Dandelion Chocolate

Dandelion Chocolate is a bean-to-bar chocolate shop with a cafe, from San Francisco.
Location: 4-14-6, Kuramae, Taito-ku, Tokyo

Mono-Machi 8th

Mono-Machi is an event by makers in Shitamachi, such as craftsmen, artisans or manufacturing companies. The main building will be Taito Designers Village. Start there, buy creators' goods and get stamps. You can also find some workshops to make something handmade.

May 27, 28 and 29.

http://monomachi.com/
(use Google translation)

shop#185 NAKAMURA TEA LIFE STORE

This cool shop is a green tea leaf shop in Kuramae, owned by a tea firm in Shizuoka. The tea leaves are grown carefully without use of pesticides. The bottle with green cap is an original bottle to make green tea with cold water in a fridge. Good for summer.

http://www.tea-nakamura.com/

shop#166 Ragtime

Ragtime is a umbrella shop where you can buy an umbrella made to order, not a ready-made. It takes about 4 weeks, but you will have an unique umbrella, only one in the world.

Lady's 13,000 yen
Men's 15,000 yen

If you live in Japan, you can order through internet.
http://www.rag-t.com/order.html

The atelier with a shop is located between Kuramae and Asakusa.

shop#165 MAITO

Kusaki-zome is a method to dye not chemically but naturally using natural plants. You can find cloths and scarves at MAITO, dyed in Kusaki-zome which color is very soft and gentle.

In Kuramae, there is an atelier with a shop.

shop#164 REN

REN is a bag manufacturer using original pig skin. The bags are colorful, smooth and light but tough. REN's designers choose materials, make patterns and create prototypes by themselves, then make products through trial and error. I love the color of red of REN's bag.

The shop is located in Kuramae.
Closed on Mondays.

shop#162 WAPLUS & ALLOY

They are spatial and product designers, who work to produce shops as WAPLUS and to design products as ALLOY. In the small shop they build, there is an essence of their works. The bike-stand in front of nui (http://backpackersjapan.co.jp/nui/) is one of their recent work^^

closed irregularly.

WAPLUS & ALLOY
http://alloyjapan.com/

shop#161 SyuRo

SyuRo, located near Torigoe Shrine, is selling handmade goods and products for a simple life. It is a very comfortable place to shop. It is a kind of shop to visit casually when you are out for a walk on a beautiful sunny day.

closed on Sundays and national holidays.

http://www.syuro.info/consept.pdf

shop#160 TSUMAMI-DO

Tsumami-Zaiku is a Japanese craft which has a 300 years' history, using a small square texture colorfully dyed in a traditional way. Here at Tsumami-Do, you can experience Tsumami-Zaiku. Folding a texture like Origami, you can make a flower-shaped accessory in 30 to 40 minutes. Once you know how to make it, you can buy materials here, as it is the only material store of Tsumami-Zaiku. A Kanzashi (hair ornament) made by this method is very beautiful.

The owner, Takahashi-san, said they welcome foreign people. However, the class is in Japanese only, so please take someone who is Japanese or who speaks some Japanese. Please contact them in advance if you are more than 3 people.

Located between Asakusabashi Station and Kuramae Station.

■　Tsumami-Zaiku Experience
Reservation is not needed.
Tuesday to Saturday from 11:00 to 17:00
Fee: 860 yen (hairpin), 1,600 yen (charm)
available children over 6 years-old

shop#159 Daily's Muffin

I must say that this shop's muffins are sooooo good. There are various flavors, some of which are changed daily.  When you eat at home, use microwave for 20 seconds, then use oven (toaster) for 2 minutes. I tried a corn cream muffin and a chai muffin and both are delicious. I think I have to visit Daily's Muffin until I eat all of the flavors.

http://dailysmuffin.jp/

shop#158 (esi)monyara (closed on August 2015)

(Shop will be closed on August 31, 2015.)

This is a small shop for handmade goods for daily life. The shop is located on the top floor of an old and unique building in Kuramae. The items are gathered and carefully selected by the owner from all over Japan. The name of the store is very funny. If you turn over the spells and change y to i, you will find the answer. (esi)monyara goes to "arainomise". Yes! It means "a store of Arai-san," the name of the owner :-)

open only on Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Saturdays from 13:00 to 17:00.
https://www.facebook.com/pages/esimonyara-%E3%83%A2%E3%83%8B%E3%83%A3%E3%83%A9-/316402278445166

shop#157 Pro-Mener

Pro-Mener is a shop with an atelier of handmade leather items such as a wallets, book cover or pass case. The owner of this shop is the craftsman, who makes all of the products. He sometimes hold a workshop to make leather items. Next event is to make a card case on November 1. It is kind of a professional workshop taking 5 hours to be finished. The price is 6,000 yen, and you will get an exclusive leather card case of your own.

The shop is located on the 3rd floor of Kuramae Building, which is an old building but a new place  where young creators are gathering.

open on Saturdays, Sundays and public holidays from 13:00 to 18:00

facebook
https://www.facebook.com/pages/Pro-Mener/358139044336095

shop#156 ARKRAFT

ARKRAFT sells hand-crafted watches made by a watch creator, Mr. Hidekazu Araki. Basically, a case is made of blass and a belt is made of oxhide. You will find a ladies' watch as well as men's, which has a distinctive flavor, as Mr. Araki creates one by one carefully with high skills. Prices are somewhere around 20,000 yen. Reasonable, isn't it?

open from 13:00 to 18:00
closed on Sundays

Located near Torigoe Shrine.

Website (Japanese only)
http://arkraft.net/index.html

shop#154 Crafts Mochizuki

Here is used to be a rice store, opened in 1902. Now the store is closed down but is opened on weekends as a china shop. The interior is the same as the old time. They collect beautiful china made by artists living in Okinawa. Be careful, the shop is opened only on weekends. Though the shopkeeper doesn't speak English, the prices are put on every products.  I am sure it is worth seeing the building itself.

website (Japanese only)
http://www.geocities.jp/kougeimochiduki/