2025 Gift Guide: Japan Edition

Since this blog has become pretty much a Japan appreciation blog in the past 18 months, it comes quite naturally that my gift guide is fairly Japan-centric this year. it is also fairly minimalistic – since I don’t shop much any more myself, online shopping links seem somewhat insincere.

And these gifts here? I actually brought them from Japan in the last two years. I ask people what they’d like and I bring it. I rather give experiences and if I buy physical items, I’d rather give something people really want, so I ask. So, for my family, it’s the Shiseido skincare my mother requests and socks, thermals and fake lacquer plastic bowls that my husband requests. Neither terribly sustainable or ethical (Shiseido sells in China, husbands socks are Uniqlo but they are comfy and last for a long time).

But where is the surprise here, you may ask. Well. There is none. And still, I am going to share a few things that I have bought in Japan that have given me so much joy that I think they are very suitable for gifts for the right people.

Don’t look for the Amazon links in this post – there are none. I have included only websites from the manufacturers – some of them offer online shopping with overseas shipping.

The Gift of travel

My favourite gifts are travel experiences, special hotels I would not normally book for myself, so nothing much has changed from this 2024 gift-themed post.

My biggest travel-related gift so far is two weeks in Kyoto to study Japanese – and it is to myself. I asked no one to give me that, but rather made the money through extra work. Flight, hotel, two weeks tuition. If I had not had the capacity to do plenty extra work shifts and someone had asked me what to give me for Christmas or my birthday, I probably would have asked for a contribution to this trio.

While in Japan, I will also check out some accommodations new to me, from a private room in Gion via mid-range stylish digs to a real splurge stay in a stately building. There is something for all price ranges.

And I get it, these gifts can be rather impractical to wrap and give. They involve a bit of crafting, flexibility, and maybe writing a little gift card in addition to making and paying for the actual reservations, making arrangements. And you can always wrap a symbolic small item that you can hand over with a hotel stay, if you were giving a “travel gift”

… in a Shupatto Bag

For giving travel gifts, my favourite ever item is the Shupatto bag. They are incredibly lightweight folding bags made from a pleated fabric that roll up almost by themselves.

They can be packed away very neatly in a handbag and are easy to carry due to its shoulder strap The standard bag holds 15l and the large one holds a whopping 40l. Even on its own, a Shupatto bag makes a great and incredibly practical and stylish gift.

I took the “L” Shupatto on a trip to London a couple weeks ago and used it for my substantial grocery shopping. It’s wonderful and easy to carry, and really takes no room whatsoever. I now have my eyes on the bags exclusive to Itoya Stationery store for their bold graphic designs, which you can buy from Itoya online, too.

While we’re on the subject of travelling gifts, and if a Shupatto is too pricey for a small gift, consider visiting Muji for simple stylish luggage. I bought these packing cubes there last year. To be honest, I have some freebie packing cubes in circulation, I mean, a lightweight packing cube is just a packing cube, but having started using them last year when onebagging, I am totally sold on packing cubes now.

A Japanese Diary…

Hobonichi is the hyped one, but my favourite is Midori. They have the smoothest paper and you may know them from their minimalist notebooks from fine paper with interchangeable covers but they also make a large range of diaries.

From large two pages per day for journaling to the minimalist slimline “pocket diary”, there’s several designs at great prices – around 5-6 Euro for a standard B6. I have totally switched from Lett’s (a really good brand) to Midori. I will stick to the B6 “Limited Edition Cat Design” for the time being for everyday use, or I might actually go and buy their 5-year diary since I put mainly appointments and work rotas in mine, and it’s useful to go back sometimes and plan ahead for a couple of years.

Back in 2023, I started using the MD Midori notebooks. I a still an incurable notebook hoarder, and I buy a couple on every trip.

Usually a Midori. They are very simply made, and you can buy the (clear) covers separately. The Midori paper is incredibly smooth, medium thick, and doesn’t bleed. I buy mine in Hands – where I also got the Kuretake watercolours which will make a great gift for any artist.

… and cute paper products

How about finding colourful Japanese washi, writing pads, letter sets, incense and organic mothballs as well as calligraphy accessories in just one place? I love most stationary shops, but Kyoto’s Kyukyodo has it all. An honest recommendation if you visit Kyoto. There is a branch in Tokyo (on Ginza) as well and if you don’t find enough to gift there, the equally lovely Itoya is just 250 metres away.

Things I always buy at Japanese stationery shops are writing pads, cards, rubber stamps and sheets of incredibly gorgeous printed washi paper – and incense. My favourite notebook, the elegant and simple Midori MD notebook, is usually available at Hands and in independent paper shops. Due to its low weight and interchangeable waterproof cover, it makes a great travel notebook as well.

Incense

I mean, for Christmas, a bit of frankincense and myrrh won’t hurt, right? I love the kind of church-ey smell of frankincense, so it’s no surprise that I love the Japanese temple incense as well. I mean, give me cheap incense, and I feel like Christmas. We have a tradition in the Southern part of East Germany where you burn cheap incense cones in turned-wood hollow figurines called “Smoker” – there isn’t really a good word in English for it! I grew up with them and they remind me of Childhood Christmas.

So, any one who loves incense, Japanese incense, which usually comes in sticks or cones for home use, makes a great gift. Temples often sell them – which is great, because if you like how it smells in the temple, you can ask if they sell the incense.

Other good shops for incense are Kyukyodo as mentioned above, and Kungyokudo in Kyoto. I also bought some more traditional incense from Hayashi Ryushodo in Kyoto, who make incense the traditional way and don’t do much marketing, and the Sakai Traditional Crafts Museum shop has a whole section dedicated to incense as Sakai is the home of Baiedo, one of Japan’s major incense producers.

You can get a nice incense burner at these shops to go with it, too.

Indulge in the matcha craze -but don’t forget other tea!

In recent years, matcha has become the trendy drink de rigeur, and often it comes, somewhat in plastic tumblers mixed with plenty of milk and a flavoured syrup. It’s become so popular and has been bought in bulk by visitors that it has become somewhat rare in touristy cities in Japan. I’ve even seen people go on mathca hauls to Uji, and end up kladen with carrier bags before they’ve even approached a single temple, but I ge tit – matcha seems to overtake the UNESCO listed Byodo-in as Uji’s top attraction.

Anyway, if you want to make a matcha lover very happy, a quality matcha brought from Japan is often superior to anything you can buy back home. Just check that is has been stored properly (cool and dark) and check its expiry date, since matcha has a very short shelf life. And why you ar ein the tea shop, give some high grade everyday drinking tea like hojicha (made from roasted green tea leaves) or sencha (standard green tea in Japan). Feel free to read this post if you are looking for matcha.

Find a tea stall in the least touristy place you are visiting. A branch of a famous tea company like Ippodo will also be good but you are unlikely to find matcha there, especially in Kyoto or Tokyo, until the matcha craze has passed, but they’ll have a range of other high quality teas in beautiful tins.

You don’t need special tea ware to serve Japanese green tea, but of course it will look very cool in a cast-iron Nambu Tekki teapot from Iwate. For matcha, I recommend you get a quality chasen (whisk)

Furoshiki and Tenugui

These little pieces of cotton fabric, usually printed with traditional Japanese motifs or commemorating places or events, are a big hit in our house.

Let’s start with furoshiki, the more well-known of the two. Furoshiki are squares made from a sturdy fabric that you use to wrap things. So they are the ultimate sustainable gift packaging. They range from about 50cm to 100cm in length and are usually square. Loads of instructions online how to use them – I am sharing one from Eirakuya, a Kyoto shop I love. Not cheap, but stunning quality.

Much more in use in our house are tenugui, long strips of cotton that can be used as handkerchiefs, hand towel, hair band, scarf and to wrap gifts, too. I bought my first one when, in 2004 in Kyoto, I walked into Eirakuya and thought, “hmm, nice wall hangings, a bit pricey, but stunningly beautiful”. And you can hang them like a scroll, too. Often they are printed in traditional technique like Chusen or Nassen.

I have a lots of cheap ones that I use like a napkin, towel in summer, and to dry my fancy carbon steel knifes with. I also love “The Makanai” TV series, so I got a few pricier ones from Kawamanu who supplied the TV production with the cute tenugui that Kiyo uses as hair bands. Nowadays, I tend to pick one up if I want a souvenir, usually with something reminiscent of the pace, and I have one from the Gion Matsuri.

If you are lucky, 100 Yen-shops and omiyage shops sell inexpensive furoshiki and tenugui. Going up in price, check out Loft or Hands or. Traditional manufacturers are Kyoto’s Eirakuya, Tokyo’s Kawamanu. and Sakai’s (Osaka) Nijiyura . The former two have English websites and ship overseas.

Sharp Things

Japan is great at making quality, durable cutting tools, starting with inexpensive nail clippers through scissors, knives and gardening tools. I know, I know, we have a pretty good tradition at making sharp things here in Germany, but let me tell you, these Japanese-made items are a notch up in beauty and elegance.

I have bought a couple nail clippers from drug stores and they are infinitely sharper than my German ones. KAI and Green Bell are brands I recommend.

I own some excellent KAI fabric scissors and will definitely get some KAI household scissors, and, if I can find them, hair-cutting scissors. Those hair scissors are way too specialized for a gift, I guess, and I am still looking at which brands are good – so far, I have come across Yasaka, Ichiro and Juntetsu for higher priced and I think Germany-made Jaguar is more my price range. And hopefully, I will find a lovely elegant Tobisho “A Type” Secateurs on my trip to Yamagata this is where they are made.

You have a cook or garden enthusiast in your life? You cannot go wrong with a well-made Japanese knife or secateurs. I have several knife, starting from a hand-forged steel petit knife for about 5000JPY to the Damascus-blade santoku for about 15.000 JPY And you can go up, price-wise, I just opted by buy my knifes directly from the makers in Nagasaki and Sakai. In terms of buying a Japanese knife, I think they are best bought at the source, and the places above I have visited personally and can recommend them for quality and great service. I also bought a knife at the Jikko Pontocho shop in Kyoto – prices were somewhat higher, but quality was very good. Other shops in Kyoto that have a good reputation are Yagi Hochouten (also sells some cookware). Shigeharu and Hayakawa Hamonoten are two tiny shops in central Kyoto with somewhat irregular opening hours run by elderly craftsmen – allegedly they have great knives when you can get your hands on them.

For Tokyo, I have no recommendations, really, as I haven’t been to Tokyo much recently. I was in  Kappabashi-dori last year and got some wooden utensils, and didn’t find it too tourists, so I would probably try there. There is a similar area in OSaka called Sennichimae Doguyasuji at the back of Namba Station, and I am still trying to figure out if that is truly still catering to the restaurants or whether it’s been touristitfied. it’s certainly quite busy but not a bad place to look.

Jinbei and Samue

Not everyone might want to go the whole hog and dress in kimono. While Japan has some excellent casual clothing and denim, it may be harder to buy as a gift… whereas with loungewear, sizes are somewhat more inclusive and forgiving.

First up, the samue, one of my favourite pieces of loungewear. It’s traditionally a two-piece suit worn by Buddhist monks for everyday work, but nowadays samue are also worn by service staff and as loungewear. Samue consist of wide drawstring pants and a wrap jacket and is usually made from cotton, but hemp, linen, silk and even wool are also common. You also get them in specialist luxury fabrics like Kurume Cotton or Mikawa Cotton.

And Jinbei is just a short pants version of a samue-style suit. Usually worn in summer as loungewear or pyjamas, and as playsuits by children, they are usually made from light cotton, often with a crease to optimise ventilation in hot weather. 

Both these items can be reliably bought online from several retailers -or both have actual shops in Kyoto. I have bought a relatively cheap (5000JPY) decent samue from Musubi Kyoto , in the kimono community, Kimonomachi has a good reputation for washable, mid-priced kimono. I’ve also seen samue at a Kamakura Shirts pop-up and in several denim shops, but they tend to be more expensive, 25k JPY and up.

Traditional Crafts unique to Japan…

It is definitely worth seeking out traditional crafts at your destination. Asking at your hotel, or doing a little internet research beforehand works wonder. And if all fails… a piece of local ceramics usually is beautiful and useful and will accompany a packet of coffee or tea quite beautifully.

Kyoto is perhaps most famous for the variety of crafts: Kiyomizu Ceramics, Raku ware, silk weaving, fan making, lacquer… and more. But every region has one of several crafts that they excel in. On our last trip, we saw Bizen ware in Okayama and Kurashiki, tons of ceramics and kanzashi (hair combs and ornaments) in Kyoto, of course, and knives from Sakai.

Pretty much every region has excellent knifesmiths. I fist got into Japanese kitchen knives in Nagasaki – Omura, to be exact, which isn’t exactly a region known for its cutlery, yet I bought some of my nicest knives there. The place I am going next is famous for iron ware, kokeshi dolls and more sharp things. Just make sure the person you are gifting is into these crafts before making a relatively pricey purchase, or consider keeping the gift to yourself and swap it for something different, in the worst case.

… and useful goods from the 100 Yen Store

The cheapest gifts you can possibly find are in the 100 Yen Store – and it’s incredible what decent quality and great designs you can find there. Don’t discount 100 Yen stores for cheap character goods, household helpers, inexpensive ceramics, stationary…

I keep a list of things I like and need or what people ask me to buy, and I really try to limit my shopping at the 100-Yen store. I went in for a luggage strap in January and walked out with the stuff below, al things I need… or think I need.

Maybe I am getting better, because on the last trip, I only got things I needed – like pens, magnetic hooks and a cat hairband and another fake lacquer “dog bowl” Okay, a few cat items crept in and a washi tape. But it’s incredible how much useful you will find in the 100Yen Store.

Definitely worth looking here – common chains are Daiso, Seria, Watts and CanDo, and they all carry different goods. My favourite for “useful” things that are beautiful is Seria, followed by Can Do. The wasabi/ginger grater and the tiny milk jugs are from a kitchen shop in Osaka.

Last not least… snacks always work!

Probably everyone knows the popular Japanese snacks of Glico’s Pocky Sticks and Nestle’s Kitkat in tons and tons of different flavours. I have fallen for them, too, although I try not to buy from nestle, but a couple of bags of the mini-sized treats in unusual flavours (Salt lemon, Strawberry Chocolate Souffle, strong matcha, melon) usually wander into my suitcase before I go home.

For a chocolate alternative, I buy “Kinoko no Yama” and “Takenoko no Sato” – mainly for their cute looks. The chocolate is nothing to write home about for a continental European who loves a quality chocolate, but not bad either.

My true weakness are senbei and otsumame (snacks to go with alcohol). A marginally healthier alternative to potato chips and peanuts, often on a base of ride and lathered with thick soy sauce. Very tasty. I usually buy something from Kameida Seika from the supermarket – but there are so many brands including local and supermarket specific brands.

Also, curry roux cubes, freeze-dried miso soup and furikake (rice topping) are extremely portable and make great gifts for those who love Japanese comfort food.

The Small Print

I have visited Japan several times between 20024 and 2025, all on my own money, no sponsorship, no sponsored links, no affiliate links in the text above. I work a regular job and my travel funds come from my regular work. If you would like to support this blog, please consider using my affiliate links to book some of my favourite hotels in Kyoto or Tokyo.

This post contains affiliate links in this section to Booking.com, meaning Iearn a small commission if you are booking through these links. Other than that, I am keeping this post free from any advertising, everything I bought was purchased by me at regular price.

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