Nippori Fabric Town in Tokyo
A few stops away from the heart of Tokyo is the quiet neighborhood of Nippori. Whenever we visit Japan this is our preferred home base because of the distance of the train station to nearby affordable and roomy hotels (super near!) and the Keio Skyliner.
Nippori is also famous for it’s fabric street, more fondly known as Nippori Fabric Town or Nippori Textile Town or Nippori Fabric Street. The shops usually open at 10am and close at around 6pm so if you are a fabric hoarder like I am, one day is not enough to go around and browse through all the fabric and notions and accessories of the various shops. I try to drop by here every time I visit Tokyo to grab some fabric to make things like pen wraps and tissue holders.
You can find shops that sell only fabric notions, or shops that sell only hardware or leather, or just tools and charms.
If you only have a limited amount of time to drop by or just want to hunt for Japanese fabrics, your best option would be to walk to the middle of the street and drop by the main TOMATO fabric store. It has five floors full of different kinds of fabric both local and imported. They have a small selection of fabrics from Liberty of London, Marimekko, and a few American brands. The shop to the left of Tomato sells pre-cut Japanese fabrics at discounted prices (the cuts are usually 0.5m, 1.0m, 1.5m, 2.0m) so if you only have an hour or two, this might be less overwhelming than Tomato.
They have different kinds of fabrics with prices ranging from ¥100-¥7,000 per meter. The 5th floor of Tomato is dedicated to fat quarters for quilting and small crafts.
The store next door to Tomato with the pre-cut Japanese fabrics sold at a discount compared to getting it elsewhere: