SHOP'N TOKYO

Yanesen is one of the most popular areas in Tokyo. There are many small old craft shops. There customers can watch the artists make new things and they can buy many things from them.

Midori-y is one of those shops. It is on the Yanaka Ginza shopping centre. The shop opened in 1908. It sells handmade bamboo items. There are many interesting bamboo objects like chopsticks, earrings and even cell-phone charms.

Another shop is called Shibata Shoten. The owner is Keiichi Shibata. Customers can watch him when he is working. He makes paper lanterns. His great grandfather opened the shop many years ago. The shop is more than a hundred years old. He can also paint customers’ names on his lanterns. Many families buy his lanterns to use in their gardens.

Ito Furoten started making wooden baths around 1925. People still take baths in Japan and when they take a bath, they prefer wooden baths. Now, owner Azusa Miyahara also makes trays, vases, and stools. People can watch her work in the store.

One of the most popular shops makes candy. Each piece of candy is made by hand. They are all pieces of art. It’s a craft called Amezaiku. Not many people know how to do handmade candies these days.

Candy-maker Takahiro Yoshihara takes some sugar syrup, adds a drop of food colouring, and quickly works it into a little animal. He needs to be very fast because sugar gets hard. He can make any little animal that people want to buy. Children and adults love to watch his amazing work.