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Yanaka Matsunoya - Perfect Handmade Tools For Daily Life
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Located near the entrance to Yanaka Ginza Shopping Street, Yanaka Matsunoya is a shop that specializes in products made with materials found in nature. How about incorporating some of these miscellaneous goods into your own daily life?
Written by
Originally from Chiayi, Taiwan, I majored in history in university. I'm a history geek and otaku living in an old downtown area of Tokyo. I have worked as a journalist for a Taiwanese business magazine, public relations manager for Mos Burger Taiwan, and as a marketer of American skin products in Taiwan. Currently working as a freelance of writer. Visiting castles in my free time.
As a storyteller, I only write about things that I saw, heard, and researched myself. Every word of my articles reflects what I personally thought and felt.
If you have some time, do read some of my stories.
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Located in Tokyo's Nippori area, Yanaka Ginza is known for streets and houses with a quaint, downtown kind of feeling. Right at the entrance to Yanaka Ginza Shotengai (shopping street), there's a set of stairs called Yuyake Dandan which makes the ideal spot for watching a sunset.
As you head in the direction of these stairs from JR Nippori Station, pay close attention to the view on your left-hand side. Here you'll see a general merchandise store called Yanaka Matsunoya. Though the shop is small in scale, the interior is jammed full of "tools for everyday use", obtained directly from the craftspeople all over Japan who make them.
Yanaka Matsunoya - Tools for Everyday Use
On Yanaka Matsunoya's signboard, the words tools for everyday use are written beside the shop's name. In 1945 the shop originated as a wholesale store specializing in handbags, but with the changing of the times it's been transformed into a variety goods shop.
In Japan these products are usually referred to as zakka, or general merchandise. However, Matsuno-san, the shop's third generation owner prefers to call them aramono, or miscellaneous daily items.
Aramono are miscellaneous goods made in a simple and honest fashion. In the same way that handicrafts are created, these products are meticulously made one by one with care and attention by the various artisans. In particular, aramono refer to tools and other goods that have taken root and become necessities in people's daily lives.
Many of the shop's miscellaneous goods have been made using natural materials such as bamboo, chigaya (cogon grass) and wood. Taking advantage of each material's special characteristics, products with new designs and patterns are born.
Instead of using bright colors, unobtrusive, low-key color schemes are utilized in a straightforward fashion. Using colors found in the surrounding environment results in simple, un-embellished products that convey the warmth of nature.
Much of the shop's aramono are made by craftspeople at farms and small factories with a minimum of advertising. As a result, owner Matsuno-san also tries to help out by passing the word on about these daily goods.
Written by
Originally from Chiayi, Taiwan, I majored in history in university. I'm a history geek and otaku living in an old downtown area of Tokyo. I have worked as a journalist for a Taiwanese business magazine, public relations manager for Mos Burger Taiwan, and as a marketer of American skin products in Taiwan. Currently working as a freelance of writer. Visiting castles in my free time.
As a storyteller, I only write about things that I saw, heard, and researched myself. Every word of my articles reflects what I personally thought and felt.
If you have some time, do read some of my stories.
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