Bargain Shopping in Tokyo

The legend is true: everything is expensive in Tokyo. That is, if you don't know where to look. Being in Tokyo for more than 6 weeks now, I've discovered some places where you can find not- so-expensive items.

1. Musashi-Koyama: The shopping area covers the whole street. Available are food stalls, shoes, house items, beauty products, Kimono shops, dried fish.

How to go there: From Meguro station (see Nambuko/green line station N-01 or Mita/Royal blue line station I-01), take the Meguro line going to the direction of Ookayama. Musashi Koyama is just 2 stations away from Meguro station.

2. Sugamo: This is an old-people's gathering area. The street market is only available 3 times a month - in every date where you find the number 4 (i.e. every 4th, 14th, and 24th of the month). The stalls, of course, are there the whole year round, with products the same as in the Musashi-koyama shopping street. But the street-vendors that sprout during the "number-4" days of the month sell food items that are not available in the regular stalls - vegetables, fruits, pickled veggies, sweetened fruits, street food, powdered (dried) snake and turtle, and other cooking ingredients that I have no idea about.

How to go there: Take the Mita/Royal blue line (station I-15) or the JR Yamanote line (station Sugamo).

3. Okachimachi: The items you'll find here are are the same as Sugamo and Mushashi-Koyama except that here there are fresh meat items, mostly sea produce (different kinds of fish, crabs, octopus)

How to go there: Take the Oedo/ Pink line (station E-09), or the Ginza/ Orange line (station G-15) or Hibiya/ Gray line (station H-16), or the JR Yamanote line (station Okachimachi). The street-shopping area is actually just below the JR Yamanote train.

4. Ueno: One station away from Okachimachi is Ueno. In fact, the shopping street of Okachimachi and Ueno are connected so most of the items in both areas are the same. But it was in Ueno that I found a shop run by an old couple, and sells souvenirs that are reflective of the Japanese colors, images, and textures.

How to go there: Take the Ginza/ Orange line (station G-16), or Hibiya/ Gray line (station H-17) or the JR Yamanote line (station Keisei-Ueno).

5. Asakusa: This is also known as the Old Edo (Tokyo). The shopping area is the street that leads to the Asakusa shrine. So the idea is to shop before or after visiting the shrine. Most of the items that are found here are souvenir items, sweets, and street food.

How to go there: Take the Ginza/ Orange line (station G-19) or Asakusa/ Red Orange line (station A-18).

Asakusa Shrine

As mentioned, most of the items available in these areas are very similar with each other -and the good thing is the prices of the same-type-items are also standard, save of course for some.

The trick, therefore, is to find the needle in the hay stalk. There are some shops that stand out in these places, but one must be prepared to engage in the routine I call "walk and check, walk and check."

Happy shopping!

Our Floating Book Fair Experience

Filipinos really love books and discounts. Despite the scorching heat last Sunday of March 8, 2009, old and young book lovers queued to the Doulos Floating Book Fair 2009 at South Harbor Manila Pier 13.

We arrived a few minutes before 2pm but were not allowed inside the south harbor until 2pm. There were a lot of people outside waiting for the opening, too. At exactly 2pm, we were allowed in. It was realllllly hot and I really pity those who brought their kids but failed to bring an umbrella. The line was long and it took us about 15 to 20 mins under the sun (I can't say enough about the heat but it was really terrible for the kids).

When we finally got on-board, the bookstore was big but was really crowded. The entrance was small, and the aisle between bookshelves were tight. It actualy reminded me of my "rally/ mass action-days" in the 80's - hot, crowded, with everyone sweaty. You cannot spend time to browse books for long because you will be literally pushed forward by the crowd who are just coming in. The price of books? Almost the same as in our regular bookstore - although I think there was a 15% discount that Sunday for some who hold a coupon (how to get the coupon, I have no idea) - that probably explains the crowd, too.

I think our mistake was to go there at 2 pm (too excited!) - it's actually a nice bookstore and just the experience of being in a ship-bookstore is something else, much more if you learn about the history of the ship (it was built in 1914, just 2 years after the Titanic). It has travelled in all corners of the world, and just that idea - that you're in a ship that has visited so many areas, and that you are looking at the same books and in the same ship just as the thousand others from different countries who also visited Doulos - is already monumental. Further, the dedication of the young volunteers from different parts of the world who run Doulos is also something that inspires.

I guess the best time to go to this bookstore is in the evening - then you can really appreciate the ambiance of being in a ship and surrounded by all sorts of books.

We got books for the kids. Geof is eager to watch the CD about MV Doulos history, and Julia has opened all her books. For me and Andy? Our best buy is the "Buy 3 books for P200.00" at a special section of the fair and you get a free Doulos bag. The 3 books we bought were Relic Quest and Ark Fever by Robert Cornuke - these are two story accounts of one man's pursuit of the lost ark of the covenant and Noah's ark. The third book is Jake Thoene's Shaton's Fire, a book about waging war on terror.

The Doulos Book Fair runs in Manila on March 5-31, 2009. Ship Location: Gate 1, South Harbor, Manila Pier 13 (Near Manila Hotel). Learn more about the ship MV Doulos at the website and try the virtual tour.

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.