2011 Trip to Japan #1 Material Shopping

Hello everyone! I was back from my long Summer vacation a week ago! It was one month trip to North Carolina and Japan. I missed you girls and writing here so bad. But I was not able to have chances to sit in front of my PC on the trip as usual! So sorry for letting you to wait that long. As you assume, I have tons of things to tell you about my trip. I am going to start with my crafty material shopping in Tokyo. I guess many of you are interested in what you can get over there in Tokyo. It is a paradise of quality fabrics and materials! My schedule was so tight and the time I could spend for shopping was limited. I wish I could introduce many more stores and market places, but this time I spent time shopping online a lot. There are only several stores I could shop. Today I am going to write about a big craft department store Yuzawaya Shinjuku brunch. The Shinjuku brunch is not the biggest one of their stores. So the selection is also not the biggest. But you will still need hours to look around there for shopping. I hope you'll enjoy this post.

 The things which caught my eye first were those super cute needle felted animals and dolls. It seems needle felting is very popular in Japan right now. There are so many small packs of candy color wool roving and also needle felting kits. You can get materials and instructions to make those cute things like in the picture above all in one package. You don't even need to look for appropriate materials individually and get more than you need. I assume the reason of that kits are so popular in Japan is it is very convenient for beginners, weekend crafters, and someone who only wants to make a thing for a gift.

 Beading craft is very popular too. Not only making jewelry. These are tiny beads animal key chains. Japanese crafters really like "Kawaii (Cute)" style.

More kits. Those are all beading kits. I wonder how come we don't see many kits at the craft store in the US. I see purse making kits, embroidery kits and knitting kits. But it is nothing to be compared with it in Japan. If you have any opinions about this, I would love to hear it. Just leave a comment on this post.

 Japanese crochet lace threads.

 Sashiko threads.

 Buttons.

 Threads for hand sewing.

You might already know, I love Japanese linen cotton print. Its colors, texture, and designs are fabulous. Of course I purchased some. I cannot wait to create something fun with those fabrics I got.

This shelf will be the envy of Echino fans in the US.

Double gauze fabrics.

Japanese Kawaii prints for babies.

I wish I had much more time and budget for my material shopping in Japan! I could spend a whole couple days shopping materials around in Tokyo! Honestly! If you got a chance to be in Tokyo and had time for shopping, make sure that you ask me where to go!

I purchased some fabrics and some other stuff on that shopping day. I will post about what I got in the next post. By the way, after shopping, I had an awesome Japanese cuisine for lunch with my four best friends!

The food was great and it is always so nice to see and talk with old good friends. We spent about four hours talking about what has been going on our life. I had so much fun shopping but spending time with my girls was really priceless. I am fortunate to have such wonderful lifetime friends.

Yum!

Dessert! I already miss Japanese food!

Thank you for visiting here again! I hope you have a beautiful week!