Ingenious, well-designed stuff you didn't even know you needed awaits at Japan's equivalent of the dollar store. Treasures to be had include these fruit-shaped sponges at Can Do. (Andrew Bender, Andrew Bender / June 25, 2010)
In this shopping-mad country, the latest craze is the 100-yen store. For a little more than a dollar, savvy consumers can stock up on everything from origami paper to banana cases to milk carton-shaped erasers.
Reporting from Tokyo
The Japanese are legendary shoppers, paying top prices from Honolulu to Helsinki for gifts and adornments. In Tokyo, a walk through the department stores and Pritzker Prize-winner-designed boutiques in the Ginza and Omote-Sando districts is enough to make one wonder, "What Japanese recession?"
Look closer, however, and you'll discover another breed of shop where consumers, from Japan and increasingly from overseas, hunt for everyday treasures. Maybe because of the recession, or maybe because even Japanese consumers know a good deal when they see one, 100-yen shops — Japan's equivalent of the dollar store — are booming. People may window-shop for fashions, but they actually shop at 100-yen stores.
A single 100-yen coin (plus an additional 5 yen for tax, totaling about $1.15) buys you more than just plastic tchotchkes. At 100-yen shops you'll find ingenious, well-designed goods you probably didn't know you needed. Sixty dollars can outfit a kitchen (with teacups, rice bowls, chopsticks and strainers, sponges shaped like kittens, and graters for daikon and wasabi), laundry room (with hampers and hangers) and office (with pens, paper and boxes to hold them), with funds leftover to spoil the kids (toys, elegantly patterned origami paper and erasers shaped like mini-milk cartons or tiny bowls of ramen).
Virtually every Japanese city has a 100-yen shop, and Tokyo has many. The ojiisan (granddaddy) of them all is the Daiso in Harajuku, the neighborhood better known for teenagers and twentysomethings who dress like anime characters and pose on the bridge by the train station.
At four stories and more than 10,500 square feet, the Harajuku Daiso is gigantic by Japanese standards. The trendiest items tend to be on the ground floor — goods as diverse as decorative baskets and button-down shirts — though some of these items cost up to 525 yen, or about $5.75. Upstairs, you can accessorize with lace, ribbons, buttons and rolls of felt. The nearby pet section offers treats and toys, leashes and vacuum-packed vittles in flavors such as sasami (chicken breast) and kabocha (winter squash).
The Daiso's third floor is the 100-yen shops' answer to the Container Store: bins, buckets and baskets; containers folders and holders for paper clips, pencils and pens; stationery and supplies. Ask for advice, though, before buying those chic-looking gift envelopes tied with fancy papier-mâché thread — they're used to hold money for different occasions, and you don't want to show up at a wedding with an envelope meant for a funeral.
As in the grand department stores of Ginza, the basement at the Harajuku Daiso is all about food, but here it's packaged. Besides familiar snacks such as peanuts, potato chips and chocolates, it's a low-cost opportunity to try Japanese treats such as sembei (rice crackers), dried iwashi (sardines) or dried ika (squid).
Another centrally located 100-yen shop is Can Do, across the street from the Grand Hyatt in Tokyo's fashionable Roppongi Hills complex. It's much smaller than the Daiso, but it covers the same basics, plus specialty items such as yude tamagokko (molds that turn hard-boiled eggs into white bunnies, fish, cars and teddy bears) and banana cases, which prevent the fruit from turning brown in your briefcase or backpack.
Japan's other big tourist destination, Kyoto, has no fewer than five 100-yen shops in its central shopping district. At the Meets store, above the Segami drugstore in the Nishiki food market arcade, there's a selection of slippers, essential in Japanese homes, and techie goods such as USB cables that sell stateside for many times the price. Other unique items include candles for Buddhist altars, which are appropriate in a city with about 2,000 temples and shrines.
The Daiso has a branch in Kyoto, on the central Teramachi shopping street, although this two-story shop feels cramped and a bit dingy compared with its Harajuku cousin. Still, the tiny soy sauce containers shaped like animals were darned-near irresistible. Down the block, Can Do has an affiliate store, Le Plus, where I discovered the Always Smile line of flatware, with faces cut out from the handles, bento boxes to use them with, neckties and rattan boxes, and the bright-hued Color Plus line of bathroom accessories.
If stuff for 100 yen is good, stuff for 300 yen ($3.28) must be better. Apparently this is the thinking behind 3 Coins, a short walk north of Le Plus. It's three times the price, and three times the sense and sensibility. It's also very girlie, with lots of pink and candy colors, polka dots and animal shapes, so dudes might be happier waiting outside. Inside, though, shoppers can find their fill of padded hangers, lacey placemats, floral-print thermal bags, knit socks in geometric stripes and patterns, and knick-knacks painted with country French motifs.
All that, and you've barely dented your duty-free exemption.
Before talking about the ways to meet Geisha, let me explain a little about Maiko and Geiko, the terms used to refer to Geisha in my hometown of Kyoto. Kyoto is known as the historical former capital of Japan which has over a thousand years history. There remain a hundred Maiko, apprentice Geisha, and 200 Geiko, matured Geisha. A Maiko is under 20, usually starting her career as young as 15 to be a professional in Japanese traditional culture and entertainment. Both Maiko and Geiko go to a special school to learn Japanese culture such as tea ceremony, flower arrangement, Japanese traditional music and dance. Maiko are professional artists, yet their charm is in their youth and immaturity. Their appearance emphasizes their youth. For example, they tuck their sleeves in at the shoulder like a child. When they turn 20 and are acknowledged to be skillful in art and service, they become Geiko. They are usually mature enough to listen and talk to the guest and required a higher level of artistry.
Still too expensive? Then the only way to see Geisha is to go to the Gion area and wish for good luck. Gion is where Maiko and Geiko live, so you may come across a Geisha moving from one banquet to another by chance. Hanami-koji, the street in front of Gion Corner, would be good place to wait and see. Be careful not to mistake tourists making up themselves as a Geisha for the real thing!
If you want to meet Geisha privately, or you want a more authentic experience, why don't you try Ochaya-asobi, visiting a real teahouse (traditional banquet house)? For a long time, teahouses didn't accept guests without references from other clients because of security and to maintain their service level, which means it was very hard to get in for a foreign guest. But they have come to open their door to guests recently. If you plan to stay at a five star hotel such as Hyatt Regency Kyoto, The Westin Miyako Hotel Kyoto, Kyoto Hotel Okura, Kyoto Brighton Hotel, or one of the nicest ryokans called Hiiragiya, then you can ask the concierge for assistance. They will make arrangements for Ochaya (teahouses) with which they have contact.
