Yokimono (よきもの) is Japanese for “good things”, and the free market that carries the name has filled The Factory in Dalston with Japanese food and craft since its first Christmas edition on 24 November 2019. It is run by Sonoe Sugawara, the vintage kimono dealer whose shop, Furuki Yo-Kimono Vintage, sits in Pod 15 of the same building.
The market now returns several times a year, mostly to The Factory and occasionally to Riverside East in Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park. Japan Nakama updates this guide before every edition, so the details below always refer to the next one.
Yokimono Japanese Sample Sale
Free Japanese sample sale in Dalston, with over 30 makers and food stalls each day at The Factory- Address
- The Factory, 21-31 Shacklewell Lane, Dalston, London E8 2DA
- Admission
- Free entry
- Starts
- November 7, 2026, 11:00 AM
- Ends
- November 8, 2026 5:00 PM
More about the event
- Ticket
- One free Eventbrite registration covers both days of the sale.
- Gifts with purchase
- Selected stalls hand out a free gift with purchases over the sale weekend.
- Factory shops
- The Factory’s own independent shops open across the weekend with offers of their own.
- Toilet
- A universal toilet sits near the entrance beside the flower shop, and staff unlock it on request.
- Track record
- The organiser’s Eventbrite page records 28 events over seven years and about 46,900 attendees.
Inside Yokimono, Dalston’s Japanese Food and Craft Market
Japanese Sample Sale at The Factory, 7 and 8 November 2026
The next Yokimono is its autumn sale, a shopping edition that runs over one weekend in Dalston. More than 30 Japanese independent makers, designers and food businesses take part each day, selling sample pieces, surplus stock and selected lines at reduced prices alongside their regular collections. Many of them rarely hold a sale at any other point in the year.
Doors are open from 11am to 5pm on Saturday 7 and Sunday 8 November. Entry is free, and the organiser asks everyone to register on Eventbrite before arriving. Food stalls trade on both days, several with new menus and free samples to try. Last year’s sale took place on 8 and 9 November 2025.
Food and drink stalls at the 2026 sale
- Drumsco: temari sushi
- Mogu: onigiri rice balls, tonjiru soup and Christmas fried chicken made the Japanese way
- Yamada Onigiri: onigiri, croissants and dorayaki (Saturday only)
- Kanazawa Curry Bread: Japanese curry bread and doughnuts
- Tokyo Teriyaki Chicken Buns: teriyaki chicken buns, matcha drinks and sakura soda
- Metcha Matcha: oden hotpot
- Gu Choki Pan: Japanese bakery
- Tokyo Bakery: Japanese patisserie and fruit mochi (Saturday only)
- Nanaka: fruit mochi, dango, warabi mochi and Japanese tea
- KICHIYA: Japanese cakes and Japanese-flavoured ice cream
- Tencha: Japanese tea and teaware (Saturday only)
- The Sparkling Sake Brewery: alcohol-free fermented drinks, fermented seasonings and inari sushi seasoned with sake lees
Kimono, ceramics, jewellery and craft stalls at the 2026 sale
- Vintage kimono and folk objects: Furuki Yo-Kimono
- Jewellery: Onomatopée, Kei Tominaga (Sunday only) and Momocreatura (Sunday only)
- Ceramics: 705xclay, Nyanko Pots, Kaoru Pottery (Saturday only), Noriko Nagaoka (Saturday only) and MiMii θ with Ikuko Iwamoto (Sunday only)
- Fashion accessories: Hanamizuki London, Craft & Zen, 3rd Diadem, Mojo (Saturday only) and Koneko London (Saturday only)
- Clothing: Wondrous Theatre, Amamama (Sunday only), Kaori Yatsumoto (Sunday only) and kimonodego (Saturday only)
- Gifts, toys and lifestyle goods: Wagumi and Sway Edit. (Saturday only)
- Illustrations, paintings and prints: Saki, Edo Art, Takako Copeland (Saturday only) and Mizuki Doura (Sunday only)
- Paper craft and stationery: Sato Hisao (Sunday only), Connyz Japan (Saturday only) and Chisato Tamabayashi (Sunday only)
- Records, vintage books and vintage goods: Caravan and Bungu Store (Sunday only)
The organiser keeps adding names to the line-up on Eventbrite until the weekend itself, so a stall or two may change before the doors open.
Yokimono Japanese Christmas Market, 5 and 6 December 2026
Four weeks after the sale, Yokimono returns to The Factory for its Christmas market on Saturday 5 and Sunday 6 December 2026. The organiser has confirmed the dates on Eventbrite and Instagram, and this guide will add the traders, opening times and workshop bookings as soon as they are published.
Last year’s Christmas market ran on 6 and 7 December 2025 from 11am to 6pm, with workshops in fruit mochi making and shimenawa wreath making. A shimenawa is the twisted rice straw rope that marks a sacred space at Japanese shrines, and smaller versions decorate front doors at New Year. Furoshiki wrapping demonstrations ran alongside, with live music on the electric shamisen and singers of enka ballads and kayōkyoku, the Japanese pop of the Shōwa era.
Yokimono markets since 2019: dates and venues
Most years now follow a similar rhythm: a spring market at Riverside East in Stratford, a summer weekend in Dalston, the autumn sale and the Christmas market. In July 2025 the market also took over the Blue Side Foyer on Level 2 of the Royal Festival Hall, as part of the Southbank Centre’s ESEA Encounters season, with about 13 stalls on the Saturday and about 30 on the Sunday.
The June 2025 summer market also doubled as the daytime half of the Japanese Film Club launch party, which carried on with a screening of Tampopo at the Rio Cinema around the corner. The table below lists every edition found on official listings, newest first.
| Market | Dates | Venue |
|---|---|---|
| Christmas Market | 5 and 6 December 2026 | The Factory, Dalston |
| Japanese Sample Sale | 7 and 8 November 2026 | The Factory, Dalston |
| Summer Market | 27 and 28 June 2026 | The Factory, Dalston |
| Stratford Market | 2 and 3 May 2026 | Riverside East, Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park |
| Christmas Market | 6 and 7 December 2025 | The Factory, Dalston |
| Japanese Sample Sale | 8 and 9 November 2025 | The Factory, Dalston |
| Summer Market at the Southbank Centre | 19 and 20 July 2025 | Royal Festival Hall, South Bank |
| Summer Market | 28 and 29 June 2025 | The Factory, Dalston |
| Stratford Market | 11 May 2025 | Riverside East, Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park |
| Christmas Market | 6 to 8 December 2024 | The Factory, Dalston |
| Summer Market | 28 to 30 June 2024 | The Factory, Dalston |
| Christmas Market | 2 and 3 December 2023 | The Factory, Dalston |
| Summer Market | 1 and 2 July 2023 | The Factory, Dalston |
| Christmas Market | 3 and 4 December 2022 | The Factory, Dalston |
| Summer Market | 25 and 26 June 2022 | The Factory, Dalston |
| Christmas Market | 12 December 2021 | The Factory, Dalston |
| Christmas Market | 24 November 2019 | The Factory, Dalston |
Sonoe Sugawara and Furuki Yo-Kimono Vintage in Pod 15
Yokimono grew out of a kimono shop. Sonoe Sugawara first sold vintage kimono from a stall at Old Spitalfields Antique Market in 2009, then opened Furuki Yo-Kimono at The Factory in 2019, the same year as the first market. Her clients include museums, fashion designers and film costume designers, and in 2020 she worked with the V&A on its exhibition Kimono: Kyoto to Catwalk.
Most of her stock dates from the 1920s and 1930s, the pre-war years when Japanese Art Deco met traditional pattern, alongside indigo boro workwear and kimono from former samurai and imperial households. When Permanent Style visited in November 2024, most pieces sat between £150 and £250, with the rarest reaching £2,000. Outside market weekends the shop opens by appointment and on selected Saturdays, from 12pm to 5pm.
The kimono has gone through several revivals in Japan since the Meiji era, and foreign buyers have chased old kimono for almost as long. Writing in 1891, the American travel writer Eliza Scidmore described a dealer in Kyoto’s Awata district whose dim old clothes shop was rebuilt as a large showroom once foreign buyers arrived, with prices trebling within three years. She credited Gilbert and Sullivan, whose Japanese-themed operetta The Mikado opened in London in 1885, with making his fortune (Jinrikisha Days in Japan).
Regular Yokimono traders, from onigiri to woodblock prints
Line-ups shift from one edition to the next, but a core of traders appears on all four of the most recent lists: the 2025 sample sale, Stratford and Dalston in 2026, and this year’s sale. On the food side, that means onigiri from Yamada Onigiri, fruit mochi and dango from Nanaka, Japanese cakes and ice cream from KICHIYA, and bread and buns from the Japanese bakery Gu Choki Pan.
Among the makers, Edo Art brings Japanese woodblock prints, while Saki and Mizuki Doura sell illustrations. Sato Hisao’s papercraft and Connyz Japan’s paper boxes share the stationery tables, and Caravan brings records and vintage books. Kaoru Pottery is the ceramics regular, Onomatopée the jewellery one, and Hanamizuki London, Craft & Zen and 3rd Diadem cover accessories. Wagumi sells Japanese gifts and Amamama makes handmade children’s clothing. Furuki Yo-Kimono trades at every market.
Workshops and live performances at Yokimono markets
The spring, summer and Christmas markets each carry a programme of workshops and stage performances. The 2026 sample sale lists neither, as it is a shopping weekend. Workshops are booked on Eventbrite: register the free entry ticket first, then add the workshop ticket. Places are limited, so the organiser recommends booking early.
Recent workshops have included:
- Furoshiki, the Japanese art of wrapping gifts in a square of cloth, with Tamakurya Boutique (Stratford, May 2026)
- Wagashi, hand-shaped traditional Japanese sweets, with Sakura Junction (Stratford, May 2026)
- Ikebana flower arranging in the Sōgetsu school style, a taster with Hiromi Takahashi (Stratford, May 2026)
- A tea ceremony demonstration and matcha making workshop with Kokage (Dalston, June 2026)
- Shodō calligraphy with Setsuhi Shiraishi, painting your own uchiwa, a flat Japanese fan (Dalston, June 2026)
On stage, the 2026 markets featured these performers:
- Okinawa Sanshin-kai, with eisa (an Okinawan drum dance) and music on the sanshin, the three-stringed Okinawan lute
- Nihon Buyo UK, performing classical Japanese dance
- Akiharu Kitagawa, playing the koto in the Ikuta school style
- DJ Shintaro, with Japanese music sets between the live acts
- Zashiki Warashi, a taiko drum and flute duo, filmed below at Riverside East in May 2026
Oden, temari sushi and otoku: Japanese words on the stalls
A few words turn up again and again on Yokimono menus and price signs:
- Otoku (お得): a good deal, the word the organiser uses for sale prices
- Oden: a winter hotpot of fishcakes, daikon radish and boiled eggs simmered in light dashi broth
- Temari sushi: small round balls of sushi rice topped with fish or vegetables, named after temari thread balls
- Onigiri: rice balls, usually wrapped in nori seaweed around a filling such as salmon
- Tonjiru: miso soup made with pork and root vegetables
- Fruit mochi: a whole piece of fruit wrapped in soft rice cake, often with sweet bean paste
- Dango: chewy rice flour dumplings served on a skewer
- Dorayaki: two small pancakes sandwiching sweet red bean paste
- Hojicha: green tea roasted until brown, with a toasty flavour
- Haori: a loose jacket worn over kimono, which Permanent Style reported among Furuki’s best sellers
- Boro: patched and mended indigo cotton, once the workwear of rural Japan
Getting to The Factory in Dalston and Riverside East in Stratford
The Factory is at 21 to 31 Shacklewell Lane, London E8 2DA, a six-minute walk from Dalston Kingsland station on the London Overground. The building is step free.
Stratford editions use Riverside East, 5 Thornton Street, London E20 2AD, beside the ArcelorMittal Orbit in Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park. It is about 12 minutes on foot from Stratford station. Entry is free at every Yokimono market, and children are welcome.
The Factory Dalston
Questions about Yokimono Japanese Market
When is the next Yokimono market?
The Japanese Sample Sale runs at The Factory in Dalston on 7 and 8 November 2026, from 11am to 5pm. The Christmas Market follows at the same venue on 5 and 6 December 2026.
Is Yokimono Japanese Market free?
Yes. Entry is free, and the organiser asks visitors to register on Eventbrite. Workshops are booked and paid for separately.
What does Yokimono mean?
Yokimono (よきもの) means “good things” in Japanese, which is how the market describes the food, craft and culture it brings together.
Where is Yokimono held?
Most markets take place at The Factory in Dalston, home of the organiser’s kimono shop. The spring editions in 2025 and 2026 used Riverside East in Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park, and in July 2025 the market appeared at the Royal Festival Hall.
Can I bring my dog?
Yes. Friendly dogs on a lead are welcome.
Is there a Japanese market in London every month?
Yokimono runs several times a year. The Shōtengai market at Coal Drops Yard in King’s Cross runs monthly, and Nishi Market launched in Shepherd’s Bush in August 2026.
To go to the sale, register for free entry on Eventbrite, and follow Yokimono on Instagram, where new dates appear first.
