OK Today we're going to come to one of my favorite stores: the 100 yen store.
Everything one dollar.
Come see what wonderful things we can buy for just one dollar.
[Life in Japan Theme Song]
So this is one of my favorite stores to come to because, for one thing, I can afford everything. Ha ha!
Also there's so many useful and unique things to Japan that I find here.
Come with me. I want to go to the toys!
OK, you go to the toys.
OK, here it's always the seasonal items
Right now it's halloween. I don't decorate for halloween, I decorate for fall.
But it's great because you can buy these little bags for candies and for plates,
And they have all this such cute tape. And it's all such cute designs.
And they have — oh — cookie cutters.
But I love the pumpkin, I'm not a huge ghost fan.
I wish they sold just the pumpkin, actually I might just buy this because I like the pumpkin.
OK I might buy it.
And they even sell live plants. Look, you can buy tiny little cactuses,
So cute!
So in this section we have all our cosmetics and face brushes and makeup and stuff like that.
I don't really buy much makeup at a dollar because I'm a little leery sometimes.
But one thing we do buy a ton of here is pencils and markers and erasers
And here in Japan they have these things — they're pencil lids.
So all the kids put them on their pencils and they have like milk cartons, and ice cream things
And of course, this is cars, and they have princesses, I mean, anything you can imagine.
And all the cute, cute erasers. I mean, look at this!
How can you pass that up? Sushi erasers!
I have to contain myself, otherwise I buy too much.
Look at this! Who can resist all this glitter tape — for a dollar?!
You laugh at me!
And then I buy a lot of stuff down this aisle.
It's all paper supplies and I do crafts with the kids
And all the origami papers and box cutters and scissors and mats and tape and play doh and...
Markers and paint!
Oh my goodness! There's so much stuff.
So right now at home we're making stuffed animals, so the girls need stuffing.
Here, put it in here.
A couple things, like this glue gun, it's 200 yen.
So you do have to be careful because some things are a little different in price.
But 98% of everything is 100 yen.
This is all the craft supplies, all the gifting, all these cute little bags.
Oh my goodness — and like ziplock bags, how cute are these bags?!
All the strings, although I have not had too great of success with these threads from Daiso.
They seem to break easily.
So I do go to a craft store for thread for my sewing machine.
What do you like about Daiso, dude?
Um, the toys.
The toys? Yeah, they're pretty cool.
Can I show you what I just found? OK
This!
Oh my goodness!
3, 2, 1 Oh yeah. What else do they have here Joshua?
Um, the gun! Ah, the gun up there, huh?
And these! Oh yea, a cone.
What is it?
A pregnant thing, I think.
So when you can't bend, when you have a big tummy, you just can pick it up.
There's more stuff. There's more stuff? Like what?
Cars! Like cars! Oh, you're right.
You can't take them out. You can't take them out, yeah, they're not meant to be played with, are they?
Only at home. Only if you buy them.
And like scary alligators.
It's coming at you.
So one thing I love is this thing — it's a knife sharpener.
The stones are already tilted to the right angle, so all you have to do is slide your knife through and it sharpens it. It's perfect.
Let me show you the lunch, the bento supplies.
Here they have all these tiny little cute things that you can put your different little bento separate things in.
Cute tiny ones. They have bigger ones.
They have thematic ones.
And then they have all these little sticks.
Like you can put them in sausages, or in apples or in fruit.
And then these you can make shapes with.
So you put your rice in that and push it down and it comes out into little shapes
And they have these little ones that you cut out the seaweed, the nori, to make the eyes and nose.
And then they have some that just make little rice balls.
But also with the little faces on them, so it makes it easier to put the nori on it.
And then they have these tiny little containers for sauces, look at these: for soy sauce.
You squeeze it in, you put it in the bento, it's disposable, they squeeze out their soy sauce, and it's all done.
How cute!
What honey?
I forgot my money.
You forgot your money? OK, mommy can lend you some money, ok?
And then they have all the ice packs. They have big ice packs, small little ice packs to put in your lunch bags.
They have tons of options of thermal lunch bags.
Of course these, you have to see, they're 200 yen.
They have all the wrapping for your onigiri.
The right size and you can put your nori on it and it won't get mushy.
Here's all your bento boxes.
Of course these are a little bigger so they are a little more expensive.
I bought something like this for camping.
It's got cups in it. A dollar.
And then they have all these different — like this is just a dollar — bento box.
They have your little ones. You can buy your chopstick sets.
You can buy these tiny little ones that come with chopsticks and fork and spoon
And you attach them to the handle so that they're very compact.
These the kids like. It's a fork and spoon and mini chopsticks all in it.
Of course that one, you see, is 150 yen. But still!
They have some great cleaning supplies that I love. Here come, let me show you.
OK, they have these, in English I guess they're called Mosquito Net Dish Cloth.
I love these! I usually actually get this one because there's three in here for a dollar!
And they're great for wiping off you counter, and around your kitchen and sink and stuff.
They have all these mini stainless steel scrubbers
They're great because they're pretty much disposable.
You use it one time, you can throw it away, because you get 8 for a dollar!
Here, in Japan, our sinks are huge.
And they have this catch-all little drain thing that you put a bag in
And we don't have garbage disposals
But then they can end up getting mildewy.
So then you put these—they're slime removers—you hang them inside the dish drain. See that?
And it helps keep the mold and slime away.
These are very, very useful.
Actually I need a new brush while I'm here.
You can buy your gloves — you can buy disposal gloves.
Which during Corona season now we kept some of these disposable gloves in our car
So when we pump gas, we don't have to touch Corona infested stuff! Ha!
Can I have this? You don't even use those!
What are they? They're for pencils. You don't have pencils yet.
And then they also have all of your gardening and pet needs.
Watch
Here's all the pots for gardening.
And then all your little supplies [kid cries] — is that my kid? No it's not my kid.
Scissors, cutters, things to help weeds not to grow.
All of your spray bottles and hose attachments and,
Green zip ties so that your plants, you can zip tie them
And it doesn't look like you've zip tied them because it's green.
Oh and these! I have a lot of these in my backyard.
Because we have cats that come in and poop in our backyard.
So I put these down so they can't step on them.
Don't Cat!
Don't do it!
And here's all your pet toys.
Nail clippers, brushes, leashes, fish supplies.
OH! And then — tools!
Tons of tools.
In another life I would probably be a mechanic. No I wouldn't — I would be a wood-worker.
But still these tools are very enticing.
Oh look they have a cute toolbox.
I could use a toolbox.
Oh, that's very cute!
Gloves for working.
Gloves for working in the yard -for kids, that's cool.
For kids. For kids!
That's so nice.
One thing I really love are ziplock bags.
And look at these designs! I mean they have tiny ones, which are great for medicine and stuff,
And just cute! I mean, hello!
If you just have to take a couple coins with you or a little bit of money.
Oh my goodness! It's so so enticing to buy!
I need to buy these hooks, they're metal hooks,
Because the girls hang their backpacks on the side of their bed
We had plastic hooks and they were just not holding up well enough, so we'll try these.
And my kids also love this because they can come in and buy snacks for a dollar
Sometimes it's like 3 snacks for one dollar or 4 snacks for one dollar as Becca's telling me.
At other places it is a little cheaper because like these sembeis, which are some of our favorite,
They're rice crackers, they're a dollar here but next-door they're like 87 yen.
So you just got to know what to buy where.
But in a pinch, you can just send the kids here and they can grab it for ya.
Soups and seasonings and sauces and vinegar,
Here's all your travel things, like thermal aluminum covers and
Puke bags for when you're sick and
Toilet covers,
Your own personal toilet covers, nice.
Look at what all we got for $18.
They don't give you bags in stores in Japan.
You have to either bring your own or buy them.
They're cheap to buy, they're like 3 cents, 5 cents.
Another really interesting thing about Japan is that the checkout people don't bag your groceries.
Even at grocery stores you have to bag your own groceries.
I used to think "Oh, it would be so cool to bag my own groceries."
But now when I go to America, I'm so thankful they bag my groceries.
OK, we're going back home.
OK, most of this stuff goes upstairs.
Time to sort through the spoils, huh? Oh yes.
And put these hooks where they belong.
See, my previous metal were not strong enough.
Nice! Work great.
If I ever have leftovers, I use them for my coatrack out there.
Because now come winter, the kids need a place to hang their coats, and that's what that nifty little thing over there is.
I put things on the steps because that way when we go up we carry them.
Ah! Upstairs is like an art and crafting space today.
We've got sewing, we've got drawing,
The TV's so beautiful!
I've never seen the TV this beautiful before.
Except when it was brand new.
Yeah, well I forgot about that. That's been a long time.
You were 4 years old when it was brand new.
So six years ago.
And a 2, and a 3, 2, 1! That hit the roof!
Whatcha working on Sarah?
This drawing.
Did you get these at Daiso? Yeah.
Show me, how does it work?
So like this is a special pencil, right?
See these lines? You gotta draw on them. Watch.
And then the colors will just come out.
This is going to take long. Like maybe 30 minutes.
Are you stuffing your creations here?
Yeah. What are you making, Rebecca?
A monkey for Joshua.
How about you, Anna cakes?
A purple elephant.
For Sarah. Should I put this on your camera?
And those are just some of the things that we like from the Daiso, the 100 yen shop
Please, if there's something you think I should look at at the dollar store, let me know in the comments.
And as always, please subscribe if you haven't yet. And we'll see you next time on Life in Japan.