Going Bead-Crazy in Tokyo!
I just got back into beadweaving and learned a few off-loom techniques this past week. But today my prize piece, a cute little mauve and gold ladder-stitch bracelet, suddenly snapped off my wrist, falling to the floor in a shower of sad little beads and I said to myself in a huff, “this 100-yen crap really ain’t worth the time. I gotta get me some good stuff if I wanna make this business happen.”
So I googled the words “Tokyo” and “beads” and came up with this: ASAKUSA-BASHI BEAD DISTRICT! There’s a whole “district” in Tokyo for beads buffs like me! Am I dreaming? Tokyo is already awesome for its “districts,” of things (think of a district as several blocks of city dotted with lots of stores carrying roughly the same thing. This is the essence of Tokyo) like the cookware district of Kappabashi-dori, the guitar and music supply shop district of Ochanomizu and the bookstore district of Jimbocho to name a few. But a bead district?
..hunting down the Fire Line
You know, when I hear the words ”bead shop,” at least, in Alaska, I always think of long-bearded fellas haunched over their soldering irons with shakuhachi flute music in the background hidden amongst aisles of plastic drawers and occult books, reaking of incense and tanned leather. But that’s not what I found here at all. Each and every shop here was approachable and brightly lit, draped with ropes upon ropes of glittering things and pre-packaged beads, all priced so I didn’t have to pick through them and weigh them out like they make you do in the States. And there wasn’t a single hint of religious overtone, Buddhist or other. The only thing that came close was the small selection of Catholic prayer beads and icons for sale at Kiwa, but they were shoved in among the silver fetishes so popular with the young Japanese males these days.
Japan’s quite famous for beads and the wholesalers are definitely here at Asakusa-bashi, as well as a healthy gathering of retail shops for the average granny or housewife looking for a time-filler craft. I found everything I needed: freshwater pearls, Swarovski crystals, cut and polished semi-precious stones, pre-packaged beading projects and lots more. A few of the stores tend to carry the same thing but most of the ones I’ve seen near the station tend to have a corner of specialty items that set them apart, particularly the stores Genuine (focusing on pearls and rare stones) and Kiwa, the biggest retailer in the area carrying lots of those lovely Toho beads. I had an amazingly fun time here hunting down my Fire Line and thread conditioner.
The only drawback though is that none of these places accept credit cards, which is unheard of where I live in northern Kanto suburbia. And only Japanese is spoken here, but the help is reasonably friendly.
The bead district is easy to get to. From Ueno or Tokyo, go to Akihabara on the JR Yamanote Line and transfer there to the JR Sobu Line (the yellow line) bound for Chiba (platform 6). Asakusa-bashi is just one stop next to Akihabara. Either exit, west or east has a nice selection of bead shops. You just have to walk down along the main highway a ways to find them. A Japanese map with the names of all the good stores is available on-line.
