Yukata

Hello..

I'll be going to Japan next March. I want to buy a set of yukata so badly. Can anyone recommend or suggest me any sort place where i can buy a cheap, affordable yukata. If possible, can anyone provide the price range as well. I'll be in Tokyo, Kyoto and Osaka and this will be my first visit to Japan. Any help or suggestion would be great!

You would want to get a good quality 100% cotton yukata that's made in Japan, would last for years. Best way to view one is if the hotel you're staying in provides one in the room and see if you like the fabric design and size. Some international hotels sell the yukatas in the shops at the hotel lobby and prices I experienced were reasonable. Now days...however... yen is strong against US dollar so I'd be paying a little more than I did a few years ago.

A simple Yukata is provided by most Japanese hotels/ryokans as a nightware for their guests. However, this is not the kind of Yukata that you should wear out in towns in summer. You had better take on something a bit more sophiscated, which is not so expensive as traditional Kimonos. You can buy such a Yukata at less than 10,000 JPY at Japanese supermarkets or department stores during summer. It may not be available in winter and early spring, though.

So, you are saying.. if my trip is in early March. I can't buy any yukata? That's too bad if it's true.. Do i have any other options? Other than the first reply?

If you just want it for casual use then buy the kind the hotels provide (not the terry cloth one) which they sell in the store in the lobby. I paid little less than $30.00 each I think. It was priced at 3500 yen or 3800 at that time but you pay more for yen now. My favorite was Hotel Okura one in Kobe. We wind up ordering more by phone when we got back to the states because everybody wanted one. But we were only able to get three by phone order.
If you want the dresser ones (yukata is summer kimono) the hotels can provide you with information to where you can go look for one. I would think prices would run way above 10000 yen or more for dressier ones, these usually have drooping sleeves as in regular kimonos.
Casual kind is less costly without drooping sleeves but has loose sleeves and comes with nice sash. I would imagine you can get one under $100.00 for casual kind made out of Japanese designed cotton fabric, no problem.

It's definitely out of season, but you might find something in the shops on Nakamise-dori in front of Sensoji temple in Asakusa (Tokyo). Local department stores won't have them in yet as they're a summer item, but since Nakamise is geared towards tourists they probably will. Another place worth checking is the corner of Meiji dori and Omotesando in Harajuku (Tokyo) on the weekends as there is a stall selling all kinds of second-hand kimono there most weekends.

You haven't said if you're male or female- it will probably be easier to find the plainer blue and white ryokan style yukatas at that time of year than the colourful summer festival-type women's yukata.

what occasion can we wear a yukata in japan? do people wear a yukata and go out in the streets in tokyo?

and what is the difference between a yukata and kimono besides the design? like occasion to wear or which month to wear?

Hi again..

I'm a female.. and i'm looking for a yukata that is as i said earlier, that is at an affordable price. If i could only get a simple one during my visit.. then i'll go for a simple one. anything will do.. I just want to buy the yukata for my own personal collection..

I'll keep note of the places mentioned and suggested. I've read a very old thread of yukata from this forum saying that Uniqlo does sell yukata.. but since there's a time restraint on when the yukata is available for sale.. they might not have it on sale while i'm in Japan..

A yukata can be easily purchased online, and shipped anywhere in the world.

The popular on-line Japanese shopping site Rakuten has dozens, if not hundreds, for sale in all sorts of fashions and styles.

http://en.rakuten.co.jp/

Scha, March is too early for Uniqlo to sell yukata. They start selling them around May.

babyjezebel, you will find lots of information on the differences between a yukata and a kimono if you do an internet search.

As a tourist I know that some hotel (those who do have them) sell yukatas in the lobby shop year around. I bought ours in the month of January. These are kind you wear around in your house or use as a robe, and are nice looking.
I've seen yukatas in one of the subway station stores and also in Matsuzakaya department store in the month of Dec ~ Jan in Nagoya. I didn't like the designs on the fablics so I bought ours in Kobe.

Besides the information already given above I would like to add the shops around Nezu station of the Chiyoda subway line. Shinobazu Dori is the main shopping street. I had very good luck finding nemaki (yukata with gauze lining) on trips in the early spring and bought several. They have lasted for years and were reasonably priced. Also a ryokan in that neighborhood, Sawanoya Ryokan (look them up on the internet for address and map), sold them in their lobby at a good price. I prefer nameki, they are a little warmer for the cooler climate of San Francisco, where I live.

Thanks stevenjv ! I'll take note of your recommendation.

If there's more suggestion or opinion available, that would be great!

At Asakusa market in front of the temple there are two Yukata shops where you can get good quality Yukata from 4000 yen upwards, I bought one for my mother and she loves it. The ladies in the shop I went to were great and spoke enough English to get me what I wanted. They're open all year round.

Looks like Asakusa would be the best place for me to search for Yukata during my early March trip. thanks for all the responses so far.

I brought three yukata in Asakusa in October 2008. The place where I brought them was still there in January 2010, selling them!

There's also a place closer to the temple itself which sells Japanese bed jackets if you get cold but still want to wear your yukata! I'm wearing mine now, it is excellent.