BIG 100yen store
So I'm a sucker for a good deal. And I love the 100yen stores in Japan. The quality seems to be higher than what I find in dollar stores at home in the US, and the products they stock are amazing.
I'm a little obsessed, so naturally when I heard about a five-floor 100yen shop in Machida I had to go. We took the Odakyu line from Shinjuku station to Machida. On the rapid express train (only about 5 total stops, I think) it was a 29 minute ride. We missed the rapid express and took the express (6 or 7 stops) to Machida, with the ride taking 36 minutes. The train was not crowded, so Andrew sat in his stroller playing with his train and eating his smuggled-from-the-hotel dried papayas and I read my paperback.
From japan-guide.com...
Here are floors two through five. The first floor is under the canopy, and there is a basement floor grocery store that is NOT 100yen.
This didn't stop my anxiety about loading up my basket and getting to the front only to be confronted with a 10,000yen (approx $100) amount due because not everything was 100yen. So after wandering around a few minutes and stressing it all out in my head (I do that, ya know) I decided to buy a few things, confirm what I was stressed about, then back the bag into the stroller and re-enter the store.
Andrew and I found a toy area with lots of wooden Japanese toys. We had seen many of these at shrines we've visited and the prices were nowhere near 100yen. So these were good enough to try with. Of course, if I checked out and they weren't 100yen a piece I was going be seriously out of money.
Andrew chose 2 or 3 and placed them in the basket. We took them up to the cash register and the cashier counted the items (..."hitotsu, futatsu, mittsu..."), spoke in Japanese and put 315yen cost on the cash register! Yay! We paid our 315yen, bagged our products (at many Japanese grocery type stores, you receive a plastic bag in your basket and you are responsible for moving along after paying to a "packing table" and placing your own items in your bags. There are usually tape dispensers for taping the bag closed (this is definitely not something you see in the US) and boxes of newspapers for wrapping breakable goods.
We stepped out of the store, I packaged the bag down in the bottom of the stroller, and we bravely reintered, feeling like the cashiers were probably thinking, "what a weird gajin; but aren't they all?".
We explored the first floor all the way around, made our purchases and exited for the elevator.
The first floor had lots of decorative items for your home, as well as a mini grocery area with lots of candies, snacks, small meals, breads, drinks etc.
Next came floor two, which housed stationery, makeup, hair accessories, sports playthings (a set of 2 ping pong paddles and a ball, 8 miniature cones for sports play, swimming goggles, huge beach balls), lower-end work out stuff, purses and totebags, toys (oh joy!) and much more.
Floor three contained a larger selection of stationery items, a small stuffed animal area, more oriental decorations, and then a small book area. Andrew had picked out two Japanese board books and we were headed around the corner to check out when we saw it...
wooden trains and train tracks
There, in front of us, was a whole section dedicated to wooden trains and wooden tracks. Andrew dropped his books in the basket and took off running. I wish I had taken a picture of the selection. I was pleasantly suprised. You could purchase pieces of tracks (1 for 100yen or 3 for 200yen in a pack) and while the track would add up after a while to make a huge play area, the rest of the goodies are well worth the price of 100yen, in my opinion. There were packages of signs (three signs per pack), wooden buildings (hospital, fire station, etc), packages of people (three people per pack), bridge pieces to put on the tracks and then, best of all, wooden trains! These aren't Thomas engines, but c'mon! Did Andrew care at that moment? Nope!
He picked out 2 engines and 2 "matching" cars. One of them is a green and yellow engine pulling a zoo car holding a wooden elephant; very cute. I spent 1200yen (approx US$10.88) and finally had a toy that Andrew would LOVE to play with while he is here. The engines are perfect for our table at home, and I'm sure the wooden track pieces will come in handy one day.
I'm a little obsessed, so naturally when I heard about a five-floor 100yen shop in Machida I had to go. We took the Odakyu line from Shinjuku station to Machida. On the rapid express train (only about 5 total stops, I think) it was a 29 minute ride. We missed the rapid express and took the express (6 or 7 stops) to Machida, with the ride taking 36 minutes. The train was not crowded, so Andrew sat in his stroller playing with his train and eating his smuggled-from-the-hotel dried papayas and I read my paperback.
From japan-guide.com...
"100 Yen Shops (Japanese: hyaku en shop) sell a wide range of products for 105 Yen per item (100 Yen plus 5 percent consumption tax). This corresponds to roughly one US dollar per item, making the shops a great source for travelers and residents on a budget.
There are thousands of 100 Yen Shops across Japan, ranging in size from multi-storey "department stores" to small corners in shopping malls."
This place was so big, and I cannot read the signs to know for sure that I was at the right place! Taka had luckily "walked me by cell phone" through directions to the store from the station, and I confirmed characters from the signs with what he saw on the website to know that I was indeed at the huge 100yen shop.Here are floors two through five. The first floor is under the canopy, and there is a basement floor grocery store that is NOT 100yen.
This didn't stop my anxiety about loading up my basket and getting to the front only to be confronted with a 10,000yen (approx $100) amount due because not everything was 100yen. So after wandering around a few minutes and stressing it all out in my head (I do that, ya know) I decided to buy a few things, confirm what I was stressed about, then back the bag into the stroller and re-enter the store.
Andrew and I found a toy area with lots of wooden Japanese toys. We had seen many of these at shrines we've visited and the prices were nowhere near 100yen. So these were good enough to try with. Of course, if I checked out and they weren't 100yen a piece I was going be seriously out of money.
Andrew chose 2 or 3 and placed them in the basket. We took them up to the cash register and the cashier counted the items (..."hitotsu, futatsu, mittsu..."), spoke in Japanese and put 315yen cost on the cash register! Yay! We paid our 315yen, bagged our products (at many Japanese grocery type stores, you receive a plastic bag in your basket and you are responsible for moving along after paying to a "packing table" and placing your own items in your bags. There are usually tape dispensers for taping the bag closed (this is definitely not something you see in the US) and boxes of newspapers for wrapping breakable goods.
We stepped out of the store, I packaged the bag down in the bottom of the stroller, and we bravely reintered, feeling like the cashiers were probably thinking, "what a weird gajin; but aren't they all?".
We explored the first floor all the way around, made our purchases and exited for the elevator.
The first floor had lots of decorative items for your home, as well as a mini grocery area with lots of candies, snacks, small meals, breads, drinks etc.
Next came floor two, which housed stationery, makeup, hair accessories, sports playthings (a set of 2 ping pong paddles and a ball, 8 miniature cones for sports play, swimming goggles, huge beach balls), lower-end work out stuff, purses and totebags, toys (oh joy!) and much more.
Floor three contained a larger selection of stationery items, a small stuffed animal area, more oriental decorations, and then a small book area. Andrew had picked out two Japanese board books and we were headed around the corner to check out when we saw it...
There, in front of us, was a whole section dedicated to wooden trains and wooden tracks. Andrew dropped his books in the basket and took off running. I wish I had taken a picture of the selection. I was pleasantly suprised. You could purchase pieces of tracks (1 for 100yen or 3 for 200yen in a pack) and while the track would add up after a while to make a huge play area, the rest of the goodies are well worth the price of 100yen, in my opinion. There were packages of signs (three signs per pack), wooden buildings (hospital, fire station, etc), packages of people (three people per pack), bridge pieces to put on the tracks and then, best of all, wooden trains! These aren't Thomas engines, but c'mon! Did Andrew care at that moment? Nope!
He picked out 2 engines and 2 "matching" cars. One of them is a green and yellow engine pulling a zoo car holding a wooden elephant; very cute. I spent 1200yen (approx US$10.88) and finally had a toy that Andrew would LOVE to play with while he is here. The engines are perfect for our table at home, and I'm sure the wooden track pieces will come in handy one day.
posted by Rachel :-) | 11:27 PM
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