About a 15-minute walk from HOTEL RESOL STAY AKIHABARA, walk down the main street of Jimbocho lined with rows of second-hand books and you will see a large wooden sign with the name "Yamatoya" written on it.

Yamatoya Footwear Store is a geta shop with over 100 years of history. It is a long-established store that is known only to those in the know, and has been carefully delivering high-quality geta in the same place since it first opened.

140 years since our founding, continuing in the same place

Yamatoya Footwear Store (hereafter referred to as Yamatoya) was founded in 1884 (Meiji 17). It is said that the store was founded when the first owner, who had trained as a sandal maker in Tokyo, decided to go independent and set up shop in Jimbocho through family connections. For the 140 years since then, the store has been in the same location as the local sandal maker, and has been watching the changes in Jimbocho.

A major turning point for Yamatoya was the renovation of the store four years ago. Even before the renovation, the owner and others at the store had been discussing for many years how to preserve Yamatoya for the future. The reason why this desire became the basis for the renovation project was largely due to the presence of Funabiki Ryuhei.

While building his career as an office worker at a major company, Funabiki became involved with Yamatoya when he married his partner. Seeing the people at Yamatoya searching for ways to make their dreams a reality, Funabiki decided to help with the renovation project, thinking that he might be able to utilize the experience he had cultivated up until then. With Funabiki's new power added to the team, the renovation project at Yamatoya began to move forward in a big way.

Transformation from a "town geta shop" to a "store that carries on Japanese culture"

As times change, what kind of place do we want Yamatoya to continue to be? This question was a major theme in the renovation project. Funabiki listened carefully to the previous and current owners of Yamatoya, and gradually put the answer to the question into words.

"The current owner, the third generation, said, 'I want to preserve Yamatoya as a proper geta maker,' and his son, the fourth generation, said, 'I want to preserve Yamatoya as part of the town's scenery and make it an opportunity to learn about Jimbocho.' The family, who are stencil dyeing artists, said, 'I would be happy if the store could contribute to preserving the fine things of Japan,' so we looked for areas where their stories overlapped. And then we found the concept of 'a store that carries on culture.'"

From a "town geta shop" that delivers geta to the townspeople to a "store that carries on culture" that delivers Japanese culture. With this concept in place, the people involved with Yamatoya had a clear goal in mind, and this led to changes in the store.

For example, half of the store has been opened up as a gallery space, where Japanese artists and culture can be introduced. It has been set up as a place where you can encounter Japanese culture other than footwear. In addition, the geta and thongs that are sold are directly purchased from craftsmen that Yamatoya trusts, and they are used to create original products together.

Taking advantage of the strengths of a footwear specialty store that can insert the straps and bases of the geta in-store (inserting the straps into holes in the base of the geta to attach them), customers are able to freely customize the bases and straps of their geta and create their own original geta.

Yamatoya is not just a place to deliver footwear, but also wants to use footwear and the store as a medium to inherit Japanese culture and connect it to many people. With this desire in mind, Yamatoya reopened in May 2021.

Deepened and expanded connections through renewal

Funabiki says he also felt pressure as the renovation project progressed.

"Yamatoya has a history of 140 years in the same location. Whenever there is a local festival, locals come to Yamatoya and start drinking in the shop; it is a place that is deeply rooted in the town. So I didn't know if the townspeople and regulars wanted to see changes at Yamatoya, and I was worried about how they would react.

But on the day of our reopening, there was a constant stream of customers all day. Seeing so many customers, both newcomers and long-time supporters, made me realize that our preparations were not mistaken, and made me really happy.

Starting from the reopening day, Yamatoya will continue to expand its network with new customers through exhibitions and events in the gallery space. Recently, some customers have even come from overseas to Yamatoya.

Furthermore, one regular customer said, "I'm happy that I have more reasons to come to Yamatoya because I can meet various artists at the gallery," and it seems that the number of times regular customers are coming to Yamatoya has increased.

"The weakness of getaya may be that the industry is small, but the strength is that we have a deep connection with our customers. That's why word of mouth spread quickly, and I think that for the past few years our customers brought in more customers," said Funabiki. The transformation of Yamatoya has led to encounters with new people and deepened the connections with those who have supported us up until now.

A place like a gateway to connect Japanese culture

Yamatoya will mark four years since its renovation in May 2025. When asked what kind of place he would like Yamatoya to become in the future, Funabiki said, "I want it to be a gateway for people to learn about geta and Japanese culture."

"Honestly, I think that geta shops seem intimidating and difficult to enter. That's why I want Yamatoya to be a shop with a low barrier of entry that people can easily enter. In the future, I want Yamatoya to be a place that can connect people to the deep charm of Japanese culture and geta."

Some people may feel intimidated when they hear the words "geta" or "Japanese culture," as if they are something far removed from their own lives. However, once you step through the curtain of Yamatoya, you will realize that geta are casual footwear that are rooted in the Japanese environment and are very much part of our daily lives.

Today, Yamatoya continues to serve as an opportunity to connect us with the culture that is deeply rooted in Japanese life on the streets of Jimbocho.

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Yamatoya Footwear Store
Address: 1F Sunlight Building, 3-2-1 Kanda Jinbocho, Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo
HP: https://geta-yamatoya.com/about/
Social Media: https://www.instagram.com/geta_yamatoya/
* For details on opening hours and closing days, please check the link above.