Shopping a la Japoinaise

This week I want to take you with me to Japan. A fascinating country. So foreign but still close to my heart. I have visited it just once, but it is at the very top on my travel list. I love its food, its culture (or at least the bit I understand), its people, its script, its shopping craze, its bathing traditions, its fabrics,... So come with me to the “Land of the Rising Sun”.

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Shopping in Japan is amazing.

On the one hand side there are incredible beautiful artisan items like kimonos, pottery and paintings. Often they are unaffordable but just a pleasure to look at. A wonderful exception are these ceramic dishes which I found on Kappabashi Dogugai a street full of kitchenware stores – which are both incredible beautiful and affordable.

On the other side there are incredible fun kitschy items. Often they are affordable, very colourful, 100% plastic, loud, childish, accessible and fun – or absolutely kawaiiiii 

Kawaii hand bags – yes, they are for women, not for little girls

Vending machines – where you can literally get everything from cigarettes to hot and cold drinks, from games to underwear

Bath salts – in an immense variety of scents and ingredients e.g. with charcoal or exotic flowers and fruits

Strawberry dog house – can it get any more kawaii than that?