I went to Tokyo back in January. I think one of my favourite things was the shops ʕっ•ᴥ•ʔっ Below is a little bit on my shopping experience and what I picked up.
Sanrio is a Japanese company that has been creating all the kawaii over the years. In the 90's their key characters were Hello Kitty, Keroppi and Bad Badtz Maru. Now theres a whole bunch of new guys on the block. At one point I thought I was in the midst of a jet lag meltdown when I saw the music video of a singing salmon on the TV, but thats just one of their newer characters Kirimi Chan.
There's also Purin the golden retriever in a beret and a depressed looking egg called Gudetama. I wasn't aware of any of these guys until I went to Tokyo and immediately wanted all of teh merchandise...ʕっ•ᴥ•ʔっ(clever work Sanrio)
Here is a rundown of the few of the shops I visited
Mighty Soxer (Takeshita Street, Harajuku)
Lots of different types of socks and tights, mostly with faces. You can get 3 pairs for ¥1000 (about £5) and the quality is good, not sure you would even get that sort of deal in the UK. I don't wear socks, but I came home with 6 pairs.
Daiso 100 Yen Store (Harajuku)
I wasn't 100% sold on the Daiso store. It is a £1 shop so there are going to be all the random household products you get in any £1 shop but I did find some Moomin biscuits in there which would probably cost £6-£7 in London. I bought some correction tape too…I never use correction tape but its the shape of a chick so....
Kiddyland (Harajuku)
Ahh this was my favourite. Floors and floors with all the Sanrio and game characters you could want. There is an entire Rilkkuma and Hello Kitty FLOOR and departments dedicated to Miffy, Moomin, Gudetama, Kapibarasan, Line Friends, Studio Ghibli, Ojipan and more.
I almost lost a contact lens as I was forgetting to blink. If you don't have long in Tokyo and you want to get some cute and pointless stuff this could be a one stop option. This is a Shibe pen, its ears click the pen down
Tokyu Hands (various places - Shibuya)
Tokyu Hands is a chain department store so you will find one wherever you are in Tokyo. Shibuya has a large one of about 7-8 floors. Each floor is dedicated to a department so you will find one with hardware, beauty, stationary, outdoor gear etc. I found the beauty floor interesting (various devices to help you work on your smile…) and stationary. I didn't find all that much to buy as its still a place for actual proper shopping (boring!) and not just useless objects with cute faces on them. My faves from here included Alpaca Mascara, Kiwi Point Pads and Moomin washi tape. Lashes like Alpaca, the original eyelash goals.
Lumine Est Shopping Centre - Shinjuku
This was our default place to go when we wanted something to eat without all the guess work. But there were also floors of clothes shops in here too. I only got to check them out briefly on the last day (probably a good thing) but there were lots of little department stores with nautical and preppy girls clothing. I picked up a 'one size' cord dungaree dress for £12 here but easily could have gone crazy if I had any suitcase space left (・×・)
Shopping culture
Local shop staff are so polite and unassuming that its almost other worldly.
People bow frequently and talk through promotional offers (somewhat to themselves) while stacking shelves. In some stores you may be expected to remove your shoes when going into the fitting rooms (this seemed to the case in Uniqlo). I managed to get through most transactions with a lot of nodding and saying sumimasen (sorry). This bear was in the Line Friends store in Harajuku ʕӧ●̫ӧʔ
Sale Fever!
It can get a bit crazy if there is a discount day on. This video clip of when we entered one department store in Harajuku gives you an idea. It was very tempting to stayed glued to the back of the elevator. Departments all compete with each other to get the crowd buying from their area, so people stand on boxes shouting and waving banners. Not for those of a nervous disposition.
This was on a 10% off day!
Haul Video
Here is a little haul video on vimeo of the things I picked up. I filmed this a couple of months ago, its not perfect but I thought I might as well put it up with this blog post
