Thursday, January 8, 2009

Organizers' Paradise!

In 2001, when I visited Andy for a week (who was then in Tokyo for a 3-month research), he took me to different sites - Disneyland, museums, parks... and the 100 yen shops! There were so many of them, it seems in each train station we get off, there's a 100 yen shop - some huge, some modest. There you'll find things that you need and things that look so nice yet you absolutely don't need. Home and office materials, food (miso soup, nori, soy sauce, crackers...), cutesy things, tea sets, storage items... just about everything - each for 100 yen. I really enjoyed spending hours (yes, hours) just going around and looking and convincing myself if I need/ don't need the things I see.

Just about 3 or 4 years ago, we discovered the Japan Home Center at Robinson's Manila - a place akin to the 100 yen shops in Japan (but smaller) and sells everything for PhP88 each. I think in most (maybe all?) Robinson's malls, there's a Japan Home Center. There's also one in Trinoma. Recently, we discovered a partner company of Japan Homes, the Daiso, a cheaper place where items are sold at Php66/ PhP55 each. Thus far, we've seen two Daiso shops - one in the new Walter Mart (Munoz) and another in Greenhills Shopping Center. Of course there are some slight differences in quality but I enjoy checking out the items in both shops. What I like about them is that their items are not the usual products you'll see in supermarts, hardwares, and kitchenwares shops - and most of the items are meant to help one reduce the clutter and maximize-organize available space/s. For instance I got for myself a filing case (assemble-yourself) that when put together creates 3 cases. Likewise, I got a magazine rack (again, assemble-yourself) that now doubles as holder of my thick documents and/or old students' papers.

They also have materials that address concerns at home that we usually take for granted. For example, the contents of an unfinished bag of potato chips or bread usually go stale when exposed to air and thus we throw them away -- they have plastic clips or "sealers" to address this concern (see picture for sample). I find this very useful esp. with kids who open bag after bag of food goodies at home (10 clips in a pack for P88). They have kids' clothes-hanger (20 pcs per bundle), computer keyboard duster (like a make-up brush but softer - and comes in bright orange or neon green!), a mousepad with a gel-like cushion serving as wrist-rest, cute "baon" bags with silver-pad-lining inside to keep the food hot/cold (similar to the one used in packaging fresh fish when travelling), chopsticks' rest, sashimi plates, nabe pots, glass pot covers, (even knobs of pot covers!) etc.

Everytime I visit their shop(s), I end up buying a lot of things that really look nice - some I can live without but still enjoy having anyway (like this tissue box cover :-) I recommend that you check them out.

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