Intro to BOOKOFF SUPER BAZAAR✨THRIFTING in JAPAN for Homeware, Ceramics, Ornaments, Home Decor🇯🇵
Hello everyone thank you for joining me today we are at Book Off Super Bazaar which is one of our larger thrift shop chains in Japan. They sell everything from clothing to electronics to furniture for the larger Super Bazaars. This one has things like
Paintings, artwork, ceramics, knick-knacks, so we’re going to go through those today, not the clothes, not the books, not the electronics and I won’t be talking throughout the whole thing so don’t worry, it’s a longer one today because it’s an introduction to Book Off Super
Bazaar. I’ve added some prices in US Dollars using the average exchange rate of 2023 and 2024 so hopefully that’ll be a guide for the cost of items here I’m guessing that’s some kind of a game machine I don’t know much about it, some ceramic dogs and I’m not going to go through the clothing area or the shoe area today, just whizzing through the bags as I head towards the area with the knick-knacks and ceramics and plates and etc Bags can be much cheaper than that, you have to just look around uh this is an Arita-ware bud vase, very pretty it is about $3.70 and I think this is actually probably Kiyomizu-yaki, Kiyomizu-ware which is from Kyoto, very cute little pot, and this would be a tea caddy, you’d put tea in that
And it’s 880 Yen so that’s about $5.90, $6 it’s Kutani-ware, very beautiful little vessel there I like this giant vase 220yen it’s seemed reduced to that’s about $1.45 $1.50, oh it’s properly stamped I thought it was a studio piece. This is really beautiful, it’s from Portugal. I’m not going
To pick it up today but I really do like it it’s very very pretty and now we are entering the mega cheap zone, everything here is 110yen which is 75 cents and this bit where there’s yellow or
Pink labels, that’s five items for 110yen so for example, this one has got a pink label so you can pick up four more items and you’re paying 75 cents for all of that so that’s pretty amazing
Here, it’s good fun. Sometimes you end up picking up things you don’t need but um, see this is actually Kiyomizu-ware from Kyoto, good quality. Here you would choose five of those. I think there’s often like you know, big plates like this as well. They’re usually they’ve been on the shelves for a long
Time so they just kind of clear them. I think this one’s really cute, really pretty, it’s a little bit scratched up so it’s good for home use. Can you see here it says Hoya? This is Hoya
Crystal, we get a lot of that in Japan it’s very very common. I love it though but I won’t buy these things unless it’s just for myself because it’s a bit expensive to ship even domestically
So yeah and I have plenty so I’m not allowed to buy any more big plates for a little while [Music] [Music] I thought that was pretty neat because you have actual pictures also of the benihana flowers and I really like the pattern on this of the tamari balls very very pretty, very cute I picked this up put it in my basket and then put it back again which was really silly you
Must never do that right because you’ll never find it again. So now we are in the vase or vase area I really enjoy this part of the shop so let’s have a look at what they’ve got This style of pottery, even if it’s studio pottery can be quite pricey with the handles, we call them ears, and this little onion vase, I didn’t pick up today but I waited and I did get it reduced
On another day, I think it’s in another video so hopefully you’ll see it then. This is probably from Pakistan. It’s a green onyx I believe and this is also beautiful for doing some very sculptural pieces of ikebana. you know putting maybe pine, matsu Pine for New Year’s, very
Very nice. I love this because it has cranes and I love cranes, it’s very heavy because it’s iron I presume it’s from I I think it’s Nambu Tekki, Nambu iron. I love this one as well of course
Because it has cranes, anything to do with cranes. This is really pretty, this reticulated vase. I love the color very nice but I haven’t worked out whether it’s Chinese or Japanese, and this I believe is probably Alabaster some kind of a marble uh only 550yen $3.70, not bad but it’s a
Little bit scratched. There’s almost always some Crystal here you know, some of it cut glass some of it pressed, usually Bohemian glass very nice, and now we’re going to this kind of jumbled area which is usually figurines, not necessarily from Japan, like I think this is probably
Mexican? I think it’s leather, tooled leather so let’s have a look what’s going on here I probably should have picked that one up because it was so unusual, it had a kind of like, not Cubist but that kind of era vibe about it. I recognize this because I’ve seen elephants made of the same stone and have the same kind of
Inlay so I think it might be from India, but now we’re going to go over to where it says Japan interiors so it’s all Japanese figurines, so let’s check out the shelves here Look at how happy they are. I’d love to have them in my home but my home is just too small for them sadly, and here we have those Hokkaido bears that are carved from wood, salmon in his mouth there
They can be quite expensive if they are signed, and this Fukurokuju is another one of the Seven Lucky Gods. He has a always has a long head, long forehead, and it symbolizes longevity. It’s a nice looking bodhisatva but a little bit scratched up on its chin that’s $11.70 on the pricier side
For this shop, and look at that there is Daikokuten to go with Ebisuten that we saw earlier, and what else have we got here, that’s a metal bullet train and a small Buddha, I love this, this rabbit is
Made of iron, super heavy really cool that’s about $3.70. Another little onion shaped vase, it’s about $2.20, and these, the white porcelain figurines, I believe these are Hakata Ningyo, Hakata dolls. I’m not that into them, I have not been picking them up because I think they’re hard to ship. Those
Colorful colls are from Korea, and these guys, I don’t know if you’ve seen them before, they’re called Kappa, they’re partly turtle, partly human and they’ve got webbed hands and feet like frogs as you can see there and this one is a piggy bank. Pretty big these guys, cute faces, and this is an
Incense holder incense burner in the shape of a pheasant. They don’t do so well in the Japanese market so I didn’t pick it up but it’s lovely, it’s a beautiful shape. I’ve just spotted
Some fake food this is unagi eel um they sell a lot of fake food in Kappabashi if you ever come to Tokyo. Love these glass wind chimes, this is also Edo style, Tokyo style and this is from
Asakusa so you can pick those up in that area. In fact you can actually go and make them yourself, there’s painting classes. You paint these from the inside, yeah it’s actually quite tricky, and this is for shaving ice. All the houses, we all had them, I didn’t have a character
One like this but I did have one as a kid. This kind of tatami or goza material like a straw, is really good for the summer here in Japan to sit on or use as a pillow because it doesn’t
Stick to you and it gets very very humid here, so now we are in the ceramic section [Music] [Music] [Music] These teacups that are lidded, I really wish I’d pick them up for myself I did see them here for a couple of weeks and I didn’t pick them up, I don’t know what I was waiting for
So once I decided I’ll go for it, it was gone, and this section this says Fufu Yunomi Fufu means married couple so it’s kind of the old school traditionalist way here, because you can see there’s one that’s larger than the other, that’s what Fufu Yunomi look like, this one I
Didn’t pick it up today but I did come back for it another time. This I believe it’s the same pattern as the little jar we saw earlier on in the video this is from Kyoto, it is Kiyomizu-ware
And these guys that’s two for 330yen so $2.20 they’re Kabuki faces, and we’re now in the cup and saucer section but they’re made of Japanese materials, Japanese design. I have to confess I’ve never ended up picking up anything from that part I just like to have a look but nothing has
Taken my fancy just yet and now let’s move into the sake cups and sake tokkuri or decanters area Okay we’re now in the matcha bowl section and that is a red raku bowl. Red raku can be quite pricey, and this one you would have for the Year of the Rooster, or if you’re born in that year
Shame about the crack on the one with the white bamboo leaves, so this one has beautiful glazing color and can you see it has got a second sticker on top with the price reduced, if you wait
A while, if you’re lucky if no one’s bought it, sometimes you get some good bargains. That one is about almost $6, and then over here see this one is also being reduced 330yen which is around $2.20 so
You could start with a bowl like this if it’s your first time to prepare matcha for yourself and down here this is Hagi-ware, you can tell it’s Hagi-ware by that little clip at the bottom, there at the base, and also this peachy pinkish color that’s also indicative of Hagi-ware, a lovely
Plum blossom design. But you know people tend to buy the more simplistic ones I’ve noticed, and I really wanted this teapot but the guy who put it in his basket saw me looking at it so I turned
Away quickly to have a look at the teacups again this is another set lidded set, 4 for $14.60 and look at all the different patterns and drawings on there, this is Kutani-ware, and now we’re having
A look at some of the rice bowls, this set is quite crudely made actually it’s not a great one but I’m just showing you these are little what Japanese people imagined what children from the Tang
Dynasty in China looked like, and you can see from this set here, we do this quite often where we have a set and it has different designs or different patterns, in this case they have different florals
On there, often it’s to do with the seasons like this one here it has crysanthemum on them and this is an Arita-ware. Most ceramic items as you might have picked up come in sets of fives and this is
Around $5 .90. So now we’re moving on to the small dish selection dishwasher nightmare, but beautiful [Music] Here’s a Hoya glass platter, it’s only around $3.70. They’re not that pricey here as I was saying before, yeah you find a lot of Hoya glass. I’m thinking this one might not be Japanese, I’m not so sure, could be Italian. Basically they mix up different whatever glassware is here, whether
It’s Japanese or from another country it’s all there, it’s all the glassware, and here’s another Hoya dish and underneath it, it’s a fish plate. You find them everywhere don’t you, not just in Japan. I only collect the Kosta Boda ones, and this is also Hoya cut glass this is also beautiful cut
Glass, could be Edo Kiriko. Edo Kiriko is the Tokyo style, yeah they’re usually very very sharp well-made, this too are believe is Edo Kiriko from the price point, and now we’re moving into the Western style plate area, so
These are Western style meaning it can be made in Japan or made abroad, it doesn’t matter, it’s all grouped together in this area. This is a stoneware plate with the grape design, it almost looks like it could be like Danish or something like that but it’s Japanese. There’s also teacups and
Saucers and teapots in this area as well. Lovely gold on this one, this teacup is by Nikko, Japanese brand, and here is a Kosta Boda plate, I do own this but it was like half the price. These are
So expensive when they’re in the boxes, that’s almost $22 but yeah I got mine for about 8 or $9, and how cute are these? That’s $3.70 for two of them, they’re not my thing but yeah if you
Like cute things, that’s what’s available. That one looks like it says Valentino Italy, the green one I think it’s Narumi, Japanese brand, some lusterware, probably Japan made-too, this one looks like it’s made for the Japan market but it’s actually an Italian brand, cool handle, and this one is also
By Tachikichi which I mentioned before they have a lot of contemporary stuff but this design looks like it’s one of their older ones. I love the round circular handle there, very cool. You often see single cups and saucers here which is nice if you’re collecting just single ones. I was actually
Looking for some teacups and saucers for myself so this Noritake set was perfect. There’s two each there and it was only around $3.70, modern design, contemporary, but I liked it. So this Narumi Bone China. They are the competitors of Noritake. This is also Narumi. Just for the one t cup and saucer the
Price is around $11.70, and for this Noritake for two cups, two saucers, the same price. This I think is also a contemporary piece. So now we’re moving into another area. This part has a few ashtrays down
Here and then it has some things in the cabinet usually Fire King, a little bit of Le Creuset and then this is lovely, I only noticed afterwards this was a Bulgari. I should have got that. This see is Fire King. Fire King is hugely expensive in Japan especially like the jadeite stuff, very
Very pricey but, you know, it’s not from Japan so it makes sense. That Mickey Mouse one was astronomical! So now I’m going to do my mini haul because I didn’t purchase much today. It was focused on just videoing what the place sells. So I did pick up these two lovely clay bells of these very rounded dragons. They have some plum blossoms on the sides. I’ve cleaned them up a bit with
Water. Do be careful if you do clean them. Just do a gentle wipe in the sections where it’s not painted with the main design and just very very softly and that shouldn’t rub the actual paint
Color off. I did pick this bunchin up which is a paper weight. This has a Sakura cherry blossom design and it says at the back that it is for people who have graduated school elementary school in 1978, yeah March 1978, so a bit of history there. It’s from Kawasaki area. I’m sure this
Kenzan that I picked up is probably from the 100 yen shop which is like our dollar store, but they are so useful, like I have this tiny one here and I like to use them in tiny sake cups, put them
In there and make small flower arrangements and then I put them in places like the bathroom or the entrance area because we have such a small home, you know, I also picked up these two Sumo teacups, yunomis. I think they’re probably a set of five but I just thought they were cute
And this has got Akebono’s signature on the back, he was a Yokozuna, see there, and then here this is Musoyama, so they all have the picture of the sumo wrestler and then their autographs on the back. I just thought they were kind of kitch and funny, and I did say I was going
To buy these. I did. They’re Noritake Gold Line I believe they’re called, so perfect. I just wanted something for the home that’s simple and they were really reasonable priced so I’m happy with those. So thank you so much for coming along today. I hope you enjoyed looking around
Book Off Super Bazaar with me and hopefully some things were of interest or you may have learned something new. Thank you again and I hope to see you in another video soon. Thank you. Bye!
Today we are at BOOKOFF SUPER BAZAAR looking at ornaments, ceramics, tableware, home decor, 110yen discount section etc., my predominant thrifting/resale focus.
I’ve added estimated prices in USD($), so you can gauge how much things cost😊
– Regular BOOKOFF branches sell books, comics, sometimes DVDs, CDs, LP records.
– BOOKOFF *SUPER BAZAAR* branches tend to be bigger and sell clothing, shoes, bags and anime-related figures.
– Then…you have the mega large-format SUPER BAZAAR stores that also handle household items, furniture, electronics, musical instruments, sporting goods, baby goods, art, jewelry and more!
Make sure you check the branch info on their website before you go! There’ll be icons of what kind of products they sell listed under each branch.
Thank you so much for watching and hope you enjoy the content🥰
*📍BOOKOFF SUPER BAZAAR 409 Kawasaki Minatocho Store*
BOOKOFF SUPER BAZAAR 409号川崎港町店
Nearest station: Minatocho (Keikyu Daishi Line)
*Exchange Rate Guide (estimate as at 2024)*
¥50 → 35¢
¥100 → 70¢
¥200 → $1.35
¥300 → $2
¥400 → $2.70
¥500 → $3.40
¥1000 → $6.80
*About me:*
Hi! I’m Michelle. A half Japanese, half British Tokyoite🇯🇵🇬🇧
Aside from reselling, I am also a tour guide. Therefore an avid researcher on all things Japanese🎶
Hope you enjoy coming along, seeing what I find both for resale and for keeps.
*IG*
Tokyotique: https://www.instagram.com/thetokyotique/
Japanescapes: https://www.instagram.com/japanescapes/
*Art Channel*
Michelle Nagisa Art: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCCgxs1hCCovdOebPUlQmjtQ
*Shop platforms:*
✔️Domestic market (Japan): Mercari
✔️International market: Was on eBay but have now closed the account. Hope to be listing soon on the Tokyotique online shop.
#thrifting #thriftinginjapan #japaneseculture #Japan #japantravel #fleamarket #vintage
Video No.3
4 Comments
I have one of those Hokkaido bears 🖤and that ice shaver is anpan man
Pls. Do a house tour 🤗
Awesome finds!
I'd buy som many things in there… omg 😍