I love Japanese ceramic dishes!

I have to admit it, I love old school Japanese ceramic dishes. I started to be fond of them when I visited the Smithsonian Museum in Washington DC when I went there for the first time in 2001. Between the usual souvenirs in the gift shop stood a nice array of Japanese plate sets that despite insanely expensive piqued my interest immediately. I didn't plan on visiting Japan at the time (not that the average teenager without a job would be able to afford such a luxury for starters) but I knew I wanted to own genuine Japanese ceramic dishes someday.

On my first trip to Kyoto in 2012 I had a most pleasant surprise. Beneath Kiyomizu-dera temple stands a huge array of shops selling Japanese candy and all sorts of awesome nick knacks. Some stores sell really cheesy stuff, others sold genuine used kimonos at insanely good prices (I bought a violet kimono but I haven't had a chance to use it yet). Among some of my favorite stores are a handful that sells all sorts of Japanese plates and cups.

When I went to Chichicastenango on market day in the Guatemalan highlands I wanted to buy everything. The same thing happened to a lot of these stores and just by looking at the photos it's hard not to agree with me.

Cat lovers galore! If you always dreamed of getting a morbidly obese beckoning cat ceramic curio this is the place to be! At the end I purchased a lovely pair of two kitty ceramic tea cups but given I don't drink tea that often and sake is prohibitively expensive in Mexico I haven't used the cups all that much. If you wish to visit Japan to buy cute ceramic cups that are genuinely made in Japan it's rather easy to bump into these shops in Kyoto. Just visit Kiyomizu-dera and wander along the huge crowds of people. It won't take you very long before you bump into one of these little shops.