Nov 29, 2024
Buying Holiday Decorations, Wrapping Paper, and Lights in Nagoya
Holidays in Japan are bright and colorful affairs, and Nagoya is no exception to this rule. If you are looking for decorations, lights, or other holiday materials there are a few good sources you should know about.
Costco (Wholesale Warehouse)
If you have a lot of gifts to wrap, you will need a lot of paper, and the best place to buy a lot of anything is Costco. You can usually get decorations and paper there, but you are looking at bulk sizing and a small selection to choose from. Unless you buy something expensive like a lawn reindeer, you may be better served elsewhere, but they do stock such things. Please note a membership is required to shop at Costco and that previously stocked items are not guaranteed year to year. Please also note the rotisserie chicken is delicious.
If you can’t make it to Costco, you may try…
TheFlyingPig.com
Reasonable prices on imported groceries and general merchandise in Japan? When pigs fly! But that was before Costco Wholesale opened its doors here. Afterward, there were only two problems left: not everyone can get to a Costco warehouse very easily, and Internet ordering isn’t available. In a nutshell, TheFlyingPig.Com was launched to overcome these issues.
IKEA
The Sweden titan is no slouch when it comes to the holiday season and offers a variety of things to help recreate traditional activities back home. The food offered tends to be thematic as well, so it can help scratch that holiday back home itch. Just remember: Anticipate spending two hours longer than you initially thought and consider whether or not you will need to arrange for delivery if you go for bigger items. It should be noted that our household is still working through the wrapping paper we bought a few years ago.
IKEA Nagakute｜IKEA Japan – IKEA
Flying Tiger Copenhagen (Togo LaLaport)
The “IKEA-but-totally-different-because-it’s-from-Denmark-and-not-Sweden” store located in the LaLaPort shopping mall to the east of Nagoya in Togo is actually a nice place to swing by for holiday items. Flying Tiger Copenhagen specializes in a variety of knick knack items, which makes it a great place to grab random holiday decorations to help fill out your residence. They also have some excellent chocolate bars – I made sure to tirelessly sample each flavor for you, dear reader, and can report back that each was delicious.
While not related to the holiday season at all, I would be remiss to not mention that Togo LaLaport has a Panda Express in its food court. Please do what you may with this information.
100 Yen Stores
You can find 100 yen shops all over Nagoya in sizes that range from multistory standalone buildings to small kiosk-style corners in malls and supermarkets. One of my favorites is the Daiso on the 7th floor of the Skyle building in Sakae; they seem to have everything, and that includes holiday materials. Honestly that Daiso is the first place you should check. If it is there, it is bound to be the cheapest place to get it!
The Daiso
Daiso is most people’s favorite, as they tend to be much bigger than other shops and hence offer a wider variety of goods.
Seria
While not as big as Daiso, these are still pretty big and offer a wide variety of goods.
Lawson 100
These are more on the low end of the scale. They offer significantly fewer small items and instead offer cheap foods. You can get some good seasonings and pre-packaged mixes there cheaply.
Shimo Jima (Variety, Office Supply, Stationery)
Shimo Jima is a wrapping materials wholesaler, who provides consumer products such as stationery and store decoration merchandise, as well as wrapping goods. The Fushimi/Marunouchi area shop has many floors and holds a good chance of getting the decorations you are looking for, and there is a good chance they can be the spot if you are looking for “materials” like boxes, ribbons, etc. They are pretty cheap to top it all off.
Don Quijote (Cheap Variety Store)
Don Quijote stores are huge and seem to stock everything. Christmas decorations may be touch and go depending on which shop you try, but you can assume they will have SOMETHING for you.
Loft (Variety Store)
It is a great store and a fantastic place to kill a couple of hours as well as decorations and Christmas lights. There are a couple of locations around including one in Sakae. I recommend the one in Sakae, it is significantly large!
www.loft.co.jp/shoplist (Aichi)
Tokyu Hands (Variety Store)
I found Tokyu Hands described as “the description-defying Tokyo institution that sells just about everything you could ever need and is loved by everyone who visits,” and I have a hard time arguing that. It is a great store and a fantastic place to kill a couple of hours. To repeat, it is also a great place to pick up costumes and accessories. There are many locations around Tokyo and Japan; choose one!
Home Centers
Home Centers, more often referred to as “home improvement centers” or “hardware stores” outside of Japan, are where you buy…well, home and garden stuff. You can find tools, plants, kitchen utensils and appliances, furniture, and other items for use in or use on your home or apartment. Around the holiday season, you can find lights, displays, and other assorted holiday decorations at many of these stores. There are many around Nagoya.
Google Maps List of Home Centers in Nagoya
Image by katsrcool (Kool Cats Photography) [CC BY 2.0], via Wikimedia Commons
Ray Proper editor
About the author