Before I left for my trip to Japan, I did a little online digging for the best places to find crafting supplies. One thing I needed to get for a crochet project was Miyuki beads, which are superior quality machine-made glass seed beads. I learned that there is an entire beads district (“Bead Town”) in the heart of Tokyo, which happened to be within a few subway stops of my hotel.
Located in Asakusa-bashi (浅草橋) are numerous distributors selling huge assortment of beads, gems, crystals, precious stones, jewelry findings, tools, and even leather goods and related tools. I learned this valuable intel from Blackcabbit’s World, a blog written by an illustrator living in Japan. The information in her blog is about six years old, but I still found it useful.
What a wonderland of beading (and other crafts) was waiting for me in Beads Town! I had some store objectives, but mainly I just wandered the streets of the district, with much help from my GPS to keep me oriented.
I ended up buying all the Miyuki beads I needed, plus a case and a few more items, at Beads Factory and Toho Shoji. As it happens, Toho Shoji is a large chain based in Tokyo, with a branch in New York City and other locations worldwide.
I plan to use the beads for a crochet mandala pattern that is quite detailed, and may take awhile – and this pattern takes several hundred seed beads of different colors. I will start the project this Spring, and share its progress with you.
More tidbits about Tokyo, and a new amigurumi project, soon!
The Frill Seeker 
making beaded jewelry is always fun!
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It is for sure! These I will use for a crocheting project. Can’t wait to see how they look.
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I love that there’s a whole bead district! That is so cool! I definitely need to go there whenever I get around to visiting Japan. Lovely post looking forward to seeing what you create with your new beads.
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Yes, it is incredible! And you can find many more types of beads than the seed beads I was searching for. There are many treasures to be found in Tokyo.
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