Shopping

Hasami, Mino and Arita are places, not grades — three production regions with the same official status. What the name on a Japanese plate tells you, what the origin line on the underside settles, the number that does not sort them, and which one to buy first for everyday use.

Seven things worth carrying home from a Japanese 100-yen shop, ranked; the one line on the item that says where it was made, and how to read it; and six things JbJ would leave on the shelf for the Daiso in your own country.

A #600 stone from a Japanese maker and a #600 from a European one are not the same grit — one is roughly twice the size of the other. Here is what to buy for one kitchen knife, and what the printed number can and cannot tell you.

From 1 November 2026 Japan stops taking the tax off at the register and refunds it at departure instead. What that changes at the till, what you have to do before you drop your bags, and why no page can honestly tell you the percentage you will receive.

A first Japanese kitchen knife comes down to four decisions taken in order — blade type, steel, handle, price — and only the first two really matter. Plus the part most buying guides leave out: how to tell a buying guide from a sales page, including this one.

Every guide to Japanese drugstores is a list of things to buy. This one starts with the risk class printed on every medicine box — which decides whether a pharmacist has to hand it to you — and the two customs questions that get answered as if they were one.