Halfway through this week I thought to myself, "you are crazy, you'll never be able to come up with 5 things each week", and that day I wrote down 8 as soon as I left base. This little weekly project of mine is going to be great at forcing me to leave base at least once a week. Sometimes it's too easy to stay in the bubble of Camp Zama. I digress, here are this weeks 5 things I love about Japan!
1. 100 yen shops. Seriously, the dollar store has NOTHING on these shops! In America you would never say to your neighbor, "hey, I'm going to the dollar store today, would you like to come?" but at least once a week I invite someone or someone invites me on a trip to the 100 yen store. They sell EVERYTHING and most of it is a fairly high quality for about the equivalent of $1.
2. Mirrors. The roads here are TINY so they have these great mirrors installed on almost every corner so you can see around the buildings & tight corners. They making driving (and riding your bicycle) here so much easier!
Plus they're fun to take photos of people in!
3. Produce markets. The produce on base here is hot garbage! Like stuff that most food banks wouldn't even accept. {I understand the commissary is doing the best they can but they insist on importing most of it from the US and by the time it arrives here it's WAY past its prime} I buy about 90% of my produce off base and happily do so even if it's twice the price.
4. RICE vending machines. I have never used one of these but I SERIOUSLY want to before we leave. A 10kg bag of rice is not something you can regularly purchase from a vending machine, at least not where I'm from.
5. Hanging laundry. Maybe I wouldn't like this one so much if I was forced to do it but I love the idea of it. So fresh, easier on your clothes and much less energy waste than using a dryer. I do hang some laundry and maybe one day I'll fully switch over.
I've never seen a rice vending machine, but I agree with all the others! The 100 yen store is, hands down, the best store ever. EVER. No contest. Those mirrors are a godsend. I've somehow never been to a produce market here, but I buy a lot for the grocery store down the street from me. I sometimes feel guilty for having this huge American dryer. Have you seen the teeny Japanese dryers? I wonder what the point of even having one of those little things is.
ReplyDeleteI've never seen a rice vending machine!!! I love when you write about Japan... it brings back memories :) The 100 Yen store is great for finding all sorts of things to hang clothes on!
ReplyDeleteI want to use a rice vending machine! Too fun!
ReplyDeleteI started line drying my laundry this summer and I LOVE it! It's definitely the thing to do in Germany and I hope that I can continue when we get back to the states.
ReplyDeleteI love it when you post vending machine pics. It's so neat all the things you can get there!!
ReplyDeleteI was nevera a fan on hanging laundry. We did it during the spring/summer when I was a kid. I hated that my clothes were stiff and smelled like "outside." Haha! I talked to my bestie about doing that recently...I just don't think I could do it!
Oh you make me miss Okinawa/Japan. I miss mirrors and 100 yen stores so much. We never had rice vendin machines though. But I do miss having a coke machine on the corner by my house.
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