because ordering from Japan is expensive

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I don’t suppose anybody has any clever tips for how to find kimono and obi (and I do mean kimono, not yukata) for non-obscene prices? I’m looking either for stores in the Bay Area or for websites, but between the exchange rate and shipping costs, ordering from Japan tends to make prices obscene pretty quickly — I’d prefer something more, er, local.

This query has been brought to you by eBay’s utter failure to contain what I want, and Rakuten’s tendency to make my eyes bleed with machine-translated Japanese.

0 Responses to “because ordering from Japan is expensive”

  1. rosefox

    Some of these organizations might be able to help:

    http://www.jcccnc.org/
    http://www.jaccsv.com/
    http://www.jccnc.org/english/index.php
    http://www.usajapan.org/

    There are also forums at http://www.immortalgeisha.com/ where people discuss the making and wearing of kitsuke; if you like I can post there asking for recommendations of places to shop.

  2. la_marquise_de_

    There are couple of places in SF Japan town that import kimono and obi. The best is Kiku, which, as it happens, is having a kimono sale right now:
    http://www.kikuimports.com/?utm_source=Kiku+Imports+-+News&utm_campaign=77656c1249-Kimono+Free+Shipping+2012&utm_medium=email

    (This is brought to you by the dept of people who live with men who love Japanese furniture!)

  3. chomiji

    When we were in San Francisco in December, we saw this place in Japantown.

  4. princessmei

    I went kimono window shopping

    I like these a lot.

    http://www.kikuimports.com/tk-53-kimono/
    http://www.kikuimports.com/tk-70-kimono/ (granted this one is a little expensive)

    I really like this one. http://www.kyotokimono.com/0312wk20

    and this one
    http://www.kyotokimono.com/0312wk13

    I also like these though some of them are just a little more expensive then I think you were looking for. But so pretty.

    http://www.ichiroya.com/item/list2/216483/
    http://www.ichiroya.com/item/list2/216486/
    http://www.ichiroya.com/item/list2/208620/

  5. wshaffer

    Have a look at this place in San Jose Japantown: http://www.nbstore.com/

  6. rachelmanija

    Sometimes ebay, etsy, and/or Amazon have kimono listings with relatively inexpensive shipping prices.

  7. d_c_m

    Can someone make you one?

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