Kyoto Design House

If your friends back home won’t put up with receiving tourist tat as souvenirs, this is the place to pick up the hottest contemporary Japanese design goodies. A trio of local design luminaries select the merchandise, usually featuring sophisticated twists on classic Kyoto lifestyle items. In April 2009, the store moved from its bland former home to the gleaming Niwaka Building, which was designed by Japanese starchitect Tadao Ando.