Things Fathom Editors Want Right Now: Japan Edition
Japanese goods are cult favorites for a reason: they're high-quality, reliable, and spark joy. We rounded up a few products we've been buying to satisfy our Japanese cravings until we can travel there again.
Oishii's Omakase Berry
What would you pay to try the best strawberry in the world? Michelin-starred chefs are pining over these sumptuous berries by New-Jersey based Oishii, the first indoor strawberry grow farm in America. Using seeds from the rare, juicy strawberries found seasonally in the fields of the Japanese Alps, the farm uses a vertical growing method with zero pesticides and a climate control to perfectly replicate the light rain, cool breeze, and bright sun of a Japanese winter day. The berries are popping up on dessert menus at several restaurants around NYC, including Japanese restaurants who present them unadulterated, like sashimi. If you want to create your own berry feast at home, Oishii delivers around NYC and is available for pickup at Murray's Cheese and Carissa's the Bakery in East Hampton. ($50)
Anbo Tenugui Tea Towels
Use them as napkins, placemats, bandanas, or decorative table settings. These Japanese tea towels elevate any tablescape. ($20 each)
Kinto Aqua Culture Vase
A great vase for cultivating new lives from plant clippings and seed babies. ($25)
Misomaru's Instant Miso Soup
Miso soup is one of those things you love to eat out at sushi restaurants, but never think to make at home. This Brooklyn-based company uses a 500-year-old Japanese recipe to hand roll miso balls with a blend of of rice koji miso, katsuobushi (bonito flakes), kombu (seaweed), and shiitake mushroom powder for an instant miso soup bomb (just drop into hot water). The cute packaging makes for a unique hostess gift. ($20)
Brooklyn Kura Sake
NYC-based sake brewery Brooklyn Kura brings their exclusive and limited-run bottles of junmai and kimoto directly to your doorstep. They also host tours and tastings at their Industry City sake-pub insideJapan Village. (Sakes start at $20)
Tamanohada Welcome Soap
Here's a chic way to continue our finely honed hand-washing regimen. Shaped on a traditional kashigata wooden mold, the tai fish, a snapper native to the western Pacific Ocean, represents good luck and great prosperity in Japanese culture. ($35)
Tosaryu Hinoki Sauna Stool
Transform your bathroom into a Japanese onsen (hot spring). This stool made from cypress from the Shimanto area of the Kochi prefecture and will fill the room with the earthy, grounding smell of a hinoki forest. ($125)
Wabi-Sabi Kintsugi Repair Kit
Mend your broken plates and chipped mugs the wabi-sabi way, by celebrating the beauty of imperfection. Called kintsugi, the Japanese art of golden joinery uses gold-dusted lacquer to repair china and ceramics, giving them a beautiful and gilded second life. ($25)
Onigiri Rice Ball Mold
If you haven't quite mastered your hand-rolled sushi game, opt for an onigiri mold, which allows for compact, portable sushi rice balls that can be filled with various ingredients like umeboshi (pickled plums), sha-ke (salted salmon), and dried veggies — or anything else you can think of. ($30)
Salmon Roe USB Flash Drive
Because everyone should have a little fun while storing files. ($37)
Japanese Wrapping Fabric
Six different cotton floral patterns for furoskiki (the very green Japanese art of wrapping with fabric) or crafting (quilting, sewing, embroidering, mood boarding). ($12)
Wrapping with Fabric: Your Complete Guide to Furoshiki
In case you need some help figuring out how to use wrapping fabric. ($14)
Yayoi Kusama Coaster Set
Seeing dots? In Kusama: Cosmic Nature at New York Botanical Garden, the Japanese artist's signature dots are everywhere. The playful pattern will make you smile every time you set your coffee down on one of these coasters. Here's our review of the exhibition: Yayoi Kusama's Polka Dots Make New York Want to Dance. ($22)
Yoku Moku Cigare au Chocolat
Buying online isn't as fun as snagging the classic vanilla cookie "cigars" filled with a rich milk-chocolate filling at the airport. But they come in the same pretty red tin box and feel just as special to un-box at home. ($29)
Eskandar Linen Trousers
Speaking of travel, you won't be able to wear anything else on a plane once you try these Japanese linen trousers that are both extremely comfortable and chic for any long haul. ($272)
Junya Watanabe Two-Tone Layered Cotton Shirtdress
Switch up your all-white summer look with this two-toned relaxed cotton shirtdress that can be layered over pants or worn by itself to the beach. Effortless, the Japanese way. ($272)
Want more Japan?
Tokyo Dreams Meet Tokyo Realities
The Art of the Japanese Bath
Hiking Japan's Mysterious Tropical Island
Everything on Fathom is independently selected by our editors. If you shop through a link on our website, we may earn a commission.