Art shopping in Tokyo
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A
Axis
Salivate over some of Japan’s most innovative interior design at this high-end design complex. Of the 16-odd galleries and retail shops selling art books, cutting-edge furniture and other objets d’art, highlights include Nuno, whose innovative fabrics incorporating objects from feathers to washi appear in New York’s Museum of Modern Art; Living Motif, with three floors of soothing, contemporary design (both Japanese and international) from cushions to candle holders; and Le Garage, with gear and accessories for motor-racing enthusiasts.
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B
Blue & White
Amy Katoh, the expat American behind this small crafts store, sells traditional and contemporary items such as tenugui, indigo-dyed yukata (light cotton kimono), bolts of nubby cloth, and painted chopsticks. Pick through tiny dishes of ceramic beads or collect bundled-up swatches of fabric for your own crafty creations. Katoh’s inspiration is the chubby, cherubic Japanese good-luck goddess Otafuku, who smiles from every corner of the shop.
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C
Kyūkyodō
Gorgeous traditional Japanese paper and note cards welcome you to the ground floor of this store in business since the early Edo Period (the current building is 20th century). Upstairs art is sold on shikishi (cardboard canvases), alongside hanging scrolls to display them. Should you want to try your own art, there are traditional brushes and ink stones, even incense for inspiration.
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D
Itōya
Nine floors of stationery-shop love await visual-art professionals and seekers of office accessories from the everyday to luxury (fountain pens, Italian leather agendas). The 6th floor offers more traditional Japanese wares including washi (fine Japanese handmade paper), tenugui (beautifully hand-dyed thin cotton towels) and furoshiki (wrapping cloths).
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E
Tolman Collection
American Norman Tolman has been collecting Japanese print art for 50 years and authored many books on the subject, and his gallery in a traditional building represents some 48 leading Japanese artists of printing, lithography, etchings, wood-blocks and more. Prices aren’t cheap –prints start at around ¥12,000 – but neither is quality.
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F
Takumi
Takumi has been around for more than 60 years and has acquired an elegant selection of toys, textiles, ceramics and other traditional folk crafts from around Japan. Ever thoughtful, the shop also encloses information detailing the origin and background of the pieces if you make a purchase.
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G
Puppet House
This is a wondrous workshop of functional international marionettes, run by a super-friendly couple who are happy to talk shop. Look for the sign of Punch in an alley near Mizuho Bank.
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