kleine dingen — how it started

kleine dingen is a small shop curating daily objects from small workshops and independent artisans in Japan, and we just had our very first market in Groningen in June 2026.

Today, I'd like to share the story of how kleine dingen came to be.

What I found in Groningen: a life that cares for the ordinary

When I moved to Groningen from Tokyo, I was immediately drawn to life here.
Nature is protected, people shop at markets, Sunday mornings are spent slowly at home.
There was something about the way ordinary days were cherished.

At the same time, I found myself spending most of my days in front of a screen: working online, keeping up with friends back in Japan through messages, having more and more conversations with AI.

At some point, it started to feel like my life was happening somewhere slightly unreal. I wanted to change that.

Logo of kleine dingen

The longer I lived in the Netherlands, the more interested I became in the craftsmanship of Japanese artisans and the beauty of the objects used in everyday life in Japan. I wanted to share that with the people I was meeting here.

That's why I started kleine dingen: to share the unique, beautiful objects made by Japanese artisans. And for me, it's also a way to meet people here and build real connections.

Every object I carry is made by someone's hands. You can feel the maker behind them.

And I've believed that when I know a little about who made the thing I use every day, I treat it differently. My ordinary moments become a little more special.

"kleine dingen" means "small things" in Dutch. I chose the name because the life in the Netherlands made me realize the importance of caring for the small things in daily life.

And I realised this was very close to something I had been taught as a child in Japan, but had almost forgotten. In Japan, there's an ancient idea called Yaoyorozu no Kami — the eight million gods — the belief that a spirit lives in everything: mountains, rivers, the sea, a house, even a single grain of rice. Growing up, I was told to eat every grain, because a god lives in each one.

Discovering this idea shared between the Netherlands and Japan, I want kleine dingen to be a place where I share these daily objects born in Japan.