Very good news for those using neither the dollar nor the euro: following several requests we have just added a ‘multi-currency’ menu that allows you to choose between six currencies, the euro and the dollar but also the Canadian dollar, Australian dollar, New Zealand dollar and the pound Sterling for people from UK.
All prices in the shop (products, shopping cart, shipping …) haver a dual display yen + currency of your choice.
Please note that payment with Paypal is only in yen but you can pay your order with the currency of your choice using the 2Checkout payment system.
Also we took the opportunity to move the language selection flags next to this new menu in order to have everything together in the same block.
The advantage for us is that there is still space available so who knows maybe one day Tokyo Smart will be available in other languages!
Normally all works perfectly but if you notice anything suspicious do not hesitate to leave a feedback!

We have just modified our shipping costs. Don’t worry however our prices haven’t increased it’s the contrary actually.
Shipping by Airmail is now limited to packages up to 2kg / 4.4lbs as this option was not really interesting over that weight.
To compensate we have lowered our shipping prices with EMS (which includes insurance and a tracking number) for packages heavier than 4.4lbs! The EMS option which has many advantages is now more accessible than ever!

A Happy New Year! We hope this year will be great for you.
On our side we are restarting slowly after a relatively quiet post-Christmas period.
We are rebuilding our stocks of products and will soon be fully prepared for 2012.
This year our shop will celebrate its second anniversary. In two years a lot of changes have occurred particularly for the store which has been completely modified the last few months.
We have also added quiet a few products to complete our offer including new bento boxes which we hope will become popular in the shop.
Although we still have a lot of projects in mind (additions of new categories and new products, a version of the store for smartphones, new Maneki Neko …). All this will obviously depend on the time available and the activity of the shop.
We hope that this year 2012 will start like 2011 ended for us.
See you soon … on the shop

As promised here are the 7 new bento boxes and 3 new models of Japanese chopsticks. Note that these three new pairs of chopsticks respectively named Yume Usagi, Sakura Red and Kuro Mokume are each assorted to a bento of the same name.
Something tells me that the Red Sakura bento+chopstick set will have some success …
The new bentos are quite different from the previous ones since they are in plastic and are ideal for daily use. Of course all these new products are manufactured in Japan.
So basically we are testing this type of products on our shop and if we see that they get popular we will probably add some more.
Also we still plan to add new categories to the shop, however this will not happen until next year since December is pretty busy. In this connection if you have ideas for new products to add please let us know. Note that we are only interested by quality products made in Japan.

About Christmas it’s the home stretch now and if you want to be sure to receive your package in time the shipping by EMS is highly recommended as this is a very busy time for carriers.

We are going to add 7 new models of bento boxes and 3 models of chopsticks pairs in a few days.
They will be pretty different to what we propose at the moment and we hope you will like them.
If we see it gets popular we might add new models in the future.

The three chopsticks pairs will have the same design than 3 differents bento boxes so you will be able to buy a bento + chopsticks set!

We launched a new version of our website including the shop and the blog.
It is actually the version 2.0 launched last June with quiet a few changes.
Thanks to Jérémy from Rhooo I could get some new ideas about how to improve our website and make it more user friendly.
So basically the big change was to move the categories menu from the left to the top, under the ‘Shop’ tab.
This little change had big impact on the shop:
- the website is larger than before
- there is 3 products displayed on each line in the categories pages
- I also changed the products page and added the ‘already viewed products’ part on this page.
- the homepage has been completely modified too.
Please let us know what you think about this new version. Do you think it is easier to use?

In addition it’s never too early to remind you that Christmas is getting closer and it’s always a good idea to order in advance as next month is going to be very busy for post offices and for us (at least we hope!).

We mentioned about them a few days ago, here are the two new kokeshi dolls: the Kokeshi Yumekomachi with her hair bun and her pretty pale pink and the Kokeshi Samurai with his chonmage hair cut and his katana that I personally really like!

A new category should be added soon and we also plan to add new models of Maneki Neko that we found very cute. We are thinking to add four identical models but in different colors (probably white, black, yellow and… pink!).

Otherwise, despite the typhoon we were able to work normally and no disturbance is expected. All orders are shipped as usual.

A month ago we were in Tokoname for the exhibition of Japanese ceramics Tokonameyaki 2011.
So here are (finally) a few pictures taken there.
Nothing special to report but it’s always fun to discover new things!

The exhibition took place on the ”track” of kyoutei. Kyoutei are aquatic versions of horse racing, except that the horses are replaced by small jet boats. As for horse racing spectators can bet on the winner.

As every year many people were present. Far fewer visitors were outside because of bad weather. Young artisans who exhibited outside were unlucky this year.

Many Japanese teapots of course as this is the specialty of the city. We were able to discover many different models with quite different styles. Strangely enough it is always difficult to find complete tea sets in Tokoname. That’s why there is only a small selection on the shop.

We could see many other objects for daily use. Personally I really like those two drinking cups in the front. They are both simple and beautiful. Note that some manufacturers from Seto were also there with items such as bowls, plates and dishes for everyday use.

Our favorite Maneki-Neko manufacturer was obviously at the exhibition with many lucky cats. We plan to add soon new models coming from another place. Of course those currently in place will remain on the shop!

Beautiful statues of Ojizou san. Nice but not cheap. We might add them on the shop some day just to check if there is a demand. Feel free to leave a comment on this.

A lot of craftsmen in Japan make very pretty figures which are all very original. We’d love to add this kind of items to the shop, but two problems facing us:
- this objects are made on a very irregular way
- virtually every object is unique which makes complicated to sale them on a website (for each object we need to create a description, picture… too costly!)

Otherwise as usual comment are much welcomed!

We have just added the two new daruma dolls to our catalog.
These two new models are the black daruma which is intended to protect against bad spirits and the white daruma which represents harmony and balance.
We will soon add two new kokeshi dolls then we plan to add this new category we are talking about for a while. If you are a fan on Facebook you probably already know what this category is about!
While we add these new products we also plan to remove some other ones as it seems that some items are not really popular. We haven’t decided anything yet but we are thinking about it.

These two little guys will be soon added to our shop and will join the other models of daruma dolls.
We will also add two new kokeshi dolls which will be a bit different from what we have at the moment although from the same manufacturer.
We also plan to add a new category in a few weeks !