Import Shop

If you can't see the video, please go here: http://youtu.be/BqPjVhszfNo 

When you've been in Japan for a while, or if you spend a lot of time cooking, you may find yourself craving some of the ingredients from back home, some of those things that Japan just doesn't have. You'll be very surprised at a Japanese person's reaction to beans on toast, for example. Don't despair at the differences though. There is an answer, and no, it's not smuggling canned goods back into the country or having your mum post you suspicious looking packages of baking flour. Go to the import shop!

The import shop is not a building that has been carried over from another country 'Up' stylee. No, it is in fact, a shop that is full of imports, much like a paper factory isn't made of paper either. Crazy, I know.

Inside, you can find allsorts of things. A lot of them will be from your home country, but most of them will be from other countries because, as much as it may shock Americans especially to hear this, there are other countries out there. Did you think you had just wandered into Chinatown or something? Take a look at our video above to see exactly what one import shop in Sendai has for sale, but rest assured that if you want something, you can probably find it there.

It's actually a very good place for cross cultural communication. For example, when I was growing up I loved Pez. However, they stopped selling them in the UK long ago and so I wasn't able to get any for quite a while (though I did have some willing American friends who sent me a few). Now, in Japan, I can go to the import shop and get plenty of Pez, though they are usually Disney, Hello Kitty or Thomas the Tank Engine for some reason. I'm still searching for that monkey pez. Hint, super strong hint. So it allows us to get items from other countries. Great for lovers of real Indian curry, mexican food and gravy!

There are two main import chain stores in Japan. The first is Jupiter, shown in the video. They have a lot of snacks, sweets and cooking ingredients. The other chain is Kaldei Coffee, which, wouldn't you know it, have a large selection of coffee. They also do gift wrapped selections for special holidays and events, and you can have a free cup of coffee to drink as you wander around the store. I often wander around just to get the free coffee, and I don't even like coffee!

So, don't worry too much. If you are craving something in Japan, you can get it from the right place, but it might be a little more expensive. Don't buy regular Japanese stuff here!  I also still recommend that you bring as much toothpaste and deodorant from home as you can. Those are terribly weak in Japan.

The Hundred Yen Store

If you can't see the video above, please go here: http://youtu.be/2yGp9hsp-ac

What can I say about this blog entry that hasn't already been said? Well, pretty much everything, because I haven't said anything yet. All I need to say is very short though. If you come to Japan and there is something you need to buy, go to the hundred yen store. I'm not even going to ask you what it is you want. Just go.

The hundred yen store, as you can see in the video, has pretty much everything. Okay, they have been short of nuclear powered time-travelling robot maids suspiciously often, but you will not believe the range of goods this shop sells. Everything from snacks and ready meals, to party hats and money tins, from garden hoes  and pet collars, to stationary and kitchen cleaners, it's there.

Now you might think that not every hundred yen store is as big as the one we explore in the video, and you would be right, but don't worry because even the smallest store has an amazing variety of goodies. In terms of storage, it's as close as we'll get to Doraemon's 4th dimensional pocket for at least a century. 

You might also be thinking that all the bargain store goods are cheap rubbish. Fear not. Although there is undoubtedly better quality goods from a brand store or specialist, the quality of these items is well beyond what a layman might need. It is also well beyond the (frankly speaking) shitty bargain stores in the west.

As such, the hundred yen store is the perfect place to go when you first move to Japan. It will have everything you need to furnish your home at a reasonable price and will save you a lot of time, energy and money. Of course, if you stay in Japan and explore your city, you will find better specialised stores with their own bargains and advantages, but until you have that time, 100 yen store it is! I visited there almost every day when I first came here and I still go there often when there is a little household knick knack I need or a cheap prize for students.

Have you ever been to a 100 yen store? What's the strangest thing you saw there?

What can you buy in Japanese convenience stores?

If you can't see the video, go here: http://youtu.be/6Wa94Rpslpo

A convenience store is probably the second or third building you will go into when you arrive in Japan. The first being the airport, the second possibly a hostel or hotel, just incase you wanted to test me. They are everywhere, so you won't have any trouble finding them, and they are reasonably priced - though a little more expensive than the shops that will end up being your locals if you stay here. The other benefit is they sell pretty much everything, and there are a few other things you can do there that you might be surprised to hear.

Before I reel off a list that will drop your jaw faster than a naked supermodel, I just want to say that we are not endorsed nor do we support any particular brand, we are just providing information of services available. However, if any convenience company wants to give us money please get in touch we'll be glad to alleviate you of cash for advertising. Also, if any of these "surprising things" are no longer surprising because you have them in America now, or whatever, then I apologise but they don't as far as I know, and didn't when I was there. 

The video above shows just about everything that is in the store, but let me list the essentials. In a Japanese convenience store you can: 

• Buy Food: Kinda obvious, but it's true. You can buy snack foods from potato chips to dried squid, ice cream to frozen chips, rice balls to fresh fruit. There's prepared meals which just need a minute in the microwave to get you going (they will even ask you if you want it heated in store). There's sweets like chocolates and super sour fruit gums, but be careful because the packets are very small. They also have fried food like hot dogs and meat buns (nikuman) kept warm in a glass case that is possibly fuelled by the burning souls of disrespectful customers, but Japan is pretty short of those so I guess not. 

• Read comics and magazines for free: A convenience store is like a library. People go in there and flick through the magazines, read all the comics and then leave. They sell all sorts too. From kids manga and puzzles to study books, style mags to young adult manga complete with bikini model shots and no holds barred porn. It's all right on the shelf on the same level with a wide range of fetishes, real women and cartoon... not that I know anything about that, but if you can't find what you want, check on the shelf under the main displays. They have even more there. Ahem. 

• Buy seasonal gear: Depending on the current time of year, convenience stores will have a small section devoted to surviving. In winter they sell cheap hats, gloves, scarves and pocket heaters. In  summer they sell hand fans, folding fans, cooling gel and other things to get through the heat. It can be good, and I've used it when I've lost gloves on the way home. Just don't go in their expecting fashion. Your choices are normally black or black. You can always get a cheap umbrella or cover-all to protect from a sudden rainstorm too! 

• Buy DVDs: They have some older, cheap movies by the entrance, but some new, fancy ones (and Adult Video) behind the counter. Just ask the clerk! I know you won't! 

• Go to the toilet: Yes! conbini's (conveniences stores) have public toilets that you are allowed to use without having to worry about the formality of having to buy anything in store! Genius! If you are lucky, they may even have a heated seat.

• Bank: There will always be an ATM. They do all the things that western ATMs do and also deposits! I don't remember all western ATMs doing that. Just be careful, they will charge you for withdrawing money, about 100 yen or double that if it's a holiday. However, if you have an account with Shinsei bank, the online bank, it's completely free all the time. So guess who I have an account with. This is all extra awesome because bank's ATMs are rubbish in Japan and access is usually restricted after 7pm (defeating the whole point of having an ATM, stupid Japan) but conbinis are sometimes open 24 hours, at least until 11pm anyway.

• Pay Bills: Through the post, for gas, water, electric, tax, health insurance, your internet and probably your mobile phone (depending on carrier) you will get a paper slip that you can take to the conbini. They will stamp it, ask you to press a button and take your money. Bill is paid! Go home and rest! Some places will not take payments for tax or insurance though. Kill them. Burn their souls and eat their children.

• Make online payments: This is my absolute favorite! I've been trying to get a credit card in Japan since I got here 4 years ago and I have never succeeded. For why I do not know. I also refuse to use my UK card because the bank transfer fees to pay the bill are almost as much as the credit card bill. So, I was delighted to discover that in Japan you can buy something online and then choose to pay for it at a conbini. The company will email you a code, you take it to the conbini and show it to the clerk or input it into the computer like machine by the ATM and it will print a receipt. Show that to the clerk and then pay your money. Then you just wait for your delivery, or if it's tickets, the clerk will give you them on the spot. 

• Buy tickets: On the same computer like machines, you can search for bus tickets, plane tickets, concert tickets, lots more and you can buy them there and then. It's really fantastic. I've used it 5 times for concert tickets (4 times for the same band) and no fails. 

• Photocopy/fax: There is copy machine that's coin operated and it usually has fax capability and an English language option. It's great if you forget an important document after leaving work. 

So Japanese convenience stores are truly convenient. The only problems I have ever had with them are when they are on the other side of the road... or when Nat almost choked on some plastic in an onigiri. And oh my, how cute. My cat is playfully clawing at my fingers as I type so I want to keep typing rubbish just so she'll carry on playing with me. She is so furry! 

Oh well, this will be boring for you guys. So I'll stop and play with my kitten properly. No that is not a euphemism  Get your mind out of the gutter. There isn't room for the both of us.

So why don't you tell me the best thing you ever found at a convenience store. What was it?