Setagaya Boro Ichi

This week sees the flea market to end all flea markets in Tokyo: the Setagaya Boro Ichi.

It’s December, time again for the huge fleamarket that’s being held every winter on two days each in December and January. A total of about 700 stalls will be selling antiques, 2nd hand clothes, used books and a lot more that make Setagaya the place to spend the four days if you like to dig up curiosities and negotiate prices. Nice is also the downtown sort of air of the Setagaya Line that takes visitors to the uptown venue of the market, the beginnings of which, by the way, reportedly date back to the year 1578. One of the thrills about the event is certainly the headache you’ll have later when looking at the rubbish you bought… Don’t forget to try the festival’s original Daikanmochi, if possible in all versions! (REALTOKYO)

It’s a 3-minute walk from Setagaya Station, and happens December 15-16 from 9:00 to 21:00.

Category: Events • Stores

Responses:

I went to the Setagaya Boro Ichi last year. It was fun! The market will start with fireworks at 9am, but some people go there around 6am to search good antiques before the stalls open.

04.12.13 11:32
Posted by jun

Reply:

Jean Snow lives and breathes design, pop culture, and gaming in Tokyo -- sustained by an unhealthy addiction to magazines and frequent visits to his favorites cafes. He has reported on these obsessions for the following online/offline publications: Time, Inside (Australian Design Review), Gizmodo, Gridskipper, Kotaku, Tokyo Q, Superfuture, OK Fred, Arthur Frommer's Budget Travel, I.D. (International Design), Metropolis, Azure, MoCo Loco, Kateigaho International Edition, Game|Life, and The Japan Times. He also manages the gallery space at Cafe Pause.

Jean Snow is a daily contributor to Wired magazine's game blog, Game|Life, covering game news from Japan and beyond.

Arcade Mania is currently on sale through Amazon Japan, with the same edition available for pre-order on Amazon US (to be released January, 2009).

Tokyolife: Art and Design covers Tokyo's cultural output of the past few years, covering the works of over 80 influential creatives. Jean Snow provided coordination assistance.

The Superfuture Superguides are a series of PDF travel guides to some of your favorites cities, updated monthly, and obsessively compiling the best places to shop, eat, and drink. The Tokyo guide is edited by Jean Snow.

He is also the design/culture editor at Neojaponisme, a web journal covering social and cultural aspects of Japan. Read the manifesto, by founder and chief editor W. David Marx, here.

PauseTalk is a regular series of events that take place at Cafe Pause on the first Monday of every month, with a start time of 20:00. The idea is to create a forum where Tokyo-based creatives can get together and discuss their own projects, as well as cultural currents of the city. The next edition happens October 6.