings in Tokyo have shops and businesses beyond the first level!). I started to feel like there just wasn’t time to look at everything, so I tried to be selective so I could actually enjoy my time there. I’m the kind of person who doesn’t enjoy bargain hunting, or digging through dusty bolts of fabric that have been haphazardly stacked all over the place. If a store didn’t fit the sort of shopping vibe I wanted to be in, I skipped it, and spent more time perusing the stores that excited me. It almost felt like a relief not coming away with piles of fabric, especially since I knew it was just the start of our trip. What’s nice about a neighbourhood with such a large number of fabric and sewing shops, though, is that there’s a bit of something for everyone – whether you like high-end vintage buttons, or searching for that special fabric you managed to get at a steal.

Have you been to Nippori Fabric Town? And if so, did it meet your expectations?

YARN:

My yarn shopping adventures in Japan were hit by a bit of disappointing news early on in the trip. At the very end of February and just a few days into our trip, the famous AVRIL Kyoto (as of writing this their website is still up, though online shopping is no longer available), which I had been very excited to visit since first planning our trip in 2019, announced their store’s permanent closure. It seemed to be very out of the blue (one of my Japanese colleagues said she was so surprised she was convinced I had just misunderstood the Instagram post when I told her!). Comments on the announcement post on Instagram seemed to imply that customers were totally caught unaware by the news. I was pretty upset, and had been planning to visit their Kyoto flagship location just a few days after the announcement was made.

The Kichijoji (Tokyo) location was to remain open. Eitan and I had just been near Kichijoji to visit the Ghibli Museum, but AVRIL was closed that day – I wasn’t bothered about missing the Kichijoji location at the time, because the Kyoto location was on the itinerary for later in the trip. Kichijoji isn’t exactly in the city centre, but when I heard the news I managed to convince Eitan to make the trip back there so I wouldn’t have to leave Japan without having made a stop at AVRIL (there may have been coffee bribery involved…) I also visited l.musee’s second store location which is in Kichijoji as well and just minutes away from AVRIL. And yes, I did buy more buttons.

The majority of yarn at AVRIL is sold off of spools by weight, so I picked up a few grams of a fun pom pom yarn that they seem to be famous for.

On our day in Shibuya, we made stops at a few different yarn stores in that area.

First up was Daruma, which actually only just opened up late this past Autumn. I was really excited to hear that they were opening up a physical location that I would be able to visit on my trip, as I’ve always been a fan of their yarns and their patterns. I was even more excited to learn that one of their kits that I had been eyeing would be a part of this year’s Spring/Summer kit release, and that that kit would become available for sale on the same day that I was planning on visiting.

I did end up getting the kit (in blue, of course), but I also ended up getting one of their books and the yarn to make these cute sewing-themed mittens. The staff there were really nice and helpful too and I really enjoyed shopping there!

Next up was Amimono SPIN, which I think is also a relatively new shop as it didn’t come up in my initial 2019/2020 Japan research. Amimono SPIN was somewhat small, with all their yarn sold in pretty cakes (however, the labels don’t have any information about the yarn on them – I found most of what I needed on their website, though). I ended up buying some solid blue-green Aran-weight yarn to hold with the pom pom yarn I bought at AVRIL (I think that’s going to make some very cute mittens). The main highlight of Amimono SPIN was meeting some expats sitting and knitting in the lounge area of the shop, and sitting with them and chatting about knitting for a little while while we rested our weary feet.

Next up was WALNUT Tokyo, which felt a bit obligatory to stop at as a knitter visiting Japan. It was a lovely shop, however maybe I’m a bit spoiled, as I found that the majority of the stock they carried I could find at The Knitting Loft back at home. I did treat myself to two skeins of their house brand yarn, because it’s nice to pick up some souvenirs, and it was pretty lovely!

The next day we visited Itoricot, which to me was an incredible and new concept for a yarn store (maybe you know of other places like it where you are – please comment below!). How it works is that they sell yarn off of cones of factory leftovers (kind of like deadstock fabric?), and you purchase the quantity you need, which is then wound off onto a new cone for you. Since a lot of the yarns were for use on industrial knitting machines, many of them are very thin (about thread weight), but you can mix and match them and the store will wind them together for you onto a new cone (for a small fee). At first I was incredibly overwhelmed by the options and possible combinations. Fortunately, I did come in with a project in mind, and the staff there were incredibly patient working with me to get the thickness and colour of yarn and quantities I needed. Honestly it was a little stressful at times, since I had trouble gauging how many strands of very thin yarn I needed to get more to a “hand knitting” weight that I’m used to, as well as trying to envision how the colours would look once “plied” together. It was a very unique experience and in the end I’m really glad I made a stop there.

Here’s a video of them winding up my “custom blend” for me!

Other crafty things of note:

I follow Yumiko Higuchi on Instagram and have been a huge fan of her embroidery work for years, so I was thrilled that during my time in Tokyo she shared on Instagram that she would have kits for sale as part of a handcraft pop-up shop at the Japanese department store giant, Isetan. The pop-up was being hosted at the Shinjuku location, and I was almost jumping for joy at the beautiful tables of artisans we found when we arrived. I bought the sought-after kit from Yumiko Higuchi, but I also treated myself to a skein of naturally-dyed yarn from NONA Temari. I had heard of NONA Temari before, but didn’t know that she dyed yarn, and I just couldn’t resist getting a skein. Also, after all the research I had done, I didn’t know she had a brick-and-mortar location. I felt like I got my fill at the pop-up, though, so I didn’t go out of my way to visit the store.

The pop-up also featured COHANA, a brand I am familiar with as they carry a few of their products at The Knitting Loft, and it was nice to see all their goodies in one place and in the country where they’re made.

Other places on the list were Yuzawaya and Okadaya, which we unfortunately just didn’t end up having time for. I had visited so many crafty places in Tokyo that I wasn’t feeling too bummed out about it, but I would still like to visit if we ever go back to Japan. The Bunka Gakuen Shop was also on the list, but it wasn’t really near any of the other places we were planning to go, and I didn’t feel a need to go out of our way to visit. We also didn’t make it to chocoshoe as the store hours didn’t line up with when we were already in the area – but again, I didn’t feel like I was missing out because I had already come away with so much great yarn.

On a little visit out to Jiyugaoka we came across a cute little shop called Hobbyra Hobbyre which had a lot of cutesy Liberty fabrics and cross-stitching kits. The store had a very feminine and clean aesthetic.

In Kuramae, Maito Design Works is a lovely shop to pick up naturally dyed threads, as well as naturally dyed garments and accessories.

Finally, one of my favourite stores that wasn’t initially on our list was Tokyu Hands. We went to the Shinjuku location and wow, I felt like I was in a crafter’s paradise – it was just floor after floor of amazing DIY products. One of the floors does have some yarns and embroidery items, but my favourite section was all the miniatures kits. Definitely check out Tokyu Hands if you can. We picked up a lot of our souvenirs for friends and family there too!

That’s all for our visit to Tokyo! Coming up next will be all about our crafty stops in Kyoto.

Have you visited Tokyo? If so, which crafty shops did you visit? If you haven’t made it there yet, what’s on your list?