Update May 2017 - the last two times I've visited Tomato it's been extremely crowded. Try to be there when it opens (10:00 am) or at 12:00 pm, when many people leave to eat lunch.
When I travel, I research fabric/quilt stores in the city I'm visiting so I can look for new quilting material. Now that I live in Tokyo, I can share a little about my favorite places to fabric shop here.
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| North Gate (north side of the station) - to the East Exit |
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| South Gate - to the East Exit |
The best known area for buying fabrics is Nippori Fabric Town, a ½ mile stretch of road lined with fabric and textile stores. It’s located in the northeast part of Tokyo, about 12 minutes from Tokyo Station (JR Yamanote Line) or 21 minutes from Shinjuku Station (JR Yamaonte Line).
Depending on which train you take (or even which train car you're in) you come out in different parts of Nippori Station. You want to go to the East Exit, but there are two of them (one on the north side and one on the south side). Either one is fine to take, though the South Gate is closest to the street leading into Nippori Fabric Town. The North Gate is in the main part of the train station.
Nippori Station is on the far left of the map.
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| The stairs at the east exit on the south side of Nippori Station. |
After exiting the station, you'll walk to Nippori Chuo Dori (dori means street), the main street of Nippori Fabric Town. To reach it, if you exit from the main part of the station (east exit on the north side) after coming down the escalator you'll take a right onto the sidewalk and walk near the end of the block. If you come out through the east exit at the south gate, you'll walk down an old set of stairs and be close to the end of the block. You'll need to cross the street from the train station. Head towards the Ginza Cozy Corner and once you're in front of it go left and continue walking along as it curves. Walk past a Family Mart and you're on the correct street - you've entered Nippori Fabric Town!
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| These signs can help you find your way, too. |
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| Walk this way! |
If you're planning a shopping trip, be aware the stores in Nippori are closed on Sunday.
Visiting can be overwhelming because there are about 100 shops here, but the one best known for quilt fabric (and the largest selection AND the best prices) is Tomato. There are actually five different Tomato buildings, but you want the main, 5-story one (number 53 on the map). It's about three blocks from the train station and it will be on the left side of the street.
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| Stores will have the Nippori maps near the checkout counters. Look for the English version! |
After visiting the first floor I usually go up to the fifth floor and work my way down (there's an elevator if you need it). The top floor has the American quilting fabrics. The US fabric is priced at around $10-15/meter, so it’s not really a bargain if you're coming from the US. There are different companies, including Moda, Hoffman, Benartex and Windham.
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| The 5th floor - fabrics separated by color & style |
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| The largest batik section in Japan - 1 column! |
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| "Hand-dye" and ombre US fabrics |
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| Lots of choices in the fat eighths area |
Almost all the fabrics are on a bolt and
you can also find pre-cut fat eighths (around $1.80). You don’t normally see other precuts like jelly rolls or layer cakes in Japan.
This floor also has a small selection of Japanese style fabrics - they are still 100% cotton, but made with thicker threads. Typically they are shades of taupe, navy or gray with a subtle plaid-type pattern. I think my friends who work with wool would really like them. They're available on the bolt, cut to the length you like, or as fat quarter precuts (around $3.50). There are also small cuts of kimono-type fabric here. It has a wrinkly appearance since the warp thread is a different thickness than the weft. These fabrics are usually very colorful.
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| Japanese style fabrics - fat quarter table |
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| kimono-style fabrics |
This is also a convenient place to pick up any other items you might need for your projects, though this Tomato location won't have the biggest selection. Hardware needed to make purses/bags (handles, zippers, etc) can be purchased here. In fact, Japan shops seem to have a much larger selection of purse pieces available than US stores. There's also thread and typical sewing tools (such as
marking pencils, pins, etc) but they're usually cheaper in the US when they're on sale or if you use a coupon – even the Clover items that
are made in Japan are more expensive here.
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| Sewing tools and notions |
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| Zippers in every color! |
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Batting - located near the stairs
I think I'm starting to feel batty taking all these pictures! |
A small amount of batting is on the fifth floor. This is the only place I saw batting larger than 1 meter wide. They have a precut piece that measures 2.5 meters by 2.5 meters for around $50. I didn't check to see what material it is, though.
The 4th floor is the
Japanese brand quilting fabrics. Most of these are usually inexpensive – less than $10/meter, but depending on what you choose it can be as much as $20/meter. You can purchase traditional Japanese patterns, novelty fabrics and reproductions of indigo-dyed fabrics. Fabrics are on the bolt or
rolled here.
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| Asian style fabric |
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| 4th floor sale fabric! |
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| Indigo reproductions...plus more |
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| So much to pick from! Lots of cute novelty fabrics! |
Included on this floor is a good amount of plaid and checkered fabric ($5-9/meter) along with some inexpensive solids ($4-6/meter).
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| Solids... |
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I should make my husband some
golf pants out of these fabrics! |
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| ...and more solids |
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| partial view of the third floor |
The third floor has the dressier fabrics, including silk (but not Radiance Cotton/Silk). I usually check out the “scraps” bin near the stairs for silk remnants. I can usually find 1/3 – ¾ meter of silk for $3-5. Good for quilting practice! My second word in Japanese was silk: シルク
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| The 3rd floor remnants - look closely to make sure it's silk and not rayon. |
The second floor has knits and polyesters. I don't use those for quilting, so I've never really looked at that floor in detail.
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| Second floor - I think it feels neglected. |
One thing about Tomato (and a lot of stores in Japan) – you pay on each floor. So you purchase your items before you move to another floor. Tomato accepts Visa and MasterCard.
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| This has the 100-yen section...but it's NOT the main store! |
Right before the main Tomato store is another of their buildings – Tomato Arch. The first floor has more of the 100 yen (about $1) meter fabrics. It can be a bit crazy there, but you might find something you like. Side note: if you live in Tokyo and need blackout curtain fabric, the Tomato Interior store sells it in different thicknesses (the sun does rise at 4:25 am in the summer).
If you're not tired or already carrying too much fabric, there's another store that has only 100% cotton fabric. Walking from Nippori station it's on the corner before you get to the main Tomato store (they're on the same block) - it's name is Mihama (number 43 on the map).
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| Mihama - it's raining, so that's why the front displays are covered. |
They sell precut quilting fabric from the bolt, in sizes from ½ meter to 2 meters. There have some US fabrics made in Japan (metallics and Asian). I've also seen some of Patrick Lose's fabric here. Because the fabrics are wrapped up already (in clear plastic) you don’t get to see the entire cut. Once when I opened up one at home it had a bad spot in the pattern. Not big (4 inch circle), but it could have caused problems if I had needed all of it. When talking to quilters here, they said they thought he was sometimes getting “seconds” of the fabrics. Still a good deal (usually around $5/meter), but just be aware you may not get a fully usable piece of fabric. Though to be honest, I’ve only seen the problem in the one piece (and I usually buy 6-8 pieces when I visit). This shop is cash only.
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| traditional Japanese patterns on fabric |
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| Metallics! |
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They do have the fabric out on display so you can see
what the design looks like. |
Directly across the street from Tomato is a shop that has some different kinds of Japanese style fabrics. I can't find it on the map - it looks like it should be at number 56 on the Nippori Fabric Town map, but that's not it's name.
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| No-name store building |
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| No-name store front door. |
They have some small cut variety packs (5 different 10” squares of Japanese fabrics) that make nice gifts. They also have a selection of Japanese fabrics that are not 100% cotton – stuff like the fabric used in some kimonos. It’s probably cash only, which is the case for most of the small stores here.
Here are a couple of looks inside:
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| Lots of people browsing today! |
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| Don't forget to check upstairs! |
If you like buttons, lace, etc, there are lots of places that provide that here, but I don’t know them, other than the Tomato Notion shop located between Mihama and Tomato Arch.
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| Mihana on the left, Tomato Notion on the right. The main Tomato store is a few shops down the street! |
A couple of peeks inside the Tomato Notion store...
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I believe this woman thinks I'm stalking her. She keeps showing up
where I'm taking pictures! Or maybe she's stalking me... |
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| Lots of buttons! |
You can also find many other types of fabric, leather, etc, but I don't work with them so I'm not familiar with where to shop for them.
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My favorite shopping bag - from Ikea.
It may or may not be filled with fabric right now! |
Take some consideration on how you plan to transport your purchases. The aisle in the stores are very narrow, particularly in the main Tomato store. Using a backpack may be better for your back, but you'll probably hit multiple people with it while you're in the store unless you're very careful. Tote bags may cause some trouble with your shoulder if you buy a lot. I've finally settled on a little rolling shopping cart - it's better for my back and shoulders. I can turn it sideways so it's narrow enough for me to get by another person while walking in the aisle and I can still pick it up when I have to go up/down stairs. A small (17-18") rolling suitcase might also work, but if it has a clamshell design it may be difficult to keep opening & closing to put in your purchases (remember, you have to pay for your items on each floor). Unlike in Europe, you see few people with the little shopping carts (though I love mine - it's my bag for fabric, Costco and grocery shopping).
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| Easy to see when walking back to the station! |
There are many food choices around Nippori station, both in and out. Mos Burger is a chain that originated in Japan and has an English menu. They offer vegetarian options and a few other choices than just burgers. It's on the Nippori Fabric Town street, about one block from the station.
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| My favorite casual tempura restaurant! |
On the ground floor outside of Nippori Station (about midway between the north and south East exits) there is a Tempura Tendon Tenya, an inexpensive tempura chain with an English menu. Two chain coffee shops, serving light lunches, are right beside it. They also have English menus. I know Doutor allows smoking though. (Yes, people can still smoke in restaurants in Japan. Yuck!) I'm not sure about Excelsior Caffe.
If you wish to try "real" Japanese style ramen, there's a restaurant on the opposite corner from the Ginza Cozy Corner (which is a dessert shop if you prefer to jump ahead in your meal) called Bazoku, though I only saw Japanese on the signs. They make their own noodles in the shop, and they have an English menu, with a large selection of choices.
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| The side of Bazoku - see the guy making noodles in the window? |
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| My lunch! |
Across the street from the station is a McDonalds, if you're craving something similar to home or if you want to see how different it is in Japan.
Inside the main part of the station, before you go to the tracks, is a very small food court with 6-8 different counters selling Japanese sweets and takeaway food items - think onigiri (the sushi rice triangles). Sometimes I just need a quick snack and purchase a corn fritter at one of the counters - it's good!
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| Japanese sweets (but they aren't, really) |
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| Wait - is that woman here again?!? |
More fabric shopping still to come - the next blog entry will be about fabric shopping at the chain stores!
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