Buying Furniture in Nagoya

Aug 30, 2024

Buying Furniture in Nagoya

When moving to a new country, some things come over and some stay behind. Spouse and kids? Probably coming along. The family dog or cat? That can be a tougher call. Furniture finds itself to be dependent on your moving situation. International moving companies can provide air and ship freight options, but these can take weeks or months to arrive. Not many people are interested in bringing over every single thing, especially those who will continue to have a residence back home.

So, let’s have a look at the choices Nagoyans have when shopping:

Nitori

The ubiquitous Japanese chain known for having simple designs. Nitori stores can be found all over the city and they have delivery services for items too large to fit into your vehicle.

The big plus to Nitori is that it is designed with Japanese residential sizes in mind. The prices also tend to be on the more reasonable side for things and filling your home with Nitori will make it look like a standard Japanese living space. However, this also means that you are rather limited in the exact styles and functions provided by Nitori.

From experience, setting up Nitori products is painless most of the time and the construction process feels nearly identical to IKEA.

The range of products offered and the consistent sizes and quality levels means that if Nitori’s style matches your taste, it is fairly easy to furnish your home in a few shopping trips.

Nitori Ozone Shop

Nitori Sanno Shop

Nitori Aratamabashi Shop

Furniture Dome

Nagoyans looking for Furniture Dome will find themselves heading down to Nagoya port either by subway (same station as LEGOLAND) or by car, though keep in mind the parking is paid if you do not purchase any furniture.

With a larger variety of styles and choices under the self-described massive dome, Furniture Dome offers a great way to let your mind run wild amongst the open-air floor plan. This level of variety definitely trumps offerings at Nitori or IKEA, but this naturally puts the burden of having interior decoration skills on the buyer.

Furniture Dome offers delivery and includes furniture building and placement options inside your home, which is definitely needed for the larger and more difficult items. The store down by the port also offers a cafe. People hoping to do LEGOLAND and furniture shopping in one trip will be gutted to realize there is a bit too much to do and too much distance to cover, so you may be better off doing Furniture Dome and the below listed Tokyo Interior in one day instead.

Furniture Dome Main Store

IKEA

Situated in Nagakute, one of the larger suburban cities east of Nagoya, the internationally known Swedish retailer has a fully sized store right off of the road leading towards Moricoro Park. Shopping here is a bit easier on families as there is an IKEA restaurant, a child care area (children can be left by parents and two staff members watch the area at all times), and a variety of IKEA-branded snacks and toys to help keep children patient while parents look at beds, sofas, or kitchen tables.

Delivery can be arranged, but the majority of this is classic IKEA: Take several large boxes home, follow their language-neutral picture instructions and see how handy you can be with an Allen (hex key) wrench.

While the child care and restaurant features can make IKEA very attractive, it is important to remember that just about every Japanese family in the area will decide to use these features on the same day you happen to go. As such, please anticipate lines and wait times for everything. IKEA has plenty of parking (I have personally never needed to wait for a spot to open up), but the long lines on top of the infamous on-rails IKEA shopping experience means your “just in and out” shopping trip will easily take around 2 or 3 hours. Fortunately, the same main road will take you to Tokyo Interior for more shopping choices, Nagakute AEON for more food choices and Moricoro Park if you just cannot stand to be indoors any longer.

IKEA Nagakute Store

Tokyo Interior

With both store locations in Nagoya (near the port) and along the road towards Moricoro Park (Same as IKEA listed above and Nagakute AEON), these stores also boast large display areas, a variety of choices and both are equipped with a children’s area and a cafe.

While your author has not personally gone and purchased items at Tokyo Interior, I have liked the choices from friends and family who made the trip. The other plus side is that the Nagoya store is not terribly far from Furniture Dome and the Nagakute store is similarly not far from IKEA, which gives you a nice variety of choices without going across town.

Tokyo Interior Nagakute

Tokyo Interior Nagoya

Ashley’s Furniture

Located southeast of Nagoya before reaching Toyota city in the smaller city of Miyoshi is Ashley’s Furniture. This is a great place for people who are living in Japan but want their humble abode to look as American as possible.

Ashley’s can be a better choice when looking for specific kinds of sizes and furniture types that are difficult to find in Japan like Queen or King-sized bedframes and mattresses (Your author is begging you to think carefully before purchasing a King in Japan. Many places – including houses –  have a hard time fitting them through the doors and hallways!).

Please also be aware that the design sense and size standards being western means that the price will reflect the imported nature. Sticker shock is not uncommon when finding that particular sofa or dining table you love, but there are a variety of price ranges if you keep shopping.

Ashley Furniture Miyoshi Store

AEON

Most of the large AEON malls like the Nagoya Dome (currently renamed to Vantelin Dome) and Nagakute locations have some furniture options available. These tend to be very Japanese in design sense and style and the options themselves are not as extensive as other locations.

However, the convenience of being able to look at furniture while at any of the major shopping malls can be helpful, especially for families with smaller children. Most of the large AEON stores have AEON supermarkets attached, which is a nice choice when trying to pick out furniture over the weekend. Be warned, though – the inside of AEON is seemingly coated in magic and you will find your planned 2 hours at the store became 5 and now you are in line to watch a movie and have given up on cooking dinner at home.

AEON Nagoya Dome Mae Mall

AEON Nagakute Mall

Second-Hand Options

Buying second-hand is great for people who want to own the furniture they are using without necessarily spending money on all brand-new beds and sofas. I have had particular luck finding nice deals at the various Sairyo Ichibas scattered around the city. Each will deliver and set up the furniture once purchased and can be a great way to score slightly out-of-season dish cabinets, microwave ovens, washing machines and other items that are in perfectly fine condition but just did not move out of the showroom fast enough.

Sairyo Ichiba

Rental Options

Of course, some Nagoya residents know they are only here for a few years and will need to return, whether by their own or their company’s volition. For these people, rental options exist like the rental options from Lease Japan. A dedicated team can provide customized lease terms and help with every step from ordering until delivery. For those who know they will not be here long-term, this can be the best option.

Final Thoughts

Please be aware that purchasing large furniture will require thinking about how to get the furniture home. While moving companies can handle just about any bedframe purchased in Japan, bedframes and mattresses intended for King-sized or larger may be extremely challenging.

Online shopping via sites like Amazon and Rakuten is another very popular option, but remember the old adage to measure twice, cut once and double or triple check the dimensions of everything you purchase. It’s not just how it will look in your room – make sure you can answer basic questions like Will this get through my front door? or the oft-forgotten problem of confirming your apartment’s rules on having vendors bringing in large furniture via lobbies, stairs or elevators during common use times. Special tape and plastic sheets may be required by your apartment rules in order to protect the elevator and walls while delivering especially heavy furniture.

Disposal of furniture in Japan will require the purchase of “Large Garbage” disposal tickets (粗大ゴミ – sodai gomi). Depending on the item in question, you may also have to call your city or ward office in advance to notify them of the particular item being thrown away. Know the rules in advance to spare yourself additional stress during a large move.

Jeff via Flickr, CC BY-ND 2.0