Ohi Keibajo, colloquially known as Ohi Racecourse or Tokyo City Flea Market, is the largest regularly scheduled flea market in Tokyo, offering a wealth of bargains for enthusiasts and casual shoppers alike. Organized by the Tokyo Citizens Recycling Society, the market features approximately 600 stalls and is held almost every week, drawing crowds eager to explore its diverse offerings.
Unlike traditional antique markets, which are often associated with shrines and temples, Ohi Keibajo leans more toward the concept of a US car boot sale, with a uniquely Japanese flair. Visitors should temper their expectations of discovering traditional Japanese antiques such as vintage kimonos, porcelain tableware and classic furniture. Instead, the market offers an eclectic mix of items reminiscent of those found at car boot sales in Europe or the US.
The vendors at Ohi Keibajo mainly deal in a wide range of products, from worn bric-a-brac, cookware, and anime toys to second-hand clothes, rusty tools, and old electronics. The market also houses an extensive collection of books, DVDs, video games, watches, bags and other knick-knacks, ensuring that every visitor will find something of interest.
Despite its departure from traditional antiques, Ohi Keibajo holds great appeal for first-time visitors to Tokyo, especially those looking to immerse themselves in Japanese culture as portrayed in manga and TV shows. The market serves as a gateway to experience a slice of everyday Japanese life and provides insight into local trends and preferences.
One of the outstanding features of Ohi Keibajo is its affordability, with prices starting as low as ¥100 for a variety of items. The market challenges the conventional Tokyo shopping experience, offering budget-friendly alternatives and opening up a world of possibilities for savvy shoppers.
The Ohi Keibajo Flea Market is a vibrant and bustling hub of bargains in the heart of Tokyo. With its vast array of stalls, diverse offerings and unbeatable prices, it is a testament to the city's dynamic and diverse shopping landscape, making it a must-visit destination for locals and tourists alike.
Matt Jensen
29th June 2015 at 12:07As a big fan of the British ‘car boot sale’ when I came to Japan in 2014 I had to try out a flea market! So I did! The flea market itself is fantastic: so many stalls you lose count, with people selling all sorts from cookware, anime toys, clothes, video games, books, dvds, videos, most wanting as little as ¥100 for anything, it really puts all that shopping around Tokyo for thousands of yen into perspective! You’ll also find various food vendors in the flea market, whilst the hot food was tempting, we couldn’t say no to some Kakigori in a variety of tasty flavors!
Everyone is very polite and no one was forceful at the flea market unlike some people at car boot sales, and as foreigners they would always try and tell us how much they were telling us in English, and we didn’t feel as though anyone was driving up the price because we were foreigners!
Marsha Ward
31st May 2016 at 19:36I was so looking forward to checking out a flea market in Tokyo. We hauled all the way across town on Sunday morning with hope of finding even one cool, unusual thing. There seemed to be a few true collectors mostly selling toys–the rest was a jumbled heap of old, worn out bric-a-brac, rusty tools, piles of clothes, and useless old electronics. There was one vendor selling some interesting natural history items, but I was skeptical about my ability to import them along with the feeling that the bear claws had probably been procured under less than ideal circumstances. There were sellers with piles of old kimono for only 200JPY, but they smelled strongly of mothballs, and I had little confidence I’d be able to get the smell out.
Overall, I’d give it a pass–there’s nothing else out that way in the event of a bust, so it’s basically a waste of three hours.
NIK
5th March 2017 at 11:48I went there yesterday, I like it.
There are food stalls too, kebab, curry, yakitori, etc… delicious!!