Marukai Living

Today TC and I wanted to make a second visit to Marukai/Daiso, which is like a Japanese Big Lots, where mostly everything is $1.50 (unless otherwise marked). Lo and behold, the Marukai Living Store was finally open. The cashier told me that the Marukai Grocery store (not pictured here, but it's next door to this) would be open by next month! Can't wait! FYI, here is another post on Marukai/Daiso and my previous post from last month.
It was quite spacious inside. None of those funky, crooked wooden floors like in Marukai/Daiso. There were aisles of all sorts of Japanese items but I headed straight for the food aisles! Hello snacks and candy!

This was the rice cooker aisle.

This looks a bit high tech to me (yes, I'm a Luddite). I don't need that many buttons to cook my rice, thank you very much.

They had a sparse endcap of Hello Kitty crap.

This aisle had the cute little drawstring bags and...

coin purses! So cute! I was so tempted to get one but I don't need yet another item of junk in my already crowded purse. This one also had tiny jungle bells on the back. I know, the guys reading this are probably throwing up in their mouths.

These were little decals for card making. There were also plastic fridge magnets of food and tiny animals.

Here is a display of Japanese wooden shoes. The largest size look like a size 5. So much for "Large". No XXXL sizes for my big ass feet. These are kind of like Filipino wooden slippers, called "Bakya" except Bakya heels are carved and these are not. This footwear doesn't look very comfortable and I imagine they would hurt if hurled at someone!

There were was a floor display of home decor such as fountains, vases, fake bonsai trees, Buddha statues, paper shades and bamboo benches. There were also tables filled with dinner ware, chopsticks, bowls, mini condiment dishes, etc.

Oh yeah, and toilets by Toto. This one was pretty cheap ($499), compared to others I've seen at the store in the back corner in Mitsuwa. I think the more expensive ones have more "functions". Those things aren't just receptacles for your bodily excretions - they warm your cold buttocks, wash your nether regions, and dry it too! What more can you ask for in a toilet? This was the skin care aisle:

Hair care aisle...Love the design on these hair dye boxes...

Japanese diapers. Goon?

More Japanese diapers:

TC thought the picture of the naked baby was funny. Then again, to my 7 year old, anything showing a "butt" is funny. How come they didn't use an illustration of a Japanese baby?

There were little dolls plus figures in various poses, like Samurai, various courtesans and (non pictured), ninja.

There were so many aisles full of stuff but I had no clue what some of the products were since the packaging was all in Japanese.

Hey, all right! SPAM is cheap here! At Ralph's is $3.99 opr some outrageous price!

Of course, you can't have a Japanese snack aisle without Pocky (remember, today is International Pocky Day!) and Pretz ! I love the green box (the "Salad" pretz) - there's 10 packs in there. They don't taste like "salad" but more like a vegetable cracker.

It was fun looking around and picking up a few items. There was also a lady handing out samples of Udon noodle soup. I had to pass on it because I had already eaten lunch. It did look good though. The store was pretty crowded. Lots of native Japanese there and other ethnicities as well. The prices were pretty reasonable (food wise). I wasn't sure about the other products. According to the cashier, they've been open for about three weeks now. When I went about one month ago, this wasn't open yet. Next month, it will be Marukai Grocery store. I don't think they'll be big challengers to Mitsuwa, but it's nice to have alternative choices so close together.