100 Yen Shop

POSTED BY DANNY CHOO On Sat 2007/06/16 17:50 JST in Japan

There are many misconceptions of Japan regarding the cost of living. While some things are darn expensive, somethings can be dirt cheap - especially with the existence of the good ol 100 yen shop.
When I came to Japan as a visitor during my teens, I'd make a point of spending time in a 100 yen shop or "Hyaku en shoppu" (百円ショップ(ひゃくえんしょっぷ)).
I'd pick up cheap presents for the lads in the 100 yen shop and spend the rest of my hard earned dosh on games and Idol photo books in Akihabara.

Despite being only 100 yen an item, the quality of some of the products are suprisingly good. We are still using the 100 yen steel cutlery that we purchased when we came to JP about 9 years ago ^^;

You can find just about everything that you need. Everything from gardening, stationery, kitchen, clothing, electronics, tools etc etc - all for 100 yen a piece. They also have novelty goods of good quality so you can spend 1000 yen and buy stuff for 10 of your friends ^^; This makes sense as you probably want to spend your cash on Gundams, Figures, Idol photo books, manga (and eroge/doujinshi) instead.

100 yen shops have been around since the dawn of time in Japan but I never saw the equivalent of a "1 pound store" back in the UK though.