The Yuzawaya
store in Takashimaya Times Square closed 11/6/2016. Other locations can be found by going here (look under the Tokyo section).
In my previous post I discuss shopping in Nippori Fabric Town, the main place to purchase fabric. However, there are some places that are good for buying quilting material outside of that area. If you want to create your own shop hop and try to visit Nippori and these stores in the same day, it's possible, but tiring. The Yamanote line (JR train) is only a 22 minute ride between Nippori and Shinjuku. But once you factor in walking, shopping and eating time it will be a very full day.
Two stores I like are fairly close to one another - about a brisk 10 minute walk apart (see path above). If you decide to visit both stores, I'd start at Okadaya (marked with A on the map above) then go to Yuzawaya (B on the map) - this way you're walking down the hill instead of up it.
Both are close to Shinjuku Station, which is not only the busiest station in the world (more than 2-3 million people pass through it in a DAY), but it's also incredibly huge - there are more than 200 exits. This is also one of the few places in Japan I worry about pickpockets. Depending on which train or subway line you come in on, you can be at completely different parts of the station. Either way, you want to go out an East Exit - that will get you on the correct side of the station.
It takes about 5-10 minutes to walk from Shinjuku Station to Okadaya. From the Okadaya website, they have directions from Shinjuku station, with (small) pictures (Use Google Translate to get a rough translation into English): www.okadaya.co.jp/shinjuku/access.html
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| If your feet are tired, save some steps! |
You can reach Okadaya from a subway station that might be a little more difficult to get to (but then you have a shorter walk - only a few minutes). Go to Shinjuku-nishiguchi Station on the Oedo or
Marunouchi subway lines and take exit D3. Cross the street by going under the railroad tracks. Then walk straight ahead,
slightly to the right (now you won't be on the major road - Yasukuni Dori; it will be to
your left and you'll be parallel to it). If you end up at the employee entrance (nicely written in English on the door), just walk around to the other side of the building.
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| Floor guide to Okadaya. The "main" building has 6 floors. |
Okadaya (don't mix it up with the nearby Odakyu department store!) is located in two buildings basically across a small alley from each other. It's a fabric/costume/arts & crafts shop, so if you're interested in a variety of hobbies, you can spend lots of time here.
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| The front of the "main" store. |
The Okadaya building facing the main "street" (it looks like it's pedestrian only, but cars do drive on it) has the sewing notions and a section of US fat quarters (about $4.50/each; no discounts for buying a large amount). They have a small selection of batik fat quarters, along with fat quarters of other types of US fabrics. No bolts are located in this part of the store, but they do have a large amount of quilting tools, notions and (Japanese) quilting books. It's fun to see the rulers and cutting mats all using metric measurements! These items are found on the fifth floor - 5A. There is an elevator.
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| Floor 5A |
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I have no idea why the fat quarters are in a different
building and 5 stories away from the bolts. |
To find the cotton fabric floor face the Okadaya building on the main "street." Take the little alley to your right and halfway down is the main cotton/quilting fabric part of the store (or if you're in the main building come out the side door and the entrance to the other shop is directly opposite you).
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| Second building of Okadaya - with the cotton fabric bolts! |
They carry some of the same
fabrics as Yuzawaya (including Yuwa and Liberty), but there's enough
difference to make it worthwhile. They have only a few batik bolts, not necessarily the same ones they have fat quarters of.
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| Fabrics... |
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| ...and more fabrics! |
My favorite of the chain stores is Yuzawaya. The
location I like best (and is most centrally located in Tokyo) is inside
the Takashimaya Times Square department store in Shinjuku. One thing I
didn't know before coming to Tokyo is that a department store can also
have other, completely separate, stores inside its building. The
Yuzawaya store is on half of the 11th floor of the building.
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| Yuzawaya in Japanese! |
To go from Okadaya to Yuzawaya, you're going to walk along the east side of Shinjuku Station. There are lockers on the exterior of the station so you can drop off your bags if you bought a lot of fabric at Okadaya and they're getting heavy! You'll also pass a Starbucks and a Lush if you want a drink or to do some bonus shopping while you're out.
If you want to go only to Yuzawaya (or you prefer to start there), the New South Gate is the exit closest to the store from Shinjuku Station (it's not the same as the South Gate), but you can't always get to that particular exit from your location in the station. If you end up going out any of the East or South exits you can find your way there by the streets outside. You can look for a sign that lists which exit to take for different buildings - Takashimaya will be on it.
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| Takashimaya is the last store listed on the bottom right. |
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The bridge to Takashimaya with some
crazy, familiar-looking people posing on the side. |
[If you're curious: I take the Oedo subway line and it comes out in Shinjuku Station near the New Keio (train) line. For me, it's most convenient to take exit 2, then turn right at the sidewalk outside, walk about half a block, then turn right onto the Southern Terrace. This leads past a Starbucks and a Krispy Kreme (if you're missing US treats) and you'll take a left across the big bridge into the second floor of Takashimaya Times Square.]
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| Luckily I don't really like doughnuts, so I'm not tempted to eat here often! |
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| Where's Waldo? No, no, no - where's Takashimaya? |
You can reach Takashimaya directly from another subway station - the Shinjuku-sanchome station. The Fukutoshin, Marunouchi and Shinjuku subway lines all come in here, but it feels like a looongggg walk down an underground hall to the department store (& Yuzawaya)...maybe because there's nothing to look at as you walk. It's nice if it's raining, though! You want exit E8 from Shinjuku-sanshome station.
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| Big sale at Yuzawaya (the sale signs are not normally up)! |
Yuzawaya is similar to the "good" Joann stores in the US - lots of fabric, but also many other craft items - yarn, beading, buttons, sashiko sets, etc. I have found the fabric here to be of better quality than at Joann; it's similar to what you'd find at a quilt store. One fabric line they carry is Yuwa, a Japanese company. Souleiado fabrics (a French company) are also here. Prices are generally $6-14/meter, depending on what you're buying. I usually find ones I like that are on the low end of the price range. They have a decent selection of Liberty fabrics (British), costing about $30/meter.
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Despite the sign, the Liberty fabrics are NOT on sale! Still $30/meter.
Several women were very disappointed. |
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| Fabrics here, too! |
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| And here! |
They may be getting ready to do a remodel. When I went to take pictures, they had taken down a lot of the shelves and had the fabric bolts on tables. I'll check back again to see what they're up to!
You can sign up for their reward card (the form does ask for a Japan address and phone number) for $5, which will give you a 10% discount on your purchases. However, Liberty fabric is excluded from the discount.
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| The Italian restaurant on the 12th floor. |
Typical with big department stores, there are restaurants located near the top floors. Here it's the 12th-14th. I like the Italian restaurant on the 12th floor - you get a nice lunch set (small salad, small broth soup, pasta, drink) for about $14. The restaurants on the 13th floor tend to look more expensive, and there's a Belgian cafe on the 14th floor that serves traditional mussels and fries, among other things. There's lots of variety among the different kinds of restaurants, so pick your favorite and rest your feet from all your shopping!
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| The Belgian restaurant on the 14th floor. |
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| Basement grocery store |
Also, in the basement, is a huge food hall. Half the basement is over 50 different counters selling prepared foods - sushi, tempura, bento boxes, salads, etc, all easy to take out (there is no place very convenient to eat here). The other half of the basement contains over 50 dessert counters, selling tarts, eclairs, Japanese sweets, etc. Yum! There's also a grocery store, a wine shop and several French bakeries.
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| So many choices! |
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You can get all sorts of Kit Kat
flavors here - but it's very expensive. |
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| I always end up buying too much - it all looks good. |
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| Steve perusing some of the desserts. |
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| Dry...and warm. No air conditioning in the hallway to the station! |
You can reach Shinjuku-sanshome Station from the basement floor. You can find the entrance to the hall near the wine shop.
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| Didn't I see a Japanese golfer advertising this store?? |
When I go to this Yuzawaya I usually stop at the Uniqlo on the 12th floor. This is a clothing store, similar to the Gap, that carries mens, womens and childrens, with everything from business attire to sleepwear and workout clothes. Prices are reasonable. Just remember sizes run about one size smaller than the US - a Japan large is about a US medium.
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| One of my favorite shops! |
I also like to visit Tokyu Hands, located in a corner of the Takashimaya building on floors 2 through 8 (there's an escalator for each floor right there, so it's easy to move between floors). It's similar to a nice Target - they carry a wide variety of items, from shampoo to screws to saute pans to stationary and sofas. If you need any travel items (like a new suitcase to bring home all your fabric purchases) or you want some hand lotion made in Japan, this is a convenient place to stop.
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| Oh, so pretty! |
One last place I stop at in Takashimaya is the Japanese Craft Shop on the 8th floor. It's a small selection of (mostly) handmade traditional Japanese crafts, such as wood carving, pottery, lacquer and inden (leather wallets and purses decorated with bits of lacquer - it's like they make a quilting pattern with the design). This is a good place to stop if you don't have time to make it to the Aoyama Japan Traditional Crafts Shop with their large collection of items for sale. Nice souvenirs!
There are a limited number of small quilt stores in Tokyo, but I'll share that info in an upcoming post!
Side note: To use public transportation, use an app to plan your route from your closest station to where you want to go. My favorite is Tokyo Rail Map, but you need wifi or cell data to use it. Google Maps works well too – and sometimes even tells you the platform number you need for the train. However, Google doesn’t tell you the station number for the subway, which Tokyo Rail Map does. Maybe that will change since the various train lines are planning to number their stations, with color coding and an abbreviation, in the upcoming months (like the subway lines).
