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She
Loves to Shop...
 She
loves antiques...
In my city, Nagoya, there is an excellent
area for picking up used and antique kimonos, clothes, and furniture.
The area is called Osu Kannon. Take the Tsurumai line (blue line) to Osu
Kannon subway stop, and follow the signs to Osu Kannon temple (exit one
or two). Walk through the temple (which has a great antiques market on
the 18 and 28th of every month), and you will be under the first of three
or four covered streets lined with shops. The first two shops on the left
hand side of the street have excellent used Kimonos and obi (the elaborate
silk belts used to tie kimono closed). You can pick up a used/antique
Kimono starting from $15 dollars. Obi are a bit more expensive, at about
$30, but both make excellent wall hangings, and the obi are excellent
also as table runners. There are, as well, shops offering used fur coats,
designer bags, jewelry, feather boas, and baby clothes (the baby kimono
sets are really cute).
Her
cheap chickens, pricey apples...
If you are in the Osu area, you also
have to stop in the second alley at the Brazil shop, which is not it's
official name, but that's what everyone calls this great place. You can
get a whole spit-roasted chicken for about 1000 yen (the price of 5 apples
in a supermarket), various amazing sweet and savory pastries, Brazilian
beer, and you can hear a lot of laughter.
P.S. Right beside the Brazil shop is
a cool place for clothes and things from India and Nepal -- incense, candles,
rugs, mittens, and jewelry. A fun stop!
She
checks exchange rates...
One last thing I'd like to mention;
try to get a feel for exchange rates before you come to Japan, just to
gauge roughly what you're paying. Basic things are very expensive, here.
As I mentioned before, a bag of apples is about $10, a one litre container
of milk is close to $2. But a lot of the souvenir items mentioned above
are a little more reasonably priced. So, save your pennies before you
get here, then happy shopping, everybody!
Lisa
in Tel Aviv, Israel writes...
Basic foodstuffs are very expensive
in Japan. If you shop in the supermarket, you can pay US$2 for a single
carrot, $5 for a head of lettuce and $6 for a mango. My advice is to seek
out the neighbourhood greengrocer, where you can buy root vegetables,
greens, seasonable fruit and mushrooms for reasonable prices. If you crave
Western food and budget is not an issue, check out the Kinoukiniya foodstore
in the Bunkamura (Shibuya area of Tokyo.)
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Beware the consumption
tax in Japan...
 A
consumption tax of five percent is levied on virtually all goods
and services in Japan, including restaurant meals and accommodation.
Sometimes this tax will be included in the advertised price, and
sometimes not, so check first if you're going to spend large amounts.
(Source: The award-winning, Rough
Guide to Japan, Authors - Dodd and Richmond)
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She flies a kite...
 In
Tokyo, you'll find the lively little Kite Museum on the fifth floor
above Taimeiken restaurant. Since 1977 the restaurant's former owner
has amassed over four hundred kites of every conceivable shape and
size, from no bigger than a postage stamp to a monster 8m square.
Open Mon-Sat, 11am -5pm. 200 yen admission. BTW -- Do-it-yourself
kite kits make a great gift to bring home for the big or little
people in your life.
(Source: The award-winning, Rough
Guide to Japan, Authors - Dodd and Richmond)
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Women's words on
Japan...
 Americans
are often thrown by Japan. It looks familiar but, an inch below
the surface, it isn't anything like the West at all.
Cathy N. Davidson, 36 Views of Mount Fuji, 1936
One must learn, if one is to
see the beauty in Japan, to like an extraordinarily restrained and
delicate loveliness.
Miriam Beard, Realism in Romantic Japan, 1930
Everything in Japan is hidden.
Real life has an unlisted phone number.
Fran Lebowitz, Travel and Leisure, 1994
(Source: The New Beacon Book of
Quotations by Women)
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More shopping opportunities...
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