A Kimono Photo Shoot in Tokyo

My husband and I recently celebrated our 5th wedding anniversary and wanted to get some special photos to remember the occasion. Through a friend, I found out about the service of inkimono that offers Kimono photo shooting experiences for couples and singles in Tokyo.

Our anniversary was in February but we decided to wait until March because it is usually still quite cold in February and in March you can get photos with the cherry blossoms.

Inkimono is managed by Stasia from Poland. She does most of the work alone. She picks out outfits from her kimono collection, dresses you up, styles your hair, takes the photos, and edits them as well. Only if you request professional makeup, she will hire a makeup artist for the day.

We had a really nice experience. I told her what kind of style we are looking for based on pictures she posted on her social media and she picked out very cool outfits for the both of us. Before the dressing, she will give you a brief lecture about the history of kimono as well.

I usually do not wear kimono a lot and the last time was for our wedding photos. On that day I started to feel unwell after about 30 minutes, but when I was dressed by Stasia I was fine walking around in the kimono for a while. It might be because it was a different type of kimono or maybe she has a way of dressing that feels more comfortable. Nevertheless, I still wonder how people eat when wearing a kimono because there is not much space for a full tummy!

She also did my hair just as I requested. Even though I don’t have very much volume and thin hair she managed to pull off of an up-style with volume that looked very nice. The makeup artist was really friendly too and is a native English speaker, in case you worry about communication. She did a western-style make up for me.

Stasia speaks perfect English and Japanese so you can have the experience in either of those languages or a combination of both which is perfect for international couples. The photos were taken at a shrine close to the location of Stasia's shop in Asakusa and in a park with lots of cherry blossoms. Unfortunately, it started raining right after we left the store even though the weather forecast had said "cloudy" but Stasia had bought an umbrella just in case so we were safe.

Her instructions were easy to follow but sometimes she switched between Japanese and English which was OK for me but a little hard to follow for my husband. We have not yet received the photos, but I am pretty sure they will be great based on the other photoshoots she posted on her social media so far. Here are some selfies of my outfit and hair and makeup.

I wore a vintage kimono from the 1950s with some fancy accessories and hair decorations. The whole experience took about five hours. As you can’t eat during that time, either eat enough for breakfast or bring some quick snacks.

According to the plan we will get about 35 photos. Stasia took couple photos and individual photos, too.

For the whole experience including the lecture, renting the kimono, dressing, hair and makeup we paid slightly over 55,000 yen. Compared to what we paid for our wedding photos this is extremely reasonable and we got fewer photos at that time. It is understandable that Stasia decided to increase her prices starting from May but even with the new prices I still think it would be hard to find a place that offers the same experience with the same quality for cheaper.

As for negative aspects, I could only list one. Even though we had booked the shooting for 10:30 on the evening of the previous day I got a message to be there at 9.45. Which was OK but in general I prefer to receive e-mails regarding a change in schedule at least a few days in advance because I am not really a flexible person. But I guess sakura seasons it extremely busy for photographers so that can't be helped and after all, she does most of the work alone.

If you are planning to take some special photos for a special occasion or if you just want to experience wearing a kimono that was personally styled for you and have pictures to remember it,  inkimono is the place to go especially if you are not very comfortable talking Japanese and prefer communication in English. Also, unlike the touristy places, you get to wear real authentic vintage kimono. In summer yukata experiences are available, too.

Have you done a Kimono photo shooting before? How was your experience?