Quartier Japonais

Quartier Japonais - the Japanese town of Paris - is a lovely place that is very reminiscent of small streets in Tokyo, at least as much as possible near L'Opéra and Louvre. Despite visiting the place twice already, I haven't seen everything yet - there are many more hidden shops and places, even though to my big disappointment, some shops that used to be there a couple of years ago have disappeared.

Nice looking restaurant I haven't visited - but they have fairly OK-priced lunch menus (it's Paris, after all)  

Junku is one of the two main Japanese bookstores in Paris. It sells books, magazines, textbooks, artbooks, anything and everything that can be created by printing on paper. On top of that, they also have stationeries, cute things, planners, bento accessories, office supplies... Everything they sell is new, and therefore a bit pricey.

Book Off belongs among the - Off chains from Japan - discount stores selling various things. Just like the Japanese stores. the Paris Book Off sells books, magazines, CDs, DVDs and games. It has two shops - one carrying publications in French and English (which I haven't visited so far) and one with solely Japanese press and books - my favorite place in Paris (apparently). It has three price categories - new (price approximately 40 - 50% higher than in Japan), back issues (only magazines - magazines 3 and more months old are 40% off, meaning thy're around the same price as in Japan, 6 months and more magazines can be up to 80% off, some of these still having their gifts and extras) and "everything 2 E", where you can find real gems for very low price (books, magazines, manga, CDs).

Back issues

Some still wrapped in foil and having all the extras

New and expensive

2 E!

There are numerous restaurants - not only Japanese ones.

Shops mainly with traditional and expensive gifts.

 

 

 There are some nice non-Japanese places too.

K-mart - mainly Korean supermarket, kinda pricey.

But the kimchi is affordable.

Ace-Mart, a bit more price-friendly, but some of their stuff can be bought muuuuuuch cheaper in Chinatown.

Takoyaki

Taiwanese Bubble Tea

Shopping!

Cutie with a cute bag by snidel  from Junku (it was like 13 E, so certainly not something I'll buy every month).

In Book Off, I got my magazines in a pretty fabric tote.

I got Female (an amazing trendy sewing magazine) for 8 E (all patterns included), Ray Hair Magazine (haircuts and hairstyles) for 2 E and a Japanese grammar book for 2 E! Yay!

And another time, I got a back issue of Baila for 7 E, tote bag by Kaon included. In general, the turnover in Book Off is not very fast, so if you come one month later, maybe only around 15% of stock will be new.  

And my Ace-Mart mini-haul: I splurged and got green tea noodles (I really wanted to try them), ginseng tea (this one is 1 E cheaper in Paris Store, so buy it there!!!!) because it was recommended on a Korean TV beauty show, and some sweet Korean drinks (aka weird teas), selection of 4 was 1.5 E, which was afforable.

Yours truly

Vita