Shopping in Tokyo Part 1

Before this trip to Tokyo I already had a nice little collection of Japanese craft books from my holiday there last year and from regular visits to the fab Sydney branch of Kinokuniya. These photos are of all my books, including the dozen or so that I just bought. The book prices in Japan are about half what you pay here... hence my very heavy hand luggage.


One of my favourites at the moment is the one on top of the pile called Knot. It features the most divine and delicate accessories. As my fellow Owls will attest I had no patience with or interest in crocheting granny squares (at the end of the evening I gave away the hooks and yarn I'd bought), but oh my, I'd crochet my heart out if I thought there was any hope I could make things this lovely. I'll be on the scout for someone to translate this book, as well as a patient teacher.


At Design Festa (there'll be a whole post devoted to wonderful, crazy Design Festa tomorrow) I bought the beautiful earrings below, which are very much in the style of the projects in Knot.


Aren't they fab? A crocheted flower shape hangs in one gold hoop, and some cascading tendrils in the other.


Lotta Jansdotter is apparently huge in Japan although disappointingly I didn't come across any of her fabric there. I did find this book though, called Handmade Project, which has text in both Japanese and English.

The two best places I found for craft books in Tokyo were Okadaya and Kinokuniya, both in Shinjuku. I'm going to try to get some directions/maps together for shops I write about. In the meantime though if you're heading to Tokyo and want to know where to find them just email me. Or, if you want Tokyo shopping link overload check out Asking for Trouble's guide here.
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