Shopping in Japan is varied, and you can buy a lot for relatively little money, especially for this generally expensive country.
Huge shopping centers and smaller stores are mostly open 24 hours a day, seven days a week. The largest malls are located in Tokyo, and this is where shopping trips to Japan are particularly common.
What to buy in Japan
The most popular among tourists are fans, silk and cotton robes, folding paper lanterns, maneki-neko cat figurines with raised legs, wooden hair clips "a la geisha" and souvenir samurai katana swords.
Souvenir stores also carry ceramics and porcelain, carved wooden figurines, bamboo products, symbols of Japanese theater (masks, puppets), authentic Japanese clothing (kimono, obi, yukata, jimbei, samwei, o-kobo, geta, dzori), calligraphy kits (brushes, ink, rice paper), and scrolls with paintings or calligraphy.
But if you want to give your friends and family back home a taste of Japan, bring something edible from your trip. For example, traditional Japanese sweets, long-life sushi with pickled fish, dried and dried squid and octopus, or green tea.
Sales in Japan come at times of changing seasons. But the main selling season in Japan happens during Christmas and New Year. The sales start at the end of December and peak in mid-January. It's best to wait for these days, as the highest discounts of 60-80% occur at the end of the season.
