My Amazon Loophole for Japanese Glassware
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I found out about Toyo Sasaki glassware the old-fashioned way: by breaking one of my friend and then-roommate Celine Wong Katzman’s glasses and setting out to replace it. She had a set of the brand’s squat rocks glasses, and the cheapest place I could find the same style was Atkinson’s of Vancouver, a bougie home-goods store that also sells a Baccarat crystal chandelier. The glasses were perfect — airy and unfussy. I loved them, but although they were cheap compared to crystal chandeliers, they were too expensive for a daily driver, so I resigned them to the corner of my mind for nice stuff that was out of my price range.
A couple years later, I needed drinking glasses and kept coming back to Toyo Sasaki’s Usurai tumblers: Nothing else came close. A set of six cost around $100 from U.S. retailers like Heath Ceramics and Jinen, too much for something I would mostly use for water. But then I discovered a workaround: The same set cost $45 from Amazon Japan, which operates as a seller on American Amazon. (You’ll see “Amazon Japan” listed as the seller underneath the buy button.) Shipping is free, circumventing both the U.S. boutique markup and the cost of international postage. (And it’s fairly quick — in my experience, the glasses arrived within two weeks of ordering.) Since then, I’ve used the loophole multiple times. There are often low-stock indicators, but take those with a grain of salt. I haven’t seen anything go permanently out of stock, and my beloved Usurai glass tumblers have been consistently available at the same price for the past two years.
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Toyo Sasaki Usurai Glass Tumbler
These are the first Toyo Sasaki glasses I bought on Amazon, replacements for a set of LSA Canopy glasses that shattered when you breathed in their direction. By comparison, the Usurai tumblers are lighter, thinner, and much more durable — user error alone is to blame for the couple I’ve broken in the past two years. When I moved in with my partner last year, an extra set of these glasses were one of my first purchases.
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Toyo Sasaki Silk Line Glass Tumbler
A similar, slightly less expensive set of tumblers from the brand’s Silk line, which has a slightly thicker base than the Usurai.
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Toyo Sasaki Stackable Glass Tumbler
I’ve lost a couple of the Usurai tumblers above; after five years with these thicker-walled stackable glasses, I’ve broken exactly zero, and I’ve definitely dropped one on the kitchen floor. They’re the perfect size for juice and kombucha, and I also use them for cocktails and wine.
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Toyo Sasaki Coupes
I replaced a set of Bormioli Rocco Novecento cocktail glasses with these coupes, which are somehow both more delicate and less fussy. (I also noticed them at Cervo’s.)
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Toyo Sasaki Basel Dessert Glass
The cutest little glass dessert cups for $6.50 each, which are HomeGoods prices.
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A set of minimalist beer glasses at the opposite end of the spectrum from a thick glass stein.
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Toyo Sasaki Food Storage Container
Some stackable food-storage containers for those cutting down on plastics in their kitchen.
More of my favorite glassware
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