The window of a shop on a side street in Kitchijoji shows clothing from America and proudly states that they are made by foreigners. I was in this part of Tokyo recently and was really excited to see so many different shops that were new to me. It's a really popular place these days with young people, and it swirls with activity.
There were lots of import shops. I could find many things from boxes of Jello to my favorite Digestive Biscuits in one shop with mostly food and household items. At the quilt shop there were fabrics from the US and the UK as well as great stuff from Japan. Other shops had things from India, Nepal, Pakistan.
This shop was in the station and sold fabrics from France. The cute girl on the right was one of the staff and went out of her way to speak and try to understand me as I asked questions in Japanese when I could and English when my vocabulary failed me. They had a basket of remnants and I came home with a piece of canvas weight fabric in narrow bright stripes. It'll be a great summer bag.
This shop was pure Japanese, selling pickled daikon and other pickled vegetables.
I actually spent almost two days altogether looking around this town and walking between the shopping area and where I was staying in the next town, Mitaka.
It was different enough that I felt like I was really far from work and the day to day stresses and strains. I came back to Ichikawa really refreshed.
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