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Any nice fake-katana shops in Kyoto/Tokyo? 2013/5/14 23:10
Hey peeps.

I'm in Kyoto atm, will be for a few more days and then I'm going to Tokyo for a few days before I'm leaving Japan.

I would like to buy a Katana, a ''fake'' and dull one that doesn't require all that paperwork I've been reading so much about, but that is still of decent quality so that it won't fall apart from being played with a little (and won't cost a fortune, lol) .

I've googled it for a while and found two stores here in Kyoto that I will check out tomorrow, Tozando and Kuraya Hashimoto.

I was hoping someone could suggest some more places for me to check out.
I have a JRPass so I can move pretty freely in the areas around Kyoto and Tokyo if someone knows a killer place in a city close-by. ^^

I visited Eigamura today, they had some cool ones that I really liked (the super nice shop lady opened the glass cage and let me touch and squeeze whichever ones I wanted ^^) which cost about 15,000-20,000‰~, that's a totally fine price range.

I could still go back and get one of those. They were closing when I was there and I didn't want to make a rushed decision.


Thanks for reading aaall the way to the end.
by bibbis  

Re: Any nice fake-katana shops in Kyoto/Tokyo? 2013/5/15 20:49
In Tokyo, there is a souvenir shop in Nakamise street in Asakusa.
There is easy to find on the way from Kaminari-mon gate to Sensou-ji inner temple.
http://www.katanaya-asakusa.com/foreign_customer.htm
I'm unsure but they sell cheap aluminum products around 10,000yen.
by ajapaneseboy rate this post as useful

Re: Any nice fake-katana shops in Kyoto/Tokyo? 2013/5/15 21:35
This place http://www.shinobiya.com/ has a retail outlet in Osaka's Tempozan Marketplace, bext to the Ferris Wheel and Kaiyukan Aquarium.
by John B digs Japan rate this post as useful

Re: Any nice fake-katana shops in Kyoto/Tokyo? 2013/5/16 01:19
Thanks for the replies :)

I visited Tozando today and I actually ended up ordering a customized Iaito for 50.000 yen ^^

Somewhat of a dream-come-true there :P

I got to look at, touch and squeeze like a dozen katanas today and they were all high quality decorative swords, just what I wanted.
As a matter of fact they are more than that, they are apparently "real" practice swords for Iaido practitioners(which in other words means that I will be able to play around a bit with my sword without it falling apart ^^), so if I ever feel like taking up Iaido, I will be good to go with this one :P

I learned of Iaido today btw x)

The staff were super friendly and spoke good English.
I highly recommend checking out this store if you are a fan of samurai equipment ^^

It felt a bit scary to pay a bunch of money to a store in a foreign country and then leave empty handed except for my receipts and a warranty paper but I read a lot of good things about them last night and the store had an authentic feel to it so I hope everything will go well.

It will take them about 3 weeks to make my sword and then about a week to ship it so I will try to remember writing here again once I have it and let ppl know what I think for future katana hunters' sake ^^
by bibbis rate this post as useful

Re: Any nice fake-katana shops in Kyoto/Tokyo? 2013/5/16 02:38
How much did you have to pay for shipping, just in case anyone wants to know and to circumvent the possible troubles at "the border"?
by Justin (guest) rate this post as useful

Re: Any nice fake-katana shops in Kyoto/Tokyo? 2013/5/16 10:31
Ah yes, in this case, the shipping to Sweden is 5000 yen.
Sweden is pretty damn far from Japan so I would say that this is probably as high as the shipping costs gets.

The reason I didn't want to bring one on the plane myself was because I'm flying with a cheap airline so I have to pay for extra luggage and I'm very positive they would charge me even more than the shipping cost.

Plus, like I said, now I get one that is custom-made just for me ^^

For more future reference I can also add that on a pure security related note, bringing an Iaito or another form of dull "fake" weapon out of Japan is no problem.
They will simply unpack the sword at the airport and make sure that it's not a sharp, real sword and then pack it up again.

I don't see how that would be troublesome so people should totally consider that as long as they know beforehand that they will be allowed by their AIRLINE to bring it with them, whether it's for free of for an additional fee, because it WILL break the luggage dimension rules.
by bibbis rate this post as useful

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