There are people who can travel with a backpack, and then there’s me: the f.o.b that takes empty luggage packed in and around one another like a set of Russian dolls. Why you might ask? Because I like to bring all the grocery stores back with me. I’m not one to buy cheap/rubbish souvenirs, but I tend to buy every local/indigenous ingredient I can get my hands on and props that I can use for my food styling. In Japan, however, the land of quality, we ended up finding quite a few things to bring back, and so I’ve compiled a list of the best Japanese souvenirs you should consider buying, and what you should buy in Japan.

Pro TIps:

• Always carry your passport with you in order to claim the tax refunds/exemptions for tourists
• The day you plan on shopping, take an empty backpack or carry-on luggage with you when you go shopping. Being able to drag/roll 10 kilos of shopping is a lot easier than having to carry it
• Take a portable, lightweight hanging luggage-weighing scale with you when you travel. You can’t always rely on the hotel weighing scale (which is what happened with us, the hotel only had ONE scale it said I weigh 11 kilos so I knew it couldn’t be trusted)
• Try to buy boxes or packs of individually wrapped items

Where to Shop:

• I highly recommend going to Don Quijote for souvenirs and skincare, and then only getting from other places what you couldn’t find here. We bought all our fridge magnets and key chains from Kyoto, and regretted it later because we found all those things at Don Quijote, cheaper and offering a tax exemption.
• Matsumoto Kiyoshi, Tokyu Hands and Marui are are great options for skincare and cosmetics, but you’ll almost always find a drugstore very close to you, no matter where you are.
• Asakusa has some great souvenirs ranging from magnets through keychains through edible goods to crockery.
• Harajuku for funky stuff or Supreme merchandise you won’t find anywhere else as its already sold out. We also saw the flagship Line Friends store here, which excited me more than it should excite a 30-year old woman.
• Ginza for high-end brands and designer items
• Shibuya for all sorts of random stuff
• Tsutaya in Shibuya if you’re looking for the biggest music store in Tokyo
• Loft for cool, funky things from Bento boxes that look like Le Creusets to phone covers.
• “Akihabara” at the airport, after immigration is a great store to buy last minute wagashi, kit kats, cookies and mochi! I’d recommend leaving some empty space in your carry-on luggage for last minute impulse purchases here, as I found some items here that we didn’t see anywhere else (Hokkaido Melon Kit Kats and the best fromage filled paper-thin cookies!)
• Department stores like Takashimaya, Tokyu Hands, Marui, Mitsukoshi and NeWoman promise interesting things across a variety of budgets. I found Mitsukoshi and Takashimaya to have the nicest (and more expensive) things.
• Daimaru: This is the Mecca of premium wagashi, sweets and chocolates that are bound to wow the recipient!
• Akihabara: for all the vintage and new video games, electronics and anime. We even saw Star Wars light saber chopsticks here!

Edible Souvenirs:

• Dashi stock powder from the Food Hall of Takashimayanin Shinjuku. I’m sure you could find this in lots of places, we personally saw it in Tsukiji Market too, but the quality of the pack we got from Takashimaya was palpably superior.
• Tsukemono or Japanese pickles from Tsukiji market. Japanese pickles are most unique and unlike any others. They often comprise of a variety of different vegetables and herbs and are usually brined. I especially love Umeboshi and varieties with cucumber, daikon, purple shiso leaves and variations of seaweed.
• Hojicha: is one of the most distinctive taste from any other Japanese green tea, as it’s roasted in a porcelain pot over charcoal, and this process was first performed in Kyoto.
• Matcha Kit: Needs to introduction, but if you’re keen to learn more about matcha, click here.
• Any tea, really, be it Gyokoro, Sencha or oolong.
• Senbei: these crispy Japanese rice crackers come in various shapes, sizes and flavors and make for perfect gifts for those who don’t have a sweet tooth. They’re often individually wrapped too, which is great for adding to assorted goody bags
• Otsumami: smaller, nut-sized crispy Japanese snacks ranging from smaller rice crackers through the sorts of crispy peas. These make for perfect nibbles with fizzy and malt beverages
• Kit Kat of all the unique flavors are quite possibly some of the most popular and iconic souvenirs from Japan. You can get these from the Kit Kat shoes, but also cheaper (and equally good) ones from from Don Quijote
• Matcha salt: I actually bought this by accident, but it has since become one of my favorite seasonings. The salt is ground as finely as the matcha!
• Sakura infused salt: If you happen to go during cherry blossom season, this might be a cool souvenir to bring back for the food enthusiast in your life.
• Furikake: is a dry seasoning meant to be sprinkled atop cooked rice, vegetables and fish.  It typically comprises of dried fish, sesame seeds, chopped seaweed, sugar, salt, and monosodium glutamate a.k.a perfect umami
• Wagashi: Last but not the least, the most obvious and perhaps the easiest souvenir you can buy, even from the Akihabara at the airport, is a delectable box of wagashi. These boxes are always beautifully wrapped (true to Japanese ways), and can be found within any budget of 500 yen upwards.

Inedible/Keepsake souvenirs

• Magnets from Don Quijote or Asakusa
• T-shirts: because who doesn’t want to wear the Hokusai wave? Uniqlo actually have some excellent quality clothing at reasonable prices and I stock up on office wear and PJs both from here.
• Name Stamp: You can get this for as little as 500 yen from the vending machine in the Don Quijote at Ginza, which also translates your name from English, or you could do what we did: get it handmade for as little as 1500 yen in Akihabara. The handmade ones are acceptable for official use in Japan, but if it’s just for a souvenir, go for the vending machine
• Skin Care Galore. Japanese skincare is such big business that I’ve done a separate and very extensive post on it. You can read more on it here.
• Chopsticks and chopsticks’ rests: because obviously. You can find chopsticks for anywhere between 100 yen at Daiso to thousands at luxury stores. You can even get them personalized! Some specialized chopsticks’ stores help you pick the pair that fits best in your hands. We even saw Star Wars light saber chopsticks in Akihabara.
• Cooking chopsticks: These are much longer than regular chopsticks. The ones at Daiso are not only good for cooking but also for eating chips out of big bags and keeping your hands clean. Then there are versions that are so big and thick they look like drumsticks, which are more for the pros making large quantities of food but of course I had to get a pair.
• Rilakuma Merch. We found a Rilakuma store in Kyoto on the way to Arashiyama that we can only describe as a Rilakuma shrine, and my happy place.
• Line Bear merch from the flagship store in Harajuku. Line is Japan’s version of WhatsApp, and their emojis are so cute and iconic that we witnessed a huge line outside the store for an exclusive sale open to app users only. You won’t find a single person in Japan who uses WhatsApp, so  the merchandise store should come as no surprise really. I wanted to buy everything as it was so kawaii, but limited myself to the most adorable mug and pencil case
• Plates/bowls/crockery: from Kappabashi.
• Cast Iron Kettle: I found the most beautiful one for 120 USD, and it looks a lot more expensive!
• Japanese silk fan
• Bento boxes for all those office lunches. You can find the best variety at Loft in Shibuya.
• Funky socks: because where else will you find them like you’ll them in Japan?

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I’ll update this space when and as I remember/stumble across more things I must have bought and forgotten. Thanks for reading and do comment below if you have some fun suggestions to add!