Monday, May 02, 2005

Funbargainbash in Funabashi

From the street, you'd walk right by this unremarkable shop in Tokyo's Funabashi suburb. But don't judge a building by its edifice. Inside delights even the casual bargain hunter: breathtaking bric-a-brac and household goods stretch as far as the imagination can dream. The seaweed on the rice ball: most items cost a measly 100 Yen. Think 94.4 cents store, but with a classier vibe than its American counterpart. Spanning seven floors makes this shop the largest of its kind in the region. For a coupon clipper like me, this was a plastic paradise found.

I squinted under the fluorescent lights. Multi-colored merchandise swirled before me. J-pop music massaged my eardrums. I lost myself in the impressive selection of neon-colored wastepaper baskets of all shapes and sizes. I flirted with donating a dozen to the municipal sanitation department for placement on street corners. I rode escalators ogling at an endless supply of essential items that on second thought maybe weren't so essential.

A week's salary could be well spent here. Okay, maybe I could live without gardening implements, but I snatched up pink Hello Kitty chopsticks, a Hello Kitty toilet paper roll holder, melon-scented glass cleaner, Kanji magnets of meanings unknown, no parking signs in Japanese, and a soy sauce bowl to prevent future spills onto my keyboard.

What didn't make the cut? Fake sunflowers and palm fronds, pet rodent cages, chicken wire, badminton rackets, beer funnels (maybe it was for gasoline?), plastic eggplants, safari hats, sumo wigs, ceramic tea sets, police vs. bad guyz action hero set, Mr. Shinkansen (bullet train) child scrub mitts, warship bath toys, tall boy cans of Coke, Hello Kitty everything, and pocket ashtrays emblazoned with the Statue of Liberty -- the ultimate accessory for the smoker on the go who has everything. Funabashi, you have not seen the last of me.

8 comments:

Anonymous said...

Oh how I envy you. I think I would have blew my paycheck AND vacation shopping at that store.

Anonymous said...

oh i love hello kitty!! so jealous!

Anonymous said...

Hey, I'm sure you'll go back again, but I really need nail clippers (the bigger toenail variety) and paper lanterns. How much is transcontinental shipping? ....probably not economical for 100 yen items.

Anonymous said...

Do they have hello kitty toilet scrubbers?

They make these great kitchen scrubbers in Japan called "That"

"That"' is their name.

They're fantastic, I got "that" in a 100 ¥ store in Vancouver.

Anonymous said...

it's scary, but i think i would've bought the fake sunflower AND the plastic eggplant...

ジェフリー said...

I didn't see any Hello Kitty toilet scrubbers, but didn't look too closely because that's actually one item my apartment came with. I doubt Sanrio would tarnish Ms. Kitty's image by featuring her on such a dirty tool.

I'm now taking orders for Hello Kitty and other Japanese $1 items for the next time I go...

Anonymous said...

as you may know from seeing my room, i LOVE miffy. she is a bunny from a ducth '50s cartoonist who resembles hello kitty, but is not in the sanrio family (she in fact was made at least 5 years before hello kitty was first created). however, a lot of japanese products incorporate her adorable visage.

if you find anything cool with her on it, please consider purchasing for me!

this is miffy:
http://www.u-blog.net/theFlyingRabbitAdventures/img/miffy.jpg

this is the easily mistakable look-a-like my melody (hello kitty's sanrio bunny friend -- imposter!):
http://www.geocities.com/lullaby_lambie/sanrio/melnew.gif

miffy also looks a hell of a lot like some other sanrio bunnies out there:
http://www.geocities.com/lullaby_lambie/sanrio/dcoro1.gif

http://www.dusko.net/hellokitty/index11.html

a few ways to tell the difference:
* sometimes, tho not always, miffy's ears are pointed, rather than rounded
* miffy merchandise is 99% primary colors + an ugly olive green. hello kitty stuff uses a lot more bright and pastel colors
* miffy usually just wears a simple shift dress -- hello kitty creatures wear stupid shit like overalls or evident pants.

now you have been informed. bring me only the miffy!

Anonymous said...

fyi -- ducth = dutch. harvard roolz.