One Dollar Bling

With the Wall Street Journal reporting today that Bling is no longer the thing, lost its luster, has been traded down, etc (Culture of Bling Clangs to Earth as the Recession Melts Rappers' Ice), is now the to take this as a contrarian signal, and buy gold?

Regardless of the phylosophical debate this deserves, it is fair to say that main street has been downsized, and downsizing is in the mainstream.

Surely there is no place better to test this theory than in downtown Osaka, amongst the maze of covered shopping promenades.  So I decided to go without delay and apply an ear to the well-kept ground of the downtown commercial street.  And, in fact, even I could not help noticing that while there was a distinct lack of bustle in the ramen shops, shoe shops, whaleries (see photo) and the charcoal shop (yes there is a shop just selling burnt wood tied in silk ribbons - it looks very nice, but a little too expensive for an average barbecue), there was at the same time a significant interest in the goods offered by the 100Y ($1) shop.  

Looks feisty, but unfortunately closed - "Whale Food - Super Cheap - the taste of Showa" (Showa is a period of history, 1926-1989)

Now, in Japan, you must understand that nothing is ever merely what we call "popular".  Once a good thing starts drawing attention, say, a well known celebrity lets it out on national tv that she applies mature cheddar cheese on her face each evening and puts a kiwi fruit under her pillow, well, with such intelligence out there you can be sure that there will be nothing short of a run on mature cheese and kiwis by ladies young and old, across all provinces of Japan, starting promptly the very next morning.  What in other countries is called popular is a condition somewhat less well developed than the all-engulfing manias that regularly sweep the whole of this country, and, not dissimilar to a black hole sucking in matter and energy until some important physical limit is breached, it is an equally sure thing that the good times will be over in short order.

Again leaving aside the important debate of cycles and sustainability, I found myself irresistibly drawn to this shop, crammed full of neon-plastic articles, all of which were labelled 105 Y (despite the "100 Y" name of the shop).  And once I had walked in, I sound found that I stepped into a new world of shopping possibility - all of these products - for $1 each !  Why, I could buy so many things for the price of one starbucks visit! 

Now, the important thing to note with Japanese dollar stores, or this one at least, was that firstly, there was a good mix of useful things in useless quantities (5,000 toothpicks), useful things which I wouldn't normally buy (electric extention chord), and utterly useless but must-have items (penguin fridge magnets).  I tried to focus equally on all three categories of opportunity.

But how difficult realising such a strategy proved to be!  At only $1 per item, everything is a giveaway.  Such as, in the I-can't-believe-people-buy-this category:

Beautiful Face Cup.  The idea here is to squeze it, apply it to your face, and let the sucking action take out the dirt and other bad things in your pores (Suggested sales message: "That's why I've been ugly all my life!").  Look at the bottom-left corner for a visual explaination.

Or how about...

...a Jinglish wooden box!


This has all the robust design characteristics of a cornflakes packet, but with the all-important Jinglish message, in order to lift your mood when feel down during periods of intense gardening. However, how this is possible for most people is not clear, as gardens tend to consist of four or five potted plants on some concrete.

I was somewhat tempted by the Black Skull brand lunch box (you can also get this in smaller sizes which fit inside each other).


And the Love of Black candle did have a modestly amusing phraseology:


Then there was the rather fetching bear lunchbox ("Let's enjoy a time with me."):


Also available in the same style but with a squirrel and mini chick:


Or how about an origami paper holder - with mandatory cartoon bears doing origami themselves:

"Contains 50 origami explainations! After you have enjoyed making the origami, you can tidy it up by putting it into the case!".  A real time saver for those who have a heavy origami component to their schedule.

In the that's cool but I would never use it category, there was a selection of glow in the dark sticks:

Incidently, if you are going to get one of these, you probably ought to go for the more colourful one - this one has three colours - just remember that for next time, ok?

Now here was something I was so very close to buying - a fantastically simple and probably useless book strap - tie all your books together so they are easier to handle!

I felt that this item had a very strong sales message ("Wide peeler - a fashionable kitchen tool, makes your life colourful and pleasant")

And what home would be complete without....


...a tyranasourus rex!


But in the end, I went for the extension chord.

And this reminds me a little of the market.

Just because something is cheap, doesn't necessarily mean you need to load up.

Danger Kitty

Hello Kitty, owned by Sanrio Corporation, is such a public figure, that she is drafted in to perform announcements relevant to public safety:

"Your fingers will get clamped! Danger! Stay away from the doors!"

And this reminds me a little of the market.  

Pay attention to the warning signs, and you won't get your fingers stuck in a  (punctual) electrified railway carriage.

High Technology Sushi !

Today I'm going to introduce you a very important place.

In fact, I can almost guarantee that you'll be asking yourself some important and meaningful questions.

The place in question is special in more than one way. Combining some of the world's most advanced dinning technology with an affordable price tag of only 100Y ($1) per plate, it is the Kura kaiten (conveyor belt) sushi restaurant.

Now, when you step inside, it appears fairly low-key. Perhaps even bland. But this deceptive simplicity belies some some special charms.


OK, lets start with a nice warm bowl of miso.

Filled with tasty seashells. Oh Yeah.

Now, time for some technology. Above the table is a little touch-screen panel with a head-band wearing sushi cartoon character to help us along the way.

Well, this does seem both easy to use and efficient. If you want something made for you, just press the screen. Even I can understand that!

Alternatively, wait until the relevant sign glides past, with the described plate behind it. This is salmon. "No artificial additives".

Tempting.

I recommend that you focus on your strengths. At 100Yen per plate, this is a marathon, not a race. I tend to specialise in salmon, maguro (tuna),

salmon salad,

unagi (eel),

and aburi salmon, as well as many, many others. Aburi salmon is salmon - but with a crucial twist. The fish is scorched with a blow-torch, and then covered with good stuff.

I'm getting hungry just telling you about this. So, once you've eaten the sushi, you find a plate attractively decorated with theme-based characters.

Now, what you must do, is put the colourful plate in the box at the side of the table, like this.

The plate disappears, and every five plates your touch-screen panel friend, Mr Headband, fishes for a prize on your behalf. He really is trying very hard. In this case he failed - he does look very disappointed, so I know that he's been trying.

If you win, you get one of the balls above the table. These contain a spring-wound car and other collectible plastic toys. But, every so often, they have 1000Y ($10) inside!

Now, when you decide that you want a beer, you encounter some real efficiency combined with well-thought out cleverness. Firstly, take a glass out of the fridge. The temperature is low enough for the glass to instantly frost over when you take it out.

This penguin is helpfully telling us "these glasses here are freezing cold - please use them!"

The next step is placing the glass on the automatic beer pouring machine.

Insert the 450Y ($4.5), and it starts off with a perfect beer-pouring angle.

There you go.

On the way back to your table, you can decide if you want to work in the restaurant ("shall we not work together?")

And find out how much (little) the staff are paid ($8.50-11.88/hr).

Now, this is the part where we move from the relm of quite cool, to don't-be-ridiculous cool.

What could be better than the restaurant's very own collectible playing cards with a sushi based theme!

They have a flip-file showing you the countless types available.  At the bottom of each card is a hand symbol for paper, scissors, or stone.

I only bought three packets. I'm regretting this lack of foresight already.

This one is Mrs Curie (Curie sounds like Cucumber in Japanese), strength: 3 plates, height: 165cm, age: 45, weight 45kg, hard-working Nobel-prizewinner.

Here is Moguran, this mole with an egg-round face.

Also, the yellowness makes his face pleasant - important information !

However, this is my favourite:

Sayoriman!  ("Japanese Needlefish Man" - sounds like Salaryman)

A company employee who works without rest at the beginning of spring.  Even today he is on the phone to a client.  

And, for all of this, he is only worth two plates!

And this reminds me of the market - working harder is not always correlated with success.