Small traditional gifts to take home from Japan

Travel Tips

13 Jan

Written By

There's lots of fun unique gifts or souvenirs you can pick up in Japan that won't break the bank.

I'm going to focus on uniquely Japanese items here that capture a piece of the culture.

Look out for the following things on your travels if you want to bring back a slice of traditional Japan to remember your trip by.

Tenugui

These are traditional cotton rectangular hand towels, and you will see them everywhere in Japan. They come in all sorts of patterns and colours but the most common ones are dyed with indigo blue ink.

People use them for drying their hands, sweat bands for your head, small mats for picnicking, neck scarves… the list goes on. I've even framed two of the more decorative ones that I brought home.

You can find them in souvenir shops, dedicated shops in train stations, department stores, and craft shops. Sometimes businesses even give out free ones - these towels are a part of daily life in Japan so they know their name will be seen.

While they vary from mass produced ones (which are still pretty!) to hand made using traditional methods, even the hand crafted ones aren't too expensive.

In Osaka Prefecture I visited a workshop where intricate traditional patterns are hand cut from paper and the fabrics dyed with natural dyes also made in the town. These beautiful artisan towels were around ¥1500.

The craftsman I spoke to was working away dyeing happi, the jackets worn during the towns upcoming annual festival.

A wall displaying a t-shirt and several cotton towels with traditional Japanese patterns.

Furoshiki

Similar to tenugi are furoshiki, which are beautiful fabrics used specifically to wraps gifts which can be used over and over again. A great eco-friendly alternative to gift wrapping.

They tend to be even more colourful than tenugi and they're always square, I've folded them in half to use as placemats too.

Imabari Towels

Imabari in Ehime Prefecture is famous for its high quality towels - 60% of all towels made in Japan come from this one city.

You don't have to be travelling to Shikoku to find them - they can be bought all over Japan. Even FamilyMart sells Imabari hand towels in their ConvenienceWear range.

In department stores or specialised towel shops you can find a wide range of towels and bathrobes.

Unlike tenugui, Imabari towels are more like the fluffy bath towels I'm more acustomed to. I usually carry one of the small face cloths with me while travelling as public toilets in Japan often don't have a hard dryer or paper towels!

Chopsticks

Shops dedicated to selling chopsticks (hashi) aren't difficult to come across. They have beautiful chopsticks for all budgets from basic bamboo ones, to hand painted lacquer deluxe sets, and cute mini chopsticks for children. I even have some shaped like a Shinkansen.

Even more fun are the many types of chopstick rests you can buy - metal, painted ceramic, shaped like animals or food… endless designs to add fun to the dinner table.

You can also get chopstick cases made from traditional fabrics for when you're on the go, or storing your fancier sets.

Kamifūsen

These fun paper balloons are a bit like a paper lantern. They come flat, you blow into a hole to inflate them and they can be used for decoration, as a toy for kids, and are often used in festivals.

You can find them in souvenir shops, or Dagashiya which are like old fashioned sweet shops.

Omiyage

In Japan, the tradition of bringing back Omiyage - regional specialties for friends, family, and colleagues is way of sharing your travels with others.

Omiyage are food products, usually sweets, biscuits or cakes specific to the region. I've often found that many Japanese people seem to have an encyclopaedic knowledge of the local specialties of areas around the country, and every area has something new to try.

Every major train station, department store and tourist destination is full of these beautifully packaged goods so they're easy to find. They are usually boxes of individually wrapped treats so they can be shared easily.

Some of the most famous omiyage that I've tried are Tokyo Banana (sponge cake with cream filling), Yatsuhashi from Kyoto (cinnamon flavoured rice cracker), or Ishikawa's Kasutera (gold leaf castella cake).

Matcha

Matcha is made from finely ground shade-grown tea leaves with a vibrant green colour and slightly bitter flavour. While outside of Japan it gained popularity through matcha lattes in coffee shops, in Japan it is historically linked to meditative traditional tea ceremonies.

I only got into drinking matcha in the last few years, and while I'd enjoyed the matcha I'd drank in Europe there was no comparison to the freshness of the matcha I bought in Japan.

I had some time to spare in Kumamoto Station and picked up two tins of matcha after some advice from an excellent sales assistant, and when I got home and cracked it open the colour and smell was a world away from the far more expensive matcha I'd been buying. If anyone you know is into drinking matcha (and who isn't these days!) - definitely treat them to some from your Japan trip.

Ceremonial grade is what to look for, perfect for drinking on its own. Other matchas are still good enough for matcha lattes and as a baking ingredient. Find a good stand or shop like I did and they should have samples for you to try.