Food Japan

Tokyo cafes and zakka shops

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A final hello from Tokyo! I’m working on a graceful way to wrap up my Japan posts, which includes lovely photo memories of Kobe and Kyoto patiently waiting to be shared. The little keepsakes in the above photos are from a visit to Hiki’s cozy Uguisu the little shoppe, hidden in a quiet alleyway of Roppongi. At Uguisu, I got an old book washi tape by Yoko Inoue, a Ten-to-sen washi tape by Rieko Oka, and a ceramic stamp by Mihoko Seki.

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These are the two handy Tokyo guide zines that accompanied my subway rides: Hello Sandwich Tokyo Guide by Ebony Bizys and My Loverly Japan by Jannese Rojas. I began each day in Tokyo visiting a new craft store or department store stationary sections, thanks to Jannese’s eye for craft supplies. She gives thoughtful overviews of major neighborhoods, as well as detailed guidelines for each.

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After shopping at Tokyu Hands, I wanted to eat some comfort food. Here’s ochazuke!

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Placing my ochazuke order using this ticket vending machine…

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A cute chestnut donut for a snack. I think I ate a different donut every single day..

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And finally, welcome to Koenji! I am so excited to share these snapshots of adorable zakka shops and my adventures neighborhood-hopping with the lovely Ros of Polkaros. It was wonderful catching up with her in Tokyo, and experiencing her favorite neighborhoods. We covered so much ground in just a few days–from Koenji, Kichijoji, Shimokitazawa, Nakameguro, Daikanyama, and a final purikura stopover in Shibuya.

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Lover Soul has to be my favorite vintage shop in this neighborhood. Every piece features a cool pattern or color. I bought a dress!

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We stumbled upon an adorable llama pouch Ros designed.

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A sneak-peak of Polkaros exhibit pieces, waiting to be glazed at her pottery studio!

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Hattifnatt Cafe! It looks and feels like a tiny tree house covered in colorful murals.

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Every meal should end with a smiley matcha latte!

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And here’s a purikura snap featuring me (wearing my vintage dress from Lover Soul in Koenji) and Ros.

Thanks again, to Ros and Jannese!

19 Comments

  • Reply
    meds
    November 22, 2013 at 10:08 pm

    loving all your sojourns, sewon. and that is such a cute llama pouch by ros 🙂 every time I say I will take time to go by such zakka.. I don’t have the luggage space, haha!

    • Reply
      Sewon
      November 25, 2013 at 11:10 am

      Ah, luggage space! I was traveling with a backpack this time, so you can imagine the restraint each time something caught my eye. 🙂 It was also good, because it allowed me to practice traveling light. 😛

  • Reply
    A la french (@a_la_french)
    November 23, 2013 at 12:47 am

    how cool, I love everything ! And that latte is so cute 🙂

    • Reply
      Sewon
      November 25, 2013 at 11:15 am

      Thank you~ 🙂

  • Reply
    Marlou
    November 23, 2013 at 2:25 am

    what a beautiful dress you bought! and what a beautiful place Tokyo seems to be – i like how it’s not super big/neon/overwhelming in your photos, but almost like another world and supercute. using guide zines to find your way through a new city is such a clever idea! i love zines, but somehow haven’t thought about that yet… do you happen to know if there are any good ones for Seoul? 🙂

    (talking about Korea: i am at my parents home now and found your recipe zine her waiting for me! it’s so adorable and all the dishes look SO good! my goal is to try them all before i leave, and i’ll hopefully start with it today – or tomorrow :))

  • Reply
    mariaalfazema
    November 23, 2013 at 2:16 pm

    beautiful!!
    the little tiles are incredible, and that macha latte… mmm can i have one? 🙂

  • Reply
    Lisa
    November 23, 2013 at 3:05 pm

    Ohhh, I dream of going to Tokyo one day, I would sure visit all these lovely places too! Nice pictures!

  • Reply
    Louise
    November 24, 2013 at 7:21 am

    This looks wonderful, I love the purikura. This kind of Tokyo I haven’t really seen in my own visits, it’s so neat to see how each person visiting Tokyo sees different things. I love the pictures, looking forward to Kyoto and Kobe too since they are the cities I’ve got the fondest memories of myself.

  • Reply
    Rina
    November 24, 2013 at 3:56 pm

    That cafe looks so cute!! And those little pieces by Polkaros are adorable. Mmm, I wouldn’t mind a bowl of ochazuke, or a maccha late right about now ♥

  • Reply
    Sara Martins
    November 24, 2013 at 4:19 pm

    A japanese dream,this post <3

  • Reply
    Jane Y.
    November 25, 2013 at 10:31 am

    the shops look so wonderful. my husband and i are saving up to go to korea and japan next year. can’t wait.

  • Reply
    Veronica Fish
    November 25, 2013 at 3:16 pm

    I love this post! I love all of Ebony’s suggestions on places to go in Japan, she gets me lol

  • Reply
    Crystal
    November 25, 2013 at 9:59 pm

    I love the smiley matcha latte! Whenever I see pictures of food from Japan it always looks so well presented and delicious!

  • Reply
    Matthew Pike (@mat_buckets)
    November 26, 2013 at 3:58 am

    It’s funny, I was actually reading a blog about sticky tape yesterday and the whole if you buy “Washi” tape out of Japan you’re likely to get something else and inferior. Sounds confusing.

  • Reply
    katie
    November 27, 2013 at 1:57 pm

    the old book washi, ahhh!

  • Reply
    jannese
    December 1, 2013 at 10:17 am

    Thanks again for the shout out 🙂 Your pics are lovely as usual and they make me homesick for Japan

  • Reply
    Ashley Wong
    June 26, 2014 at 6:22 am

    Hi Sewon,
    Searching Tokyo Zakka shops and found your blog, amazing !
    May I know which streets at Koenji has many zakka shops ? I cannot find info. from tourist guild books 😛
    Thanks in advance.

    Ashley

  • Reply
    i'm Ai~Ch@N
    August 6, 2014 at 12:10 am

    wow~~~ I really love your blog, your posts and photo style

    so cool ^^

  • Reply
    Shift Local
    January 4, 2016 at 8:58 pm

    Awesome write up 🙂

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