August 3, 2016 (Tokyo, Japan)
We took a trip to the Ginza district, which is known as one of the most luxurious shopping areas in the world. M told us that a section of sidewalk outside one of the stores is officially the most expensive piece of land in the country. In 2014 the value was around 29,000,000 yen per square meter, which is nearly $26,000 per square foot! Around that same time, the most expensive home in the world was just under $23,000 per square foot. (see references)
Most of the buildings have been built within the last 150 years, after the last major fire in the area. Here are a few of the newer ones:
We met a Pepper robot in one of the stores and had a brief conversation. Pepper is supposed to be able to perceive human emotions and was designed to be a companion for your home. (Maybe if you are spending too much time online and don’t have real friends to interact with directly.) Pepper correctly guessed my age, and being a true gentleman, guessed Sasha to be more than a decade younger than she is. People do say we look younger than we are . . . maybe I was just really tired that day.
We also stopped at a huge toy store, Hakuhinkan Toy Park, and wandered around for about an hour. Lots of familiar toys going back to my childhood, as well as many that were specific to Japan.
These Pop’nstep figurines by Tomy are everywhere (and include Disney, Peanuts, Sanrio characters, and more), and they dance to the music being played in the background. They also have the ability to chain together and dance. I liked this particular display:
Walking along Chuo Dori street we passed many upscale stores such as Tiffany, Bulgari, Louis Vuitton, and others. It was a good example to us how Hawai`i (specifically Ala Moana Center) has almost all the same stores and has really lost its local flavor. But that’s another blog post entirely.
The Japanese do a lot of things right, and now I see that stationery is no different. My experience in America has been shops like Papyrus, Hallmark, and big stores like Michael’s and Ben Franklin which are more like craft stores. Before we left, I asked a Japanese colleague to recommend some stores in Tokyo where I could get some supplies. He told me about several stores in the Ginza area where he could easily spend hours wandering and looking at everything. I thought he was joking . . . until we walked into Itoya. Now I actually understand what a true stationery store can be. In fact, I was so in awe and so distracted by everything that I didn’t take a single photograph. It seems that architects are equally enthralled by writing/drafting instruments as we are by hardware stores.
The Ginza location has two buildings on the same block – the main one is 12 levels counting the basement and the second building is 7 stories.
We started at the top and worked or way downwards. The 12th floor is a restaurant/café and the floor below is used to grow vegetables and other produce for it.
Then there is a floor rentable for business meetings followed by 8 floors of goodies and a basement with displays intended to inspire your creativity. We spent hours going through all the notebooks, pens, travel gear, origami paper, and everything else.
The second building has more products for painting, sculpting, pastels and markers, globes and maps, and some of the most expensive pens I’ve ever seen. The fountain pen floor felt more like a museum than anything else, complete with a glassed-off work station for pen repairs. Some of the pens in the cases had prices in the range of tens or hundreds of thousands of dollars.
A bit hungry after all this shopping, we made a quick stop for a snack. I had my first takoyaki (octopus ball), which was delicious. Sasha had an ice cream and got to eat it all since she learned how not to eat it the previous week.
We finished out our shopping with a visit to Tokyu-Hands, Mujirushi, and Loft, getting lost in all the amazing choices and possibilities. I now understand how someone can spend hours in these stores – as we certainly did that day.
M took us to a nearby izakaya for dinner, which was fantastic.
References:
“Real estate pricing in Japan – 6 different land prices.” Realestate-Tokyo. 9 October 2014, http://www.realestate-tokyo.com/news/official-land-price-tokyo-2014. Accessed 16 October 2016.
Garrison Trey. “World’s most expensive home per square foot goes on sale.” Housingwire. 8 August 2014, http://www.housingwire.com/articles/30970-worlds-most-expensive-home-per-square-foot-goes-on-sale. Accessed 16 October 2016.
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