Anyone who has ever lived remotely far away from a big metropolis in Japan has been to JUSCO.
Anyone who has ever lived in the boonies of Japan relies on JUSCO as their one source of food, entertainment and socialization.
Yea. JUSCO.
Think American shopping mall meets Japanese shopping arcade meets.... everything your average boonies-prefecture-citizen could possibly need to get about their daily lives, and you have JUSCO.
Actually, you have AEON... but JUSCO is the important part here. I'm not getting into umbrella corporations and Japanese corporate life in my blog, all right?
Basically... clothes, groceries, lunch, drugstore...goods, everything you need, JUSCO is your one-stop shop.
And today I went and found the closest one and had an afternoon.
Seriously. Three+ hours, just in JUSCO. And I was making myself leave at the end, simply because it was pushing the end of daylight hours and... uh, well. I don't know why that's a valid reason to quit shopping, but it worked.
It may also have been because I am one cheap motor scooter, and desperately wanted to stop myself from spending money.
Which I didn't really do all that much of...
Anyway. I wanted to get some more floofy skirts, as they are the coolest thing to wear this time of year and I only have one.
Guess what I didn't buy.
Through no fault of my own, I might add; the only one I saw and liked was white, and I know better than to wear white clothes. ESPECIALLY white bottoms; that's just asking for problems when you're as spill-prone as I am.
Anyway. Was I discouraged by my lack of skirt-finding skills?
NO. NO I WAS NOT.
Instead I bought three pairs of socks (which I actually desperately needed), some very cheap undergarments that made me smile more than anything, a super-comfortable and very soft sweater-cardigan-thing that can be used for work or casual looks later in the year, two tupperware containers (which I also desperately neeed), a basket of snacks (which I.... did not desperately need, but toast is not a snack, despite my treating it as such) and two small croquettes to take home and snack on in the car.
A good day for staying within a single building, wouldn't you say?
On a side note: while shopping, especially in the grocery store downstairs, I was once again baffled by how young (or how young-looking) people marry and breed around here... Though I suppose that more than anything demonstrates my big-city mindset. Or my marriage-and-kids-not-so-much mindset. Or my goddamnit-I'm-still-single mindset. Or something.
But hey. That aside, a good day of shopping is... a good day of shopping.
One day, maybe I'll actually stop being so cheap and start to enjoy buying things properly!
...but probably not.
Oh, and you now what's great about the boonies?
After the initial shock of it (which some people even manage to completely ignore or hide well), people are very willing to believe that I speak Japanese and can understand what they're telling me to do. Thus, I get friendly service in the clothing stores, and am generally treated like you average human being.
...admittedly, most clothing stores are this way if you look to be in a buying mood. The good ones are, anyway.
Regardless, it's very nice not to be gawked at so often, and even nice to be treated the same as everyone else.
...damn, this is turning into a gaijin rant again. I'll stop, I'll stop!
...I'm probably going to make omuraisu for dinner again. Is that a bad thing?
This is Edo, signing off and wishing that her cheap potato chips didn't taste quite so cheap.
EDIT- Ah ha! Dinner was not omuraisu, it was this:
Which I made partially using the recipe here and partially using my own memories of a similar dish I made back home one Saturday afternoon.
Hence my addition of lemon juice at the end, and the cut little dump-the-peel-in-too trick that I've seen done on countless Italian cooking shows.
I left out the pine nuts and parsley because, well... (a) I was working with what I had and (b) I live in Japan on a budget, thank you very much.
I would splurge if it wasn't my basic meal-for-me-myself-and-I kinda situation; guests get fancy foods, I get what I need.
Also, if you're thinking of trying the recipe, I would recommend basil instead of parsley, myself, as that's what I used on that Saturday, so long ago. Parsley seems a little strange, honestly... and then there's the fact that I don't much care for it to factor in, ah ha.
(... I probably should admit at this point that I only made pasta because I had foolishly forgotten to take the chicken out of the freezer for my omuraisu. As I have remedied that situation, my meal plans will be back on schedule tomorrow. Ah ha. Foiled by frozen fowl. Whoda thunk.)
...my hands smell yummy.
1 comment:
I remember raiding a jusco on the way to a hanami party a bunch of years ago. Almost missed the party I was so over-stimulated - thanks for the reminder!
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