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Geishas walking down a Kyoto street

© 123fr.com / Naomi Hasegawa

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Shopping in Kyoto

Key areas: 

Kyoto's main shopping district centres around the area where the streets Shijo-dori and Kawaramachi-dori intersect. Here you’ll find big department stores. The area between Kawaramachi-dori and Karasuma-dori contains smaller, independent specialist shops and boutiques selling both traditional crafts and the latest fashion trends.

Fashionable shops, exclusive boutiques and trendy restaurants can also be found along the elegant Kitayama Street, which stretches eastward from Kitayama Bridge further north in Kyoto.

Kyoto has a number of shops that offer handmade Japanese paper, and Morita Washi, Higashinotoin-dori-Bukkoji agaru, near Shijo-dori, is the most famous, selling purified paper of the highest quality.

Japanese comics and film fans should head for Teramachi-dori, one of Kyoto's biggest shopping arcades, which runs between Oike and Shijo-dori, where there are several stores specialising in manga and anime.

Markets: 

Kyoto is famous for its arts and crafts shops, and the best one for tourists is undoubtedly the multistorey Kyoto Handicraft Center, Kumanojinja Higashi, Marutamachi-dori, Sakyo-ku, which sells a wide range of handicraft products and souvenirs, from lacquerware, porcelain, jewellery, woodblock prints and fabrics to kimonos, swords and T-shirts.

Another excellent craft shop can be found in the Kyoto Craft Center, 275 Gion-machi-kitagawa, Higashiyama-ku, which has exhibitions of textiles, ceramics and many other kinds of craft items made by local craftsmen and artists.

Shopping centres: 

There are several huge department stores between Shijo-dori and Kawaramachi-dori, where you will find major fashion chain stores and high-street brands.

Opening hours: 

Shops in Kyoto are usually open daily 1000-2000.

Tax information: 

A consumption tax of 5% is added to the price of all goods. Credit cards are slowly becoming more widely accepted, but most transactions are still done in cash.

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