Bunkado

Okay, even I enjoyed shopping here, thus an easy 5 stars. A great selection of postcards & greeting cards, all reasonably priced. We didn’t go upstairs. Darn. The ladies at checkout are friendly and hilarious. I really enjoyed and look forward to returning.

What a gem. A little bit of everything at this store. A great selection of sake sets, tea sets, plate and bowl sets. The two women that run the store are very helpful and kind. Upstairs is the bargain/​wholesale price area! Mainly bowls/​plates/​cups but also a kimono rack, and other treasures. Definitely head up there first.

Looked all over little Tokyo for a nice but not overpriced macha tea set. Finally ended up here… And wished I’d started here. I kind of feel in love with this shop and the service and meticulous gift wrapping made me feel like I was back in Japan. Affordable gifts for all price ranges but without all the junky crap at most of the other shops.
Go here first. You won’t regret it.

I’ve been an customer for almost 10 years and this shop in Little Tokyo is a must for antique enthusiast from old school 60’s-80’s Japanese movies to books, e.t.c…As a Karate student, I purchase several MA books which is hard to find anywhere in the Internet except in Bunkado.
This place is amazing!

Fun little shop if you want to look for some Japanese «stuff». It’s definitely worth going in to browse. Be warned that you will probably leave with something hahah.

This is my absolute favorite shop in Little Tokyo. 5 stars for customer service!
I always try to pop by here when I’m downtown. I don’t always buy, sometimes I just like to walk the aisles and breathe in the Japan-​iana (is that a word?)
Prices are extremely reasonable. You can buy paper lamps for a fraction of what they’d cost elsewhere. Same for wooden placemats (which I’ve also seen at Pottery Barn). Simply gorgeous pottery. Fantastic book selection covering Japanese culture and art. Very sophisticated selection, in fact.
A few visits ago I bought two tiny ceramic lucky cats for friends. The purchase price was possibly $ 10 total, but I believe it may have been less. The kind shop ladies offered to gift wrap them both. They spent 10 minutes meticulously wrapping these two tchockies, as if they were precious diamonds! Asking me what paper I wanted, what sort of bow and then again, asking me if I liked how they tied the ribbons. Who does this ?!? Absolutely amazing in this day and age to get such happy, kind meticulous service for something they perhaps made a $ 6 profit on.
5 stars for fun, eclectic and affordable merchandise. 5 stars for superb, old-​world style customer care and service.
This shop should be on everyone’s downtown «must do» list.

I really liked this store. They had a lot of fun things you could buy as souvenirs or gifts. They had a ton of chopsticks, tea sets, lanterns, kitchenware, origami, home décor, books, games, toys, CDs, cassettes (yes, cassettes) and so much more! I found several items that were cheaper here than they were at the other stores I had stopped at previously.

There’s a lot of things on the first floor — from stickers to postcards, & books, but my favorite place to browse is the second floor. There’s a gold mine of music in this store!
I frequent Little Tokyo often, but never went in this store until last year. My boyfriend came to visit LA for the first time so we wandered around random stores, with our friends, to see what we could find. They walked into Bunkado, so I followed. When we walked in, we noticed some old J-​pop and enka tapes by the register, and we got really excited because we all are into the silver age of J-​pop.
A few months passed since first finding this store, & we went back to see if there were any more tapes. To our surprise, there was a new selection of them by the register! The friendly man who works here noticed us looking at the tapes. He tapped me on the shoulder telling me to follow him. I was a little confused, looked at my friends, but eventually followed. He lead us upstairs to a whole floor filled with tapes, CDs, & more! We probably spent a few hours looking through everything trying to find artists we liked & walked out with boxes full of tapes. At 50 cents a tape, we went a bit crazy!
We went back a few months later, and this was probably my fondest memory there so far. We asked to go upstairs, and one of the cute ladies was watching over us as we browsed. My friend asked her a question and she was very helpful. She saw how invested we were in this that she pointed out to us that they had more tapes in the back, which she let us freely browse. My friends went to browse those tapes, but I stayed up front browsing the shelves still & she came over to talk to me! She told me she was surprised that 20-​somethings like us were really into Silver-​age music because even her own children didn’t know any of these groups or singers. She even asked me who some of my favorites were! We had a long & nice conversation, and she told me about her memories of some of them, like Hikaru Genji. She even gave me recommendations based on our conversation.
My friends & I have gone to Bunkado a few times since discovering it. The staff is just really nice, helpful, & very adorable. I’ve never had a bad experience with them!
It’s now a tradition my friends & I have to go here whenever all of us are in town!

I love silver age J-​Pop and Japanese music from the early 80’s and 90’s. If you go to the upstairs level, they have a HUGE selection of music on cassette for only 50 cents and CDs for $ 3, as well as laser discs and 8 tracks (they let me have as many as I want for free last time I went). Literally the biggest goldmine of Japanese music since I’ve discovered Book Off.
Aside from that, the downstairs area that most people browse through has some very interesting items as well. Nice stationary and bizarre stickers. Definitely one of the best places to browse through in Little Tokyo. Staff is very kind too!

Bunka Do Japanese Imports. I clap my hands for you.
You must have passion and belief in your business, to own and operate something like this. Maybe, the owner is just filthy rich and does this just for fun. Either way, this is the only store I know that carries authentic Japanese artwork, wind chimes, trinkets, books, origami paper, and novelties. Some very traditional, others unusual, and a few items that are just plain quirky. Stuff you just don’t find lying around these days.
For instance, this little Japanese notepad that has a picture of Sadaharu Oh, commemorating his 756 Homerun, along with his profile. Sadaharu Oh is a famous Japanese baseball player and manager, known for his 868 career homeruns and for holding Japan’s single season homerun record with 55, until Wladimir Balentien broke the record in 2013 with 57 homeruns. Where do you find something like this outside of Japan, let alone the world? You feel me?
They have some really cool ceramics and greeting cards. One of them says GRATEFULNESS — a word often forgotten in the minds of many people today. An expensive looking Geisha Doll was encased in this glass box, in which I dare not touch. There’s a second floor to this place, that I didn’t browse thru, but the nice Japanese lady told me that they had Japanese records, cassettes, and CD’s. I think they’re for the older generation and not anything for you young hipsters.
Bottom line, there’s stuff in English, so don’t be shy, but be careful of the small amount of space and narrow aisles, cause I’m sure they’ll make you pay for it, if you break it. Hence, I didn’t touch anything that looked pricy. Maybe, that’s why no one ever took a picture of this place on Unilocal till now. I wasn’t scared to look, just hesitant to move around the store.
AS YOU EXIT, TO THE LEFT
I saw a postcard of a favorite childhood cartoon character, ASTRO BOY! «Thanks For The Memories» — Bob Hope.

If you are looking for nice Japanese stationery (cards, postcards), origami, a Japanese crest (ka-​mon), or other little gifts, you might like this place. It carries mostly the nicer end things, but there are definitely things you can purchase for under $ 5. I was glad that not everything in here was cutesy-​Sanrio stuff because there’s a Sanrio store right around the corner. Most of the items here are appropriate for a sophisticated crowd, too.
Bonus: they accept American Express.

I have always loved these little shops like this one, and this is no exception. Bunkado is one of those little throw backs to the past, a little store with just about something for everyone. They have seen better times, and used to have a section up stairs, but I think it was closed down.
Love that they still blast the AC when it’s hot, as it is very refreshing to walk in on a hot summer’s day. The stuff they have is cool, and they still have quite selection of Japanese ceramics and traditional crafts. I also love all the little key chains and charms up front, you know impulse shopping at it’s best.

Small, narrow Japanese gift store with really tight aisle space so if you’re the proverbial «Bull in the china shop», don’t enter since they have a «You break it, you pay for it.» policy. The shop is crammed with all sorts of Japanese objets d’art as well as tons of tschochkes. There is a good selection of ceramics and figurines. I like their big selections of wind chimes especially the ones made with Nambu iron which produces a clear yet scintillating melody. They sound so cool & refreshing on a sultry, soft summer night with the sound of crickets in the background.
The upstairs caters to more Japanese tastes since there is a large collection of Japanese music CD’s, records, cassettes. A lot of the music caters to Japanese listeners over 40 years old, and so old school music artists from the 1950’s through the 80’s are emphasized. However, you can ask to see if they stock more recent J-​POP offerings if you’re interested in the more contemporary music scene.
If you’re looking for higher end, generally more refined Japanese gifts, the other good alternative in Little To-​kyo– is Rafu Bussan on Second Street. These two gift stores give a good representative view of Japanese gift style goods from down home to tres haute.

Cute little store packed with tons of great things!
Especially liked the lanterns, stationary items, and the various home décor items they had on stock. Everything was so beautiful, neat, and unique here! There were plenty of interesting books here as well, most being a bunch of origami tutorials as well as poems written by Japanese-​American authors.
The staff, which seemed to make up of two elderly Japanese-​American women, were very friendly and sweet as well.
I highly recommend visitors to Little Tokyo to check out this awesome gem of the area. You won’t be disappointed!

Very cool Japanese culture related finds here.
Sure, you wouldn’t just buy a bunch of stuff here for personal needs, but it’s not such a bad place to buy some gifts… maybe a sake cup set. for someone who’s into it.
If you’re looking around for some time to kill before a meal, walking around in this store and the store next door (I forget the name), will kill a good half hour or more if you really take some time to browse.

Chock full of curios and Japanese things. They have a good selection of origami paper, ceramics (bowls and plates and stuff), books, postcards, chopsticks, paper umbrellas, etc. Also, the second floor is a secret hangout place reserved for Japanese people only (according to the sales lady). As with all of the other Japanese stores in the area, there are many signs telling you what you can’t do and what they won’t do for you (no change for meters, no touching certain things, etc). Definitely good for browsing.
Bottom line: If you are planning to come here or to Little Tokyo, don’t pay $ 2/​hr for parking. Take the metro.

I have been stopping in this little shop for a couple of years, and I always like going in even if just to look. I used to think of the little old Japanese ladies who work their as my grandmothers. As I’ve aged, they haven’t and now they’re more like older sisters.
I stopped in yesterday to replace a gift I bought my wife several years ago. My evil side knocked this good luck cat off the shelf where it had rested for years and it broke in many, many pieces. My older sisters came to my rescue. While not the same as the one I broke, they had a similar one and now I’ll be out of the dog house!
Yay, Bunkado!

I have been visiting this store ever since I was a little girl. It’s very close to the Buddhist temple that my family goes to. This store has wonderful gift items from ceramic kitchen ware and hashi to ornate dolls and paper goods. I come here for origami paper and books, chopstick holders and little nick-​nacks. The items here range from inexpensive to expensive items. They have novelty items to quality gift items. It’s always been fun to browse around the store. There are a few stores like this remaining in J-​Town where you can purchase quality authentic Japanese items from Japanese people. This would definitely be a good place to visit if you are in the area.

I’ve been shopping here for years.
I usually buy mugs, sake cups, bowls and plates here. Also they have nice cards, origami paper and wrapping papers.
I think the prices are great. I’ve noticed the same items in other shops and Bun Ka Do always has lower prices.
The staff is excellent. Very friendly and relaxed.
I hardly ever go upstairs (sometimes I even forget it’s there) but I believe they have dvd’s and cd’s up there.

This is a nice little gift shop. There is nothing you really need in this store, but lots of stuff that just makes you smile. A similar store, Ginza Gifts, is a few doors down. I do prefer shopping there for Japanese Novelty Items.
I would definitely make this a stop on a trip to J-​Town.