Tokyo · Central Tokyo
Ginzabashi (Kinokurashi Ginza)
Ginzabashi is a chopstick-making workshop on the ground floor of the Kinokurashi wood shop in Ginza. It has been open since December 2024, and is run by the Mokkobo Kura woodworking company from Echizen in Fukui, founded in 1935.
You choose a wood from more than 20 kinds, place it in a mold and shape it with a Japanese hand plane, sand it until it feels right, oil it, and take the chopsticks home the same day. Along the way the staff explain how to hold chopsticks and what is customary at a Japanese table. The guidance is in English, and every table has a phone stand so you can film yourself working.
It takes about an hour and costs from ¥3,980, and some kinds of wood cost more. Name engraving is ¥1,100 per side.
Good to know
- The difference for a more expensive wood is paid in the shop, even if you paid in advance online.
- A group of more than four books two consecutive slots.
- Engraving is charged for each side separately, so it is worth deciding what to engrave before you start.
What is nearby
Approximate walking minutes from the entrance of Ginzabashi (Kinokurashi Ginza).
- HereGinzabashi (Kinokurashi Ginza)
- ~2 min
G.Itoya Shopping
Itoya's stationery building in Ginza, a floor for each theme: cards and letter paper, fountain pens and ink, washi paper and origami. A cafe on floor 12.
- ~3 min
Matsuya Ginza food floor Food
The department store's food floor, below ground: Japanese sweets, food boxes and pastries to take away.
- ~3 min
HIGASHIYA GINZA Cafe
A Japanese sweets shop and tea salon on floor 2 of the Pola building. A set of seasonal tea with a sweet ¥2,200. No photos and no laptops. Currently closed on Mondays.
- ~6 min
Ginza Kimuraya Food
A bakery from 1869 at the Ginza 4-chome crossing. A bakery on floor 1 and a cafe on floor 2.
- ~6 min
Ain Soph Ginza Food
A fully vegan restaurant since 2009, right next to the Kabukiza theater.
- ~7 min
Kyukyodo Ginza Shopping
A house founded in 1663 in Kyoto as a medicinal-herb shop, which began making incense around 1700 and has been in Ginza since 1880.