Prison Product Store and Showroom 刑務所作業製品展示 販売ルーム Nakano Ward, Tokyo 中野区,東京
Pinned up to a wall at the Japan Prison Store in Tokyo, you can see a map indicating the locations of Japan’s 67 prisons. Every prefecture has at least one, some of the more populous have two. Hokkaido however is home to seven of them, the most famous being Abashiri Prison in the far northeast.
It’s a basic rule that a) every able-bodied inmate in all Japanese prisons has to work and b) that that work must be productive and commercially viable. Prison work is not supposed to be shoveling sand from here to there and back just for the sake of keeping the prisoners busy.
Most of the work performed is done for commercial enterprises that outsource jobs to the penitentiaries. Some correctional facilities operate farms, their products are sold on the local markets.
In addition, all Japanese prisons run crafts workshops. Those are designed to fill in the gaps between orders from outside companies and, at the same time, provide inmates with skills in traditional crafts.
Prison Products
Some products of those workshops are sold at the respective prison souvenir shops, usually found right outside the prison gate.
A Tokyo company named CAPIC is in charge of selling the prison workshop goods from all Japanese penitentiaries on a wholesale scale.
On the ground floor of its headquarters in Tokyo’s Nakano Ward, CAPIC operates a shop that serves both as a straight sales outlet for smaller goods in small quantities as well as a showroom for prison-made furniture.
Prison Store
Entering the store, you first spot a rack with Maekake, blue aprons emblazoned with the character 獄 (short for 監獄 kangoku)、the old Japanese word for jail, and the English word PRISON. They were made in the Hakodate Short Term Jail in Hakodate, Hokkaido, and at first glance appear more like a well-placed optic introduction to the store’s theme. But actually, according to Mr. Kinoshita, the section chief overseeing the store, they sell rather well.
Walking further in, you will find a wide array of products ranging from letter pads to artfully crafted chopsticks to glass, pottery, and lacquer wares. Signs point out in which prison the respective product has been manufactured.
If you have a special interest in a prison from a particular area, just ask the clerks on duty and they will happily present you with whatever that particular prison workshop produces.
Shoes have their own large section, and plenty of bags and purses are on offer, all of them hand-made of course.
Venturing into the back of the store, you enter the furniture section. Most impressive here is the traditional Japanese furniture presented. These are real works of art – perhaps putting the fine-tuned fingertips of lock-pickers and safe-crackers to good creative work.
The price tag on them is accordingly heavy though most likely cheaper than buying the same type of artisanal furniture from a reputable traditional craftsman’s workshop.
Next to the cash register, you find the goods most commonly bought by casual visitors to the store. Soap is advertised as the number one seller. Udon noodles are also popular as are glue sticks.
Unfortunately but quite predictably, prison-made sake is not on offer.
Realistic Japanese Prison Film
If you want to know more about the conditions under which those prison products are made, check out Yoichi Sai’s very realistic 2002 prison film Doing Time (刑務所の中). It is based on the real prison experience of manga artist Kazuichi Hanawa. You will see no sadistic wardens, no violence, and no prison rape in that film. In fact, there is nothing sensational featured at all. Just the details of daily life in a Hokkaido prison (Abashiri), the routine, the meticulous daily cleaning, the daily work, and the small perks coming through from time to time for the best of the workers: such as the rare treat of a small sweet or an hour of TV watching time.
Japanese correctional facilities are certainly strict and the life of the inmates is extremely regulated. But by most accounts, Japanese prison authorities seem to successfully suppress virtually all inmate-on-inmate violence. The violent gang activities plaguing American prisons are unheard of in Japan.
Doing Time is available on Amazon.
Access
Address of the Prison Product Store and Showroom
刑務所作業製品展示 販売ルーム
Keimushyo sagyou seihin tenji hanbai room
Araii 3-37-2
Nakano-ku
Tokyo 165-0026
Tel: 03 3319 0676
Opening times: 9.30 am-5 pm
Closed on Sunday, Monday, and on public holidays
CAPIC prison goods online store: www.e-capic.com (in Japanese)
Getting There
Seibu Shinjuku Line to Numabukuro Station, use the South Exit, then walk straight down Heiwakoendori. The store is on the right side of the street shortly after Heiwakoen (Peace Park). About 7 minutes walk.
JR Chuo Line to Nakano Station, use North Exit. Turn left outside the exit, then turn right after passing the Nakano Ward Office. Walk straight north from there. About 15 minutes walk.
Johannes Schonherr
Japan Prisons Related
Tokyo Detention House Festival
If you wish to purchase an item from the Prison Store in Tokyo please contact our shop.
