My Kimono Experience

I love seeing people in kimono. This traditional Japanese garment is elegant, feminine and pretty. So while planning my Japan trip, I decided that I must have this once in a lifetime experience of wearing a kimono.  

After much research on the internet, I settle on renting kimono from Sakura Photo Studio in Asakusa. The place is located less than 5 minutes walking distance away from Sensō-ji which is great as I am able to visit the shrine in the kimono. Also, the price they offered is the cheapest I could find. 

The shop is actually a small room located on the 3^rd floor of the building. The lady owner is very nice and sweet. She is able to speak Japanese, Korean, English and some Mandarin so communication is not a problem there. There is a lot of certificated displaying in the room and she explained that those are from the kimono courses she took. She is really quick and efficient. I got dressed in kimono and my hair styled within 45 minutes.

She did explain what was she doing on every steps but I couldn’t remember anything by now. With the help of this wikihow, I can roughly explain what was going on. 

After putting on a pair of white tabi socks, I was dressed in juban which are the “kimono underwear”. It has a white cotton shirt, a skirt and another outer shirt with white collar.

I was wearing Uniqlo’s heattech top and bottom underneath as it was really cold and windy that day.

After putting on juban, she styled my hair with Japanese hair style. Hair styling services is included in the package but she does not provide make up services. 

I took the “simple plan” offered on the website which is the cheapest package. The only difference between “simple plan” and “basic plan” is the type of obi and accessories used in basic plan is nicer. The “luxury plan” has another type of kimono with long sleeves which is really nice but it was out of my budget range so the cheapest plan will do.

I chose a white kimono with pink flowers which I think is really sweet.

The dark pink cloth at the middle is the obi. Underneath it was layers and layers of cloths/towels which were tied quite tightly. Do be prepared that you are not able to relax your stomach/breathe deeply/eat well/walk quickly when you put on your kimono.

TA-DAH!! After choosing hair piece, bags and shoes, and we are done! The shoe I was wearing in the photo is for photo shoot use only. It was quite high with unstable base which I think it’s impossible for first timer to wear it and walk around.  

I am able walk around freely with the kimono and only need to return it before 5pm. I was also given kimono coat at it was really COLD.I was planning to visit the Sensō-ji and Tokyo Skytree in the kimono but the Tokyo Skytree plan got slashed off as I couldn't bare the cold anymore. You can’t blame a person from a country with summer all year long for feeling extremely cold. 

We dropped by a convenience store to buy breakfast while on the way to Sensō-ji. We settled our breakfast in convenience stores everyday for our trip as it is much cheaper and I really love the food varieties in the convenience store. I enjoy trying different types of origini and beverages every day. And I think it’s really brilliant to have warm canned coffee available as it doubled up to be a heating pack too! I just love holding on it.

Sakura PhotoStudio

sakuraphotokimono@gmail.com

東京都台東区雷門2-9-8

ふなきビル306

Tokyo Taitoku Kaminarimon2-9-8

funaki Bld 306

Price

Simple plan: ¥ 3600 (¥2400 each for 2 pax and above)

Basic plan: ¥5000

Luxury plan: ¥10000