HAI ARIGATO

Feed your Japanophilia at Waraku

How can you not love Japanese stuff? The art, the culture — it’s all just so different from what we Westerners are used to. It’s the reason why Waraku, with a shop in Venice Beach and a shop in San Clemente, imports all its shoes, hoodies, t-shirts, hats, scarves, totes, accessories, dresses, greeting cards, postcards — everything — from Japan. And we’re not talking the Asahi cat, here. The sneakers have to be the coolest items in there. Most of them are Converse, Puma or sneaks along those lines but with so many different Japanese prints on them it can make a person dizzy. And the canvas totes? Same deal — even the scarves have Japanese prints sewn into them and koi or rabbits silkscreened on them. And if you can’t get to San Clemente or Venice Beach, they make ordering online super easy: warakuusa.com.

Waraku Venice
1225 Abbot Kinney Blvd., Venice, CA, 90291, 310.452.5300, open Monday – Sunday, 10 a.m. – 7 p.m.

Waraku San Clemente
223 Avenida Del Mar, unit C, San Clemente, CA, 92672, 949.366.0630, open Monday – Sunday, 10 a.m. – 7 p.m.