Itoya Ginza Honten is a retail therapy paradise for those who enjoy window shopping. This stationery shop in Ginza (銀座) is a whopping 18 floors high, with 14 of them dedicated to all sorts of different themed retail space. At first glance, you might wonder if a stationery shop is even worth a visit, but Itoya will introduce you to the weird and wonderful innovative world of Japanese stationery. Whether it be some classic fountain pens, beautiful leather schedulers, or a globe which you can poke a stylus on to hear which country it is, there's all sorts of strange and unique things that you can only find here in Japan. It's also a great place for some souvenir shopping to get some unique craft items that you won't find in your typical souvenir shop. Not to mention, this modern stationery shop is a beauty of architecture, fusing together stylish glass aesthetics, with a beautiful wooden interior. They also offer a wide variety of personalisation and customisation services for their products like embroidering, engraving, and foil stamping.
Ginza Itoya Honten Review and Thoughts
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Coming all the way to Japan to visit a stationery shop might sound ridiculous at first, but if you remember that one of Japan's endearing traits is its unique and quirky nature, it starts to make a lot more sense. Where else can you see the everyday quirks of a country than starting from something as simple as stationery that people use in their everyday life. Especially as a country that embraces the idea of tradition vs modernity, simplicity yet effective, and a focus on the people, the type of products you might encounter at Itoya would probably surprise you.
Even for us, as we traversed upwards floor by floor, each floor had a new surprise and a new product we had never seen before. There's that really fun sense of retail wonder that you seldom get from large overly-commercialised chain shops that fill the market today. Even if you didn't plan to buy anything, there's a good chance that something would likely catch your eye in this shop that sells all sorts of knick-knacks.
Erasable pens, mechanical pencils that don't run out of lead, more type of paper than you can ever think of, it's just a wonder to discover how simple everyday products can still evolve till this day. Whether you're an older person who might reminisce on analog products that have disappeared from your life, or a younger person who might never have even heard or seen some of these products, it's just a really fun place to stroll through and discover new things.
Furthermore, not many places in Japan allow you to purchase souvenirs that you can easily and quickly customise for someone, and if you're the type that likes to get a special gift for someone, then you have to check out Itoya.
Ginza Itoya Honten's Story
The original shopfront of Ginza Itoya. (Image Credit: Ginza Itoya)
Itoya was founded in 1904 by Ito Kasutaro (伊藤勝太郎) as a small stationery shop in Ginza. At the time, Ito-san had just encountered Western stationery for the first time, and was absolutely fascinated and curious about it. Since Western stationery was just being introduced to Japan at the time, Ito-san decided to open a shop in Ginza, an emerging retail district, in order to showcase the efficient methods of work from the West, and showcase a future of Japan through the marvels of stationery.
This concept of "curiosity" remains a core tent of the shop, that even in this digital age, continues to look for new ways, ideas, and tools to make creative and working life more exciting and pleasant.
Itoya's goal is to go from being a place that you "buy stuff" to a place where you "spend time", and in doing so, to support the lives of those in the creative field. As such, they have three main businesses: a retail business that aims to provide tools that make creative work more enjoyable, a food business to nourish those who work, and to create a new high-end business meeting space where creatives can come together, encounter new experiences and ideas, and create even bigger and brighter ideas.
Itoya places emphasis on two areas when evaluating products: "a playful spirit" and "simple, yet good design". Through this, they've designed a variety of original products, as well as provide customisation services for customers. The aim with their products is to provide high-quality products that customers can cherish over time, and with these long-term products, there can be no compromises on quality. As such, they often purchase domestic and foreign products to examine what makes a good design, and if they can innovate on existing ideas to get closer to what they consider as a "good design". When it comes to aesthetic sense, the idea they embody is to have a simpleness that even as the generations go by, it would not be looked upon as an "old-fashioned" design, but a classic one that is always in style.
Getting to Ginza Itoya Honten
From
銀座駅
Ginza Station
G
09
H
09
日比谷線
Hibiya Line
M
16
丸の内線
Marunouchi Line
Take Exit A12
Walk
3 mins
200m
From
銀座一丁目駅
Ginza-Itchome Station
Y
19
有楽町線
Yurakucho Line
Take Exit 9
Walk
2 mins
100m
銀座
Ginza
東京
Tokyo
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