Help Center

Products shown online can be seen and purchased at our brick and mortar location at 12701 - 12705 Venice Blvd, Los Angeles CA 90066.

A larger selection of products are available in-store so please come and visit us!

We do our best to carry unique, well-designed products from all over Japan, and oftentimes these products are handmade or produced in very limited quantity.  Due to the demand, when an item goes out of stock, it may take weeks to several months for items to come back into our stores.  

For this reason, we do our best to notify our customers when items are re-stocked and available again.

Please contact us directly, either by phone or email, if there is an out of stock item you are interested in purchasing.  We are happy to notify you when the item is back in stock.   

Yes!

Gift wrap services can be provided with the purchase of a $5 gift wrap fee per item.

Please be sure and click the box that says 'gift wrap' when you drop your item into your shopping cart and include a gift message if you are so inclined!  

If you are purchasing multiple items and only a select few need to be gift-wrapped (or if you have any special instructions about the items that need to be wrapped), please be sure and leave us a note specifying your needs when you're checking out!

All 'tortoise / tortoise hasami porcelain store / tortoise general store' products have a close relationship and connection with Japan.  

Many products are designed and made in Japan, while others are designed in Japan then produced outside of Japan. We are also proud to carry a growing number of products designed and made beautifully by local Japanese makers.  

Our store's founding commitment since we opened in 2003 has been to bring interesting and compelling stories from Japan to our customer.

There are still many Japanese products we have yet to find so we will keep this concept for many years to come!

We ship our products with UPS ground throughout the lower 48 states.  

Any orders placed during our regular business hours (10am to 6pm Tue-Sat and 12pm to 5pm Sun) typically ship out next business day - except on weekends. 

Our store is closed MONDAY so orders placed after Thursday 3pm to Sunday 6pm will ship out Tuesday afternoon. 

Orders to any of the lower 48 states that exceed $100 (excluding tax) are eligible for free shipping with UPS Ground.

Orders to any of the lower 48 states under $100 (excluding tax) will be charged a flat rate of $10 with UPS Ground.

Orders to Hawaii and Alaska can be shipped with UPS, but processed and charged manually over the phone or by email.  Please contact us during our store hours for assistance.

We are currently unable to send any packages with express UPS shipping.  We apologize for the inconvenience.

Unfortunately, no....

We only ship inside the United States.  We apologize for this inconvenience.

Yes, we ship to Hawaii and Alaska, but we will process your orders manually over the phone or by email.  Please call or email us during our store hours and we will be happy to assist you.

Yes.  

Before shipping we will always check the condition of the item to ensure all products are un-damaged before shipping.

If you receive a damaged item, please let us know within 48 hours of its arrival, by phone or by email, so we can be of assistance.  

It is important to keep 1. all original packing material, 2. the original box in which it was shipped and 3. the damaged item so all three components can be picked up by the responsible courier service for damage inspection.  

Unless these conditions above are followed, Tortoise is not able to take responsibility for any damages.

Our return policy for online items ONLY is the following: 

Most products (excluding FINAL sale items such as stationary, books, art pieces, vintage items, food items, workshop admission, gift cards and jewelry) can be returned for either: a refund (minus a 20% restocking fee) OR store credit if returned within 14 days of purchase, in original un-used condition with all original packaging.

Store credits are good for a period of 12 months following issuance.

Customers are responsible for any and all shipping fees for the return and exchange of items.  A 20% restocking fee (with a minimum charge of $10) will be charged upon issuance of a refund, however items returned for store credit (and not a refund) will not be charged a restocking fee.  The full amount of your purchase will be returned as store credit if the items are returned according to the conditions outlined above.