I get a lot of questions about where to buy Japanese sewing books and magazines, so I decided to compile a list here. This list is only for online shops as I think it will be more useful for now compared to a list of physical stores.
Click on the above images to buy these Autumn magazines from CDJapan
I have grouped them by country but all of them offer international shipping, with some of them offering free domestic shipping above a certain purchase amount. I have chosen these few because they have a pretty good selection of books. I did come across many shops that sold a small collection of books but I decided not to list them all since I figured it might be more useful to list larger and more established bookstores with a wider selection.
Disclaimer : Other than CDJapan (of which I am an affiilate member), I am not linked or paid for any of the other links. I have not personally purchased from any of them (other than CDJapan) so I cannot vouch for their service or shipping time, nor did I compare their prices so it is up to you to check other customers reviews of the store’s service and do your homework in comparing item prices/shipping rates.
Etsy and eBay stores have an advantage because you can see their store ratings and tell if the stores are established and legitimate, but beware if you come across some ebook listings with really low prices. These are usually PDF scans of the actual books, but if you are buying a sewing book you definitely need the physical copy because you need the patterns!
So here goes is my list for now, and if you have more to add please email me at JapaneseSewingBooks@gmail.com.
Online Stores selling Japanese Books and/or Magazines that ship internationally
Australia
Japan
- CDJapan – Books and magazines
- Amazon Japan – amazon.co.jp
- Yesasia – Books and Magazines
- Pomadour’s Craft Cafe (Etsy shop) and also on eBay as Simply Pretty Japanese Beads Books
- Japan Lovely Crafts (Etsy shop)
- Bookcafe Tokyo (Etsy shop)
- JapanBooks-Toron (eBay)
- LalayJapan (Etsy shop)
Korea
- PinkNelie (Etsy shop)
United States
Kinokuniya’s BookWeb Global Service(Online Shopping)
The following are online shopping websites of Kinokuniya. They only provide domestic shipping or self collection from the local stores (locations for each country are listed in the respective website). Free domestic shipping is provided above a certain amount. Since Kinokuniya is based in Japan, you can be sure to find every book that I have reviewed here, available for purchase unless it has become out of print and not even available in Japan. The books that are stocked in the local stores can be shipped out quickly, but if it is not in stock, you may have to wait for 2 weeks while they order the book from their main headquarters in Japan. The only problem is that Magazines are not listed in the database. Only books. I am pretty sure the physical stores stock the Magazines, but I do not know if it is possible to email them to add the Magazines to your orders. If any of you have tried, do let me know because I would love to find out!
- BookWeb Japan
- BookWeb Singapore
- BookWeb Malaysia
- BookWeb Thailand
- BookWeb Australia
- BookWeb Taiwan
- BookWeb U.S.A.
- BookWeb U.A.E, Dubai
If you are an online retailer of Japanese sewing books and magazines and would like to be listed here, email me at JapaneseSewingBooks@gmail.com.
6 Comments
I have ordered from Pomadour’s Craft Cafe many times. Her service is great and shipping is fast. She is my go-to store. I have also shopped at PinkNelie with success too, although shipping took a lot longer. Cindy
Thanks for compiling this! It’s fun to see all these resources. I first starting buying from Pomadour and Kinokuniya. I now buy almost exclusively from Yesasia. They have a great selection and often I can get things shipped to the US for free.
I love Pomadour, I have bought a lot from there. I often use Amazon Japan too, the shipping is so quick, I can get things to Australia often in 5 days.
I’ve also shopped at Pomadour’s Craft Cafe – I can’t remember if it was her ebay or etsy store though. The service was pretty good, and the book arrived quickly!
I’ve just sucessfully received my autumn 2013 Female, Pochee and the comfortable clothes made by cotton & linen via YesAsia – FYI, ordered Oct 6, shipped 10th, arrived in Australia 20th, standard (free) shipping.
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