Le Creuset in Japan
Le Creuset is a French brand of home goods (cookware, tableware, etc) that’s popular for its durability and wide range of intriguing colors. I don’t collect Le Creuset myself, but my mom has a small collection and is always interested in seeing what I can find during my travels in other countries.
The fun thing about collecting Le Creuset is there’s regional-specific colors and items! So if you go to, say, Singapore or Japan, you’ll find different stuff than in the US and the UK. This post is a guide to what’s available in the Japanese Le Creuset collection, for tourists interested in picking up a special piece or two on their trip.
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Japanese Le Creuset Colors
Le Creuset (the parent company) makes some colors region-specific, but they change depending on the season and what’s available in the line overall. The current Japanese Le Creuset color lineup (as of September 2024) is:
- Orange
- Cherry Red
- Soleil
- Cool Mint
- Shell Pink
- Deep Teal
- Mat Black
- Meringue
- Peche
- Thyme
All of these are normal colors available everywhere else (as far as I know), but sometimes you can find items only available in certain colors in certain regions. For instance, a few months ago there was a specific bowl that was available in one of the off-white colors, and you could only get that combo in Japan.
Japan DOES have a seasonal color which shows up every so often: Sakura, a pink color based on the sakura flower! It might only be available during sakura season, in the spring. Anybody know for sure?
Japan-Only Items
Here’s the fun part! Japan has a few specific Le Creuset items which are only available to their market. If you’re looking for a good souvenir and don’t want or need a specific colorway, you can get these year-round at all the Le Creuset outlets in Japan.
They are:
- Sake set which is a bottle and 5 cups (¥6,930)
- Cooking/serving chopsticks (¥2,200 per set)
- Eating chopsticks (¥2,200 per set)
- Guest chopsticks (set of 5) (¥5,500) — made from bamboo
- Chopstick rests (set of 5) (¥3,300)
- Chopstick & chopsticks rest set, Mt. Fuji edition (¥5,500)
- Chopsticks & chopsticks rest set, Rose Quartz/White edition (¥5,500) — the set in the photo above is different so there might be more variations
- Spoons (set of 5) (¥6,050)
- Food picks (set of 5) (¥5,500)
I’ve also seen some flower-shaped bowls and plates which don’t seem to be available on the US website, though I don’t know if they’re 100% a Japan-exclusive item. They’re very pretty, though!
They don’t seem to be on the Japan website right now, either, so maybe they’re seasonal. Here’s some photos from my last visit in May 2024:
Special Editions
Japan (and Asia) tends to have a lot of special editions of cookware and tableware. When I was last there, they had a Winnie the Pooh set! They also do Disney collabs quite a bit (see photo above). I’ve also seen Peter Rabbit collabs and a Miffy collabs!
Recently, they just put out a Pokemon set (see it here) which is only available in Japan. If you want these specific special editions, get them fast because they usually don’t stay long.
Where to find Le Creuset in Japan
You can find Le Creuset sections in almost every home goods floor in large malls. In Tokyo, a good place to find Le Creuset is Matsuya Ginza. In Osaka, check in the Daimaru Umeda Store attached to Osaka Station.
Sidenote: I want to say “thanks” to the sale associates who helped me look for specific things the last time I was there! They’re very friendly and speak pretty good English, and when I asked if they had different colors they went digging into a storage closet to look for me.
Another place to find Le Creuset is at thrift stores. Book Off Super Bazaar is a huge thrift store with all kinds of things, and I’ve heard people being able to find Le Creuset there before. But of course you’re limited to whatever’s in stock as typical in a thrift store.
Buying Japanese Le Creuset outside of Japan
The Japanese Le Creuset website does NOT ship internationally. That means you have to figure out another way to get the stuff to you, if you can’t go get it yourself.
You can find Japanese Le Creuset items a few places online:
First, you can check Amazon Japan. Yes, you can order things from Amazon Japan and have it sent to you in the United States!
Well, sometimes.
If an item is being sold by a third party, they may not have international shipping available. Also, you’ll be at the whims of whatever’s in stock, and it’s honestly not much.
Second, check eBay! You find Japanese sellers there willing to send it to you directly. Shipping is a bit expensive, but it’s gonna be pricey no matter one.
Third, there’s buy-sell-trade Le Creuset groups on Facebook and you may be able to find something there.
Fourth, you can always pay a proxy buyer to get you a specific item. Basically you find what you want to buy (on Japan Mercari or another website) and have the proxy buyer purchase it for you and then ship it. This works great for used items only available on Japanese websites, but it does take more dedication than the other ways. For more on using a proxy buyer, here’s a post from Carryology explaining how it works.
Final Thoughts
It’s always fun seeing what items are available exclusively for a certain market.
Do you collect Le Creuset? Would you travel to Japan to pick up an exclusive item?
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