When I came to Tokyo, I stayed at the Imperial Hotel for the second time, just in time for the largest and most well-known flea market, Tokyo Flea Market.

Although it has a long history like other old markets, it has become the representative of Tokyo's flea market due to its size, number of participants, and planning, and is a collective party of the market control in Tokyo.

With a wide variety of 200 participating booths, it's no problem to wander around all day. Therefore, on the second day of the market, many people filled up their cards, dressed up to attend, dragged their families and dogs, and soaked here all weekend.

It is mainly divided into antique furniture area, miscellaneous goods market, vintage jewelry area, second-hand book street, bean dish market, Tokyo Nordic City, handmade area, and rest and dining area.

From time to time, new theme markets will be added to it, constantly bringing surprises to shoppers. For example, the Tokyo Pottery Market is made by craftsmen, the Tokyo Yaki Confectionery Market is a popular confectionery shop, the "Rucksack Bazzar" Market is a collection of original backpacks, the Soda Beer Bubble Garden is a refreshing place to bring summer coolness, and the Hand Towel Market......

Stroll through it and discover the antiquities and grocery market being the main and most stalled area. The products on display are simply beyond your imagination, from small buttons to large furniture, from historical scissors to cutting-edge designers will meet you unexpectedly. The whole market integrates vintage, literary, grotesque, simple, gorgeous, and small fresh styles, turning it into a carnival for shoppers.

Even if it is a short-lived market on two days, each stall owner does not sloppily and carefully decorate his "love things" space. Set up a table frame, carefully select good things, match decorations, and create beautiful corners waiting for you to hunt for treasures.

On the one hand, they like the retro taste of the items themselves, and on the other hand, the reuse of old things is also a small effort made by them to protect the environment.

In this era of excessive consumption patterns, the emergence of the old goods market allows people to have a new choice in the same consumption environment.

Rusty bells, old tools and accessories, outdated dolls, and old objects may be discarded in the eyes of the world, but in the eyes of clutter lovers, they are a moving "story" to take home and write the sequel by yourself.

As you huddle around the corners of the stalls and rummage through Showa-style wrappers and vintage toys, you keep hearing passers-by sigh how nostalgic they are. This long-lost surprise may be the subtle bond between people and things.

Put the handmade colored cotton thread in the gacha, throw 3 100 coins, and come out with all the luck, so interesting and surprising little fun, so that SC Johnson, who does not do handicrafts, is also eager to try.

In particular, the love for food utensils actually comes from the respect for the texture of life. When these beautiful pots, plates, chopsticks and spoons become participants in three meals a day, eating will become a happier thing.

Rough and gentle wooden tableware, warm and thick earthenware tableware, modern and simple metal cutlery, bright and nostalgic enamel porcelain, perhaps from the craftsman's workshop, or from the kitchen of the stall owner's grandmother......

It suddenly rained outside, and the open-air furniture market became a little quiet, hanging out in the rain with umbrellas. Drilling into small wooden sheds, the sound of rain is the best BGM for shopping.

The old retro clock is still continuing its mission, and the warm orange light from the industrial lamps drives away the cold outside. These pieces of furniture with a story will be taken away by those who understand it and become another person's memories of home.

A lot of what seems to be the fashion of the mother's youth, going around and around has become today's fashion. Artistic ear clips, vintage brooches, delicate necklaces and one-of-a-kind vintage clothes quietly stop for it in the market.

The home preference of the cold wind is very high for the Nordic style. From the 5th round, Tokyo Flea City added Nordic-style miscellaneous goods stalls, and later became a Nordic city independently.

SC Johnson is fond of so-called bean dishes, which are small shallow dishes about 6-10 cm in diameter, which can be used to hold small amounts of food or sauces such as beans and pickles. Although it may not seem practical, the colorful bean dishes of different shapes can enhance the atmosphere and interest of the meal, and play an important role in the table.

Independently open a special area, gathering artists and potters from all over the world to design hand-made bean dishes, from the plain warm and elegant, to the modern art sense of the color, as if walking into a limit exploration of bean dish design.

The handmade workshop is not only a daily hand-made experience of hand-beading and sewing clothes. It's cool to take a piece of wood that is piled up on the ground and make small objects with an electric drill and saw.

Coming from the jingling sound next to it is a do-it-yourself booth that makes the world's unique ring. Buy a band for 1,500 yen, put it on a wooden block and tap it patiently, and every irregular pattern on the band is a mark of creation.

Half of the market is old books with a sense of age, and more are old English books and picture books from Europe and the United States. Old sheet music and posters, book lovers can definitely dig up treasures here.

Stalls specializing in postcards, mountains of postcards, both used and unused. Old postcards from the United States, Italy, France and other European countries, drifting across the ocean, plus the age, slightly damaged corners, yellowed paper all make this postcard have a charming sense of story.

When you're tired of walking, have a glass of home-brewed refreshing beer with a smoked lollipop hot dog, and only after you are fully revived, can you continue to kill and go back to shopping for goods.

I don't know when fruit sparkling water became popular. The colourful stalls at the Soda Beer Sparkling Garden Market are filled with tempting fruit in large glass bottles.

Away from the market, Shiba is tucked away in Tokyo's Katsushika district for a lovely Japanese-style promenade where you can leisurely sample traditional Japanese sweets, browse vintage snack shops, and spend an afternoon exploring temples, TV drama scenes, and taking photos.

Walking through the streets of the retro-style shozoin building, the music of the Showa period is flowing in the air, and it is very interesting to feel like you have fallen into a time tunnel.

When you walk out of Shibayou Station, you can immediately see a bronze statue of a man carrying a briefcase and a gentleman's hat, who is the actor Injiro in the movie "The Story of Injiro". At that time, the play was filmed on the stage of Shibamata, and because of its popularity, the local shopping street raised funds to build a bronze statue of Injiro. It is said that touching the left foot of the statue of Injiro will bring good luck, so you can see that the left foot of Injiro has been touched by tourists and sparkles.

There is also a female statue, which is the sister of Injiro in the play, because of the station stop sign, there is one more point in the middle, and it becomes Shibacha Station, it is said that this is the station attendant who made a mistake in the Chinese characters, but this mistake has not been changed, and now it has become a landscape.

The 200-meter shopping street has wooden buildings that exude a strong Showa style. It's not as crowded as Sensoji Temple's Nakamise Street, but it has a more laid-back atmosphere, making it a great place to take photos and explore carefully.

There is also a "golden poop" shaped lucky item sold at the entrance of the approach, and because the Japanese pronunciation is similar to that of Jinyun, the popularity is comparable to that of Injiro's golden-glittering left foot.

On the first floor, there is a traditional snack and grocery store that sells nostalgic snacks and small toys, as well as retro game consoles and capsule toy machines, and on the second floor, there is a museum with nostalgic toys (admission is required, and it is only open on weekends and holidays).

In the vicinity of Yokocho, there is also a shaved ice shop where you can add unlimited ingredients, and a Fujimi rice milling shop that only appears in Japanese dramas, so you can enjoy a carefree afternoon here.