Shopping for Trouble in all the Right Places

Hello all!  Today, I want to show you some of the great stores available in the center of Kyoto and an amazing take on the American ham-ba-ga (hamburger).  After  checking out Doshisha U again to make sure we knew where all our classes were, Julianna and I hit the shopping scene to scope out how people live and eat in BIG in Japan!

 So, our first stop was MOS Burger.  It’s a great chain in Asia and kind of looks like a McDonald’s but their food is WAY amazing!  http://www.mos.co.jp/menu/hamburger/ebi/  So, I was thinking I would one up my husband on the weird food list because I selected a “burger” made of what I thought was turtle.  It turned out to be shrimp.  Oh well, it was still damn good.

Check out the diagram of it on their website, and it says it has “American mustard” on it, along with mayonnaise and some type of coleslaw.  It was really phenomenal.  They also have teriyaki burgers, rice burgers and curry burgers (the curry is actually topping for the burger)!   It was really cute to hear the local kids asking for their chee-zu ba-ga.  J  The price is equivalent to the United States with the burger and a fry/onion ring combo with drink for about $8 US.

If you need a drink, there are vending machines everywhere on the streets and in buildings.  It’s like these things are stalking you.  Need a coke?  A juice?  Some sake or beer?  Some girl’s underwear?  Yes, that’s right, don’t ask, you don’t want to know.  If it makes you feel better, the THAT vending machine is hard to find.

So once you go to the center of Kyoto on the Karasuma line is one of the most fantastic shopping districts.  There is a mall IN the subway, you don’t even have to leave.  It has a number of upscale clothing stores, souvenirs, fast food (if you can call it that), and a grocery store selling imported goods (thank God they had my Quaker oatmeal).  You’ll pay a pretty penny in this place though.  The touristy stuff is great, but the clothes are pretty expensive and that oatmeal I bought (1 box) cost about $6.

BUT, this place has some of the best food and when you walk through the “food court” section it looks more like rows of restaurants, well actually I guess that is what it is.  All of the menus are picture menus so anyone can just point to what they want.  And, outside every restaurant is a plastic rendition of each dish so you know what they offer before you can go in.  Can’t decide what to eat, just find the best looking plastic food ever.  Remember when I used to love to go to Sears
and take all the plastic food out of
the refrigerators Mom?  I’m in heaven LOL.

So, outside and across the street next to Kyoto tower is a towering multilevel mall.  I think it has 3 basement levels and 6 upper levels.  The same electronics store itself is on two or three levels and sells everything under the sun.  There are a number of great little cafés down there too.  This one’s for you mom—right next to the Hyaku-en shop there is a a fantastic fabric store.  There are some really beautiful fabrics here, and I think they are about $10 a yard.  Lots of patterns too. 
Nice to see a major craft/fabric store in Japan.

And then there’s the Hyaku-en store.  That means 100 yen, which is the equivalent to the US dollar.  Although, like our US Dollar Store or Dollar Tree, the price has risen to 105 yen.  It’s like our dollar except honestly an even higher quality.  You can get almost everything you need here.  This is just one, but I’ve seen some that even sell meat and other food products, and upon inspection, I was surprised that they looked just fine.  They sell all your essentials like toilet paper, cleaning and laundry supplies, but they also sell really nice cooking implements, towels, bento boxes and accessories, and stationary.

I got everything I needed for my new apartment out of this store and spent about $15-20 total.  You can’t beat that!  I really enjoy it too because you can find some really awesome treasures like Hello Kitty stationary and trinkets and gifts for really cheap.  It’s crazy really.  And that’s where it gets dangerous right?  Because you could spend a TON in this store along with all the other stores that surround it.

I’ll conclude with the “Global Kitchen” grocery store.  This is a really fun place.  As you can see from the pictures, you can get just about any seafood.  There are tons of sushi, fish, tonkatsu and other premade dinners you can buy if you don’t want to cook along with tons of general groceries.  You do have to bag your own groceries though, which is interesting.  When you check out, they put your stuff in a small handheld basket with a bag and you take it to another counter where you can bag your meats in smaller bags and put it in the larger bag they gave you.  All the carts are very small, like the one’s you get at Lowes foods for when you are only getting a few things, and that is because people rarely buy in bulk in Japan like in America.  Most people have to walk or take the subway to get home, so you can only buy what you can carry.  This means multiple trips to the store a week, and I can see why many people would just buy these premade meals if they live in a small apartment like mine with only one stove burner and no oven.  Most Japanese take a reusable sturdy bag with them to carry these groceries home, and I followed their lead.  This is also why a lot of people shop for groceries at convenience stores—because they are so close to home.  There are plenty of cars on the road but that does require a certain income level since it is expensive to drive in Japan and you often have to pay for the use of a garaging facility.

Nonetheless, Julianna and I brought our groceries home and made Eggplant (Nasu) curry donburi together.  Donburi is a Japanese specialty which just means rice with topping.  The rice is the base of your meal but the topping possibilities are endless and is one of my favorite dishes.  It was a bit of a challenge having such a small cooking space, but between the two of us, it came out great!  A really great end to a really great day!