Archive for April, 2007
Kuri Kuri No 01 (JP)
| くりくり〈01〉特集・ボタンでくりくり くりくり編集室 ISBN: 4576041819 A small book with cute zakka ideas and instructions to make your own. It even has a couple of cooking recipes! However, this book does not provide to-scale patterns nor detailed instructions (a fact that I do like actually because it allows more room for originality and creativity). It is afterall, only ￥630. |
Japan’s Zakka: What’s in a Word?
More Than a Consumer Fad, It’s the Art of Finding Savvy in the Mundane : Japan’s Zakka: What’s in a Word?
By Kaori Shoji International Herald TribuneTuesday, May 15, 2001
For once, the Japanese word for a fashion phenomenon sounds as hip as it deserves to be: zakka. It’s the term for everything and anything that spruces up your home, life and outlook.
It could be a wooden clothespin by an obscure company in New Hampshire, it could be an empty tomato-paste can saved for planting basil. Zakka is the art of seeing the savvy in the ordinary and mundane; it’s also the act of paying hard cash for such things as can openers in “skeleton pink” (think iMac translucence), just so one’s friends will know they’re dealing with someone who pays extra for a minor sensory pleasure.
On one level the zakka boom is just another in a series of consumer fads, but on another it’s plugged into something spiritual. The Japanese are not into self-expression, but the zakka boom shows they are quite willing to let floor cushions do the talking for them: expensive floor cushions, made by a particular manufacturer, selected with loving attention and displayed just so.
Read more: International Herald Tribune
Zakka shopping guide in Tokyo
Anything goesAdd a little spunk to your life at Tokyo’s zakka housewares shops. Hanna Kite visits five of the best.
Photo by Hanna KiteBottled green tea in Boston tastes pretty much the same as it does from a vending machine in Shibuya. But no matter how international our planet becomes, sometimes a certain something can only be found one place on Earth. For interior-knickknack devotees and accessory-minded folk, zakka, or “miscellaneous goods” stores, are the cornerstone of life in Japan, the trusted source of goodies when a bag or apartment needs a touch of personality. There’s nothing quite like them beyond Japanese shores.
While a walk around Shimokitazawa or Kichijoji guarantees a zakka encounter, the following five stores in Jiyugaoka and Daikanyama are the top shops in Tokyo’s zakka central. They offer a little more than your standard basket and wire-plant-hanger fare, and a more distinctive selection than Loft.
Read more: Metropolis Tokyo
