The proud tradition and innovation of a long-established stationery shop founded in 1904<\/h4>\n\n\n- Takashima <\/dt>\n
- When was Itoya established? <\/dd>\n
- Ito <\/dt>\n
- Our company was established in 1904, or Meiji 37, so that means that we have been in business for 111 years. It originated as a stationery shop that our founder, my great grandfather, Shotaro Ito, started next to the women\u2019s clothing shop that his mother ran. Since then, we have continued as a business specializing in stationery in Ginza. In 1965, the former Itoya Ginza Main Store building was completed. At first, half of the floors were used as store space, and the other half as office space, but we gradually expanded our store area until in 1980, every floor of the building sold stationery. I have been told that back then, it was very rare to carry only stationery from the first to ninth floor. <\/dd>\n
- Takashima <\/dt>\n
- I would imagine so. I recall that the building itself was a very attractive design. It was a landmark of Ginza. <\/dd>\n
- Ito <\/dt>\n
- My father had always been an architecture fan. <\/dd>\n
- Takashima<\/dt>\n
- I often shop at Itoya in Takashimaya Department Store in Futago-Tamagawa. We ordered the welcome board, among other things for our wedding party, at Itoya. Come to think of it, I even had my very first business card made at Itoya. <\/dd>\n
- Ito<\/dt>\n
- Thank you very much.<\/dd>\n
- Takashima<\/dt>\n
- I have heard that the Ginza Main Shop was renovated this year. <\/dd>\n
- Ito<\/dt>\n
- Yes. In 2013, we closed the main building of our former Main Store, which reopened as the Ginza New Main Store this year on June 6. We have overseas locations as well. Three years ago in 2012, we opened a store on Union Street in San Francisco that is run under a completely new concept deviating from our corporate traditions. It carries very little stationery and instead sells mobile accessories, tumblers and other goods that are needed by people who work outside the office. <\/dd>\n
- Takashima <\/dt>\n
- Then I assume that you are currently travelling back and forth between the US and Japan. <\/dd>\n
- Ito<\/dt>\n
- That is right. Jet lag can be very challenging but it is interesting to see that Japanese and American customers have different demands.<\/dd>\n<\/dl>\n<\/div>\n\n
![\"\u30ea\u30cb\u30e5\u30fc\u30a2\u30eb\u3057\u305f\u9280\u5ea7\u65b0\u672c\u5e97\"](\"\/wp-content\/uploads\/Connect_50_01.jpg\")
<\/p>\nThe renovated Ginza Main Store <\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
\n\n![](\"\/wp-content\/uploads\/Connect_50_02.jpg\")
\n<\/div>\n\n![](\"\/wp-content\/uploads\/Connect_50_03.jpg\")
\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\nRenewing the store concept to supporting the \u201cwork\u201d scene <\/h4>\n\n- Takashima<\/dt>\n
- What made you decide to renovate your main store?<\/dd>\n
- Ito<\/dt>\n
- We sell stationery at Itoya, but businessmen tend not to purchase their own stationery. Instead, most people use what they are supplied at the office. In other words, people are buying less and less stationery. In the past, people would use stationery to write letters at their desks, but nowadays, people write email on their computers. I thought that we would fall out of step with the times if we didn\u2019t make some changes. <\/dd>\n
- Takashima <\/dt>\n
- That is true. I had always believed that stationery was everlasting, but I guess it was not. <\/dd>\n
- Ito<\/dt>\n
- My child is currently studying the U.S., where iPads are used in elementary schools as well as in high schools. Pens are no longer needed in class. <\/dd>\n
- Takashima<\/dt>\n
- Really!? I still buy pencils by the dozen for my children (laughs)! But to think that overseas, even children live in a digitalized society. <\/dd>\n
- Ito<\/dt>\n
- Yes. I don\u2019t think that it will be long before it will be the same in Japan. Given the trend of the times, it seemed the time had come for Itoya to change. And when you come to think of what stationery fundamentally stands for, pens and notebooks have always supported the \u201cwork\u201d scene. Now, our mission is not only to sell \u201cmerchandise\u201d but to offer forums to support creative work through experiences. <\/dd>\n
- Takashima<\/dt>\n
- So you mean venues to support \u201cwork\u201d. <\/dd>\n
- Ito<\/dt>\n
- That\u2019s right. This floor (tenth floor) is called the Hand Shake Lounge, where conference rooms are available for rent. The main conference room is equipped with a projector that can be used for presentations. We also offer a party area that can be used for receptions once deals are closed. Parties call for food, which need to be provided by a restaurant. That motivated me to make a restaurant – CAF\u00c9 Stylo, located on the twelfth floor. Then, I wanted to cultivate the fresh vegetables to be served at the restaurant and that led to our vegetable factory. <\/dd>\n<\/dl>\n<\/div>\n\n\n
![\"6\u968e](\"\/wp-content\/uploads\/Connect_50_04.jpg\")
<\/p>\nSixth Floor, HOME floor <\/p>\n<\/div>\n
\n![\"10\u968e](\"\/wp-content\/uploads\/Connect_50_05.jpg\")
<\/p>\nTenth Floor, Hand Shake Lounge<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
<\/p>\n
\nA vegetable factory and restaurant under one roof. Local consumption of local food within one building. <\/h4>\n\n- Takashima<\/dt>\n
- You have a vegetable factory!?<\/dd>\n
- Ito<\/dt>\n
- On the eleventh floor, which is called the FARM, we make the hydroponic frilly leaf lettuce that is served at our restaurant on the twelfth floor. We can see the vegetables grow through windows, for which we used the window frames from the old Main Store building. Would you like to have a look?<\/dd>\n
- Takashima<\/dt>\n
- You are right! I remember these window frames from the old building. <\/dd>\n
- Ito<\/dt>\n
- I was advised by Mr. Yamamoto from Tokyo Gallery that I should keep old things too. By the way, my first encounter with a vegetable factory was as a high school student in the U.S. Disney World, in Florida, had a vegetable plant. I had wanted to start my own vegetable factory since then.<\/dd>\n
- Takashima<\/dt>\n
- I wasn\u2019t aware of that. It is difficult to imagine vegetables being grown right beside an attraction. <\/dd>\n
- Ito<\/dt>\n
- What you are drinking now is the strawberry lemonade that we offer at our drink bar on the first floor. It contains pureed strawberries, which are also grown here. <\/dd>\n
- Takashima<\/dt>\n
- This is delicious! It has a luxurious savor, that would surely withstand competition from the fancy juice served at expensive fruit parlors. It almost makes me forget that I am at a stationery store. <\/dd>\n
- Ito<\/dt>\n
- Our concept of selling stationery is basically unchanged. It is just that we will no longer pursue our conventional goals of \u201ccarrying every type of stationery\u201d and offering an \u201cabundant array of new products,\u201d but provide the products that \u201cItoya can suggest with confidence\u201d. Now that stationery can be purchased everywhere, I hope to seek a way to differentiate our business from others.<\/dd>\n
- Takashima<\/dt>\n
- We live in a time when anything can be bought on the Internet. Nevertheless, I like the idea that I can be sure to find the best products if I shop at Itoya<\/dd>\n<\/dl>\n<\/div>\n\n\n
![](\"\/wp-content\/uploads\/Connect_50_06.jpg\")
\n<\/div>\n\n![](\"\/wp-content\/uploads\/Connect_50_07.jpg\"\/)
\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\nA walkable town- a unique identity <\/h4>\n\n\n- Takashima <\/dt>\n
- What kind of town would you hope Ginza to be in the future? <\/dd>\n
- Ito<\/dt>\n
- I hope people will continue to visit Ginza because there are goods and shops that can only be found here.
\nAfter renovating, Itoya has welcomed new customers as well as our regular customers. People used to come to shop with us in search of stationery, or merchandise, but our new customers come here to enjoy the place itself.\n<\/dd>\n - Takashima<\/dt>\n
- It is indeed a place that cannot found in other towns. <\/dd>\n
- Ito <\/dt>\n
- Sometimes, I wish that Ginza Dori could be a \u201cpedestrian paradise\u201d all year round. Of course, it would cause some inconveniences, too, so it is an unrealistic idea. What I mean to say is that the town should be friendly to pedestrians. Busy streets with a lot of traffic like New York\u2019s Fifth Avenue make it difficult for shoppers to cross the street to see shops on the other side of the street. <\/dd>\n
- Takashima<\/dt>\n
- In your travels abroad, which countries have been inspiring in terms of street design? <\/dd>\n
- Ito<\/dt>\n
- There was a place in the U.S. where shops were located on the first floor of the building, parking was on the second and third floors and people lived on the upper floors. You could go by car to your destination and go directly to the shop from the parking lot. It would be interesting if people could live in Ginza. <\/dd>\n<\/dl>\n<\/div>\n\n
![](\"\/wp-content\/uploads\/Connect_50_08.jpg\")
\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n![](\"\/wp-content\/uploads\/Connect_50_09.jpg\")
<\/p>\n\nChisako Takashima<\/h4>\n
Violinist. Takashima started taking violin lessons from the age of 6. After a successful career abroad, she moved her home base to Japan, where she currently performs in concerts across the country. Highly noted for her character in TV and radio appearances, she has currently opened up her career to more diverse fields with an unchanged focus on her profession. <\/p>\n
- \n
- Takashima <\/dt>\n
- When was Itoya established? <\/dd>\n
- Ito <\/dt>\n
- Our company was established in 1904, or Meiji 37, so that means that we have been in business for 111 years. It originated as a stationery shop that our founder, my great grandfather, Shotaro Ito, started next to the women\u2019s clothing shop that his mother ran. Since then, we have continued as a business specializing in stationery in Ginza. In 1965, the former Itoya Ginza Main Store building was completed. At first, half of the floors were used as store space, and the other half as office space, but we gradually expanded our store area until in 1980, every floor of the building sold stationery. I have been told that back then, it was very rare to carry only stationery from the first to ninth floor. <\/dd>\n
- Takashima <\/dt>\n
- I would imagine so. I recall that the building itself was a very attractive design. It was a landmark of Ginza. <\/dd>\n
- Ito <\/dt>\n
- My father had always been an architecture fan. <\/dd>\n
- Takashima<\/dt>\n
- I often shop at Itoya in Takashimaya Department Store in Futago-Tamagawa. We ordered the welcome board, among other things for our wedding party, at Itoya. Come to think of it, I even had my very first business card made at Itoya. <\/dd>\n
- Ito<\/dt>\n
- Thank you very much.<\/dd>\n
- Takashima<\/dt>\n
- I have heard that the Ginza Main Shop was renovated this year. <\/dd>\n
- Ito<\/dt>\n
- Yes. In 2013, we closed the main building of our former Main Store, which reopened as the Ginza New Main Store this year on June 6. We have overseas locations as well. Three years ago in 2012, we opened a store on Union Street in San Francisco that is run under a completely new concept deviating from our corporate traditions. It carries very little stationery and instead sells mobile accessories, tumblers and other goods that are needed by people who work outside the office. <\/dd>\n
- Takashima <\/dt>\n
- Then I assume that you are currently travelling back and forth between the US and Japan. <\/dd>\n
- Ito<\/dt>\n
- That is right. Jet lag can be very challenging but it is interesting to see that Japanese and American customers have different demands.<\/dd>\n<\/dl>\n<\/div>\n\n<\/p>\n
The renovated Ginza Main Store <\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
\n\n\n<\/div>\n\n\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\nRenewing the store concept to supporting the \u201cwork\u201d scene <\/h4>\n
- \n
- Takashima<\/dt>\n
- What made you decide to renovate your main store?<\/dd>\n
- Ito<\/dt>\n
- We sell stationery at Itoya, but businessmen tend not to purchase their own stationery. Instead, most people use what they are supplied at the office. In other words, people are buying less and less stationery. In the past, people would use stationery to write letters at their desks, but nowadays, people write email on their computers. I thought that we would fall out of step with the times if we didn\u2019t make some changes. <\/dd>\n
- Takashima <\/dt>\n
- That is true. I had always believed that stationery was everlasting, but I guess it was not. <\/dd>\n
- Ito<\/dt>\n
- My child is currently studying the U.S., where iPads are used in elementary schools as well as in high schools. Pens are no longer needed in class. <\/dd>\n
- Takashima<\/dt>\n
- Really!? I still buy pencils by the dozen for my children (laughs)! But to think that overseas, even children live in a digitalized society. <\/dd>\n
- Ito<\/dt>\n
- Yes. I don\u2019t think that it will be long before it will be the same in Japan. Given the trend of the times, it seemed the time had come for Itoya to change. And when you come to think of what stationery fundamentally stands for, pens and notebooks have always supported the \u201cwork\u201d scene. Now, our mission is not only to sell \u201cmerchandise\u201d but to offer forums to support creative work through experiences. <\/dd>\n
- Takashima<\/dt>\n
- So you mean venues to support \u201cwork\u201d. <\/dd>\n
- Ito<\/dt>\n
- That\u2019s right. This floor (tenth floor) is called the Hand Shake Lounge, where conference rooms are available for rent. The main conference room is equipped with a projector that can be used for presentations. We also offer a party area that can be used for receptions once deals are closed. Parties call for food, which need to be provided by a restaurant. That motivated me to make a restaurant – CAF\u00c9 Stylo, located on the twelfth floor. Then, I wanted to cultivate the fresh vegetables to be served at the restaurant and that led to our vegetable factory. <\/dd>\n<\/dl>\n<\/div>\n\n\n<\/p>\n
Sixth Floor, HOME floor <\/p>\n<\/div>\n
\n<\/p>\nTenth Floor, Hand Shake Lounge<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
<\/p>\n
\nA vegetable factory and restaurant under one roof. Local consumption of local food within one building. <\/h4>\n
- \n
- Takashima<\/dt>\n
- You have a vegetable factory!?<\/dd>\n
- Ito<\/dt>\n
- On the eleventh floor, which is called the FARM, we make the hydroponic frilly leaf lettuce that is served at our restaurant on the twelfth floor. We can see the vegetables grow through windows, for which we used the window frames from the old Main Store building. Would you like to have a look?<\/dd>\n
- Takashima<\/dt>\n
- You are right! I remember these window frames from the old building. <\/dd>\n
- Ito<\/dt>\n
- I was advised by Mr. Yamamoto from Tokyo Gallery that I should keep old things too. By the way, my first encounter with a vegetable factory was as a high school student in the U.S. Disney World, in Florida, had a vegetable plant. I had wanted to start my own vegetable factory since then.<\/dd>\n
- Takashima<\/dt>\n
- I wasn\u2019t aware of that. It is difficult to imagine vegetables being grown right beside an attraction. <\/dd>\n
- Ito<\/dt>\n
- What you are drinking now is the strawberry lemonade that we offer at our drink bar on the first floor. It contains pureed strawberries, which are also grown here. <\/dd>\n
- Takashima<\/dt>\n
- This is delicious! It has a luxurious savor, that would surely withstand competition from the fancy juice served at expensive fruit parlors. It almost makes me forget that I am at a stationery store. <\/dd>\n
- Ito<\/dt>\n
- Our concept of selling stationery is basically unchanged. It is just that we will no longer pursue our conventional goals of \u201ccarrying every type of stationery\u201d and offering an \u201cabundant array of new products,\u201d but provide the products that \u201cItoya can suggest with confidence\u201d. Now that stationery can be purchased everywhere, I hope to seek a way to differentiate our business from others.<\/dd>\n
- Takashima<\/dt>\n
- We live in a time when anything can be bought on the Internet. Nevertheless, I like the idea that I can be sure to find the best products if I shop at Itoya<\/dd>\n<\/dl>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n<\/div>\n\n\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n
A walkable town- a unique identity <\/h4>\n
\n- \n
- Takashima <\/dt>\n
- What kind of town would you hope Ginza to be in the future? <\/dd>\n
- Ito<\/dt>\n
- I hope people will continue to visit Ginza because there are goods and shops that can only be found here.
\nAfter renovating, Itoya has welcomed new customers as well as our regular customers. People used to come to shop with us in search of stationery, or merchandise, but our new customers come here to enjoy the place itself.\n<\/dd>\n - Takashima<\/dt>\n
- It is indeed a place that cannot found in other towns. <\/dd>\n
- Ito <\/dt>\n
- Sometimes, I wish that Ginza Dori could be a \u201cpedestrian paradise\u201d all year round. Of course, it would cause some inconveniences, too, so it is an unrealistic idea. What I mean to say is that the town should be friendly to pedestrians. Busy streets with a lot of traffic like New York\u2019s Fifth Avenue make it difficult for shoppers to cross the street to see shops on the other side of the street. <\/dd>\n
- Takashima<\/dt>\n
- In your travels abroad, which countries have been inspiring in terms of street design? <\/dd>\n
- Ito<\/dt>\n
- There was a place in the U.S. where shops were located on the first floor of the building, parking was on the second and third floors and people lived on the upper floors. You could go by car to your destination and go directly to the shop from the parking lot. It would be interesting if people could live in Ginza. <\/dd>\n<\/dl>\n<\/div>\n\n\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n<\/p>\n\n
Chisako Takashima<\/h4>\n
Violinist. Takashima started taking violin lessons from the age of 6. After a successful career abroad, she moved her home base to Japan, where she currently performs in concerts across the country. Highly noted for her character in TV and radio appearances, she has currently opened up her career to more diverse fields with an unchanged focus on her profession. <\/p>\n
![\"Strings](\"\/wp-content\/uploads\/Connect_cd.jpg\")
<\/p>\n