Itoya: twelve floors of one idea

Some shops you walk into. Itoya you plan around. The G.Itoya building in Ginza is a tower given almost entirely to stationery and the life around it — pens on one floor, paper on another, desk objects, travel, a café near the top. The red paperclip on the sign is not ironic. They mean it.

The trick to Itoya is to treat it like a museum you're allowed to buy from. Start high and work down, or you'll spend your whole budget on the first floor of pens.

A rough map for a first visit:

• Paper — sheets sold singly, by weight and texture. Bring a list or you'll buy all of it.
• Pens — try before you commit; the staff expect it.
• Desk — the small objects that make a desk feel like yours: trays, clips, tape.
• Café — sit down halfway. This is a marathon, not a sprint.

What makes Itoya worth a whole afternoon isn't range for its own sake. It's that everything on every floor has been chosen. Nothing is there by accident — which is the same reason we curate the way we do.