Place to buy Local Stuff in Osaka - Don Quijote

Icon of Don Quijote is the Mr Penguin

I believe that when we travel, we love to buy local items back home. This is the same for me when I am in Osaka recently.

Along the street, you may find lots of drugs store, small shop that sell Japanese good that are tax free.

Different store manage differently on the tax free procedure.

One of the store that I really visited the most is Don Quijote at Namba.

There is a total of 3 stores in that area and I feel each store had some unique items for sale.

In general, the common items that Tourist buy are available in all 3 stores, but favorite is the one at the main street.

Address: 

Don Quijote, 2 Chome-5-9 Nishishinsaibashi, Chūō-ku, Ōsaka-shi, Ōsaka-fu 542-0086, Japan

Click on Google map

The store is bigger which is a few storey high.

Level 1: Mainly are snacks and drugs items

Level 2: More foods (eg instant noodles, sauces etc) , toiletries.

Level 3: Bags, electronic items etc

Prices in this shop are more competitive compare to most other drug store.

The only cons are:

Drugs items eg. vitamin, supplements etc need to be pay at their drug store counter, and all items include tax must be pay upfront. After purchase, if total purchase exceed 5000yen then using the receipts we will proceed to the tax refund counter to had all the items pack and had the tax refund.

As this store is so popular, we took quite a long que to get the tax refund and they had all the item seal in a clear bag. This make luggage packing quite inconvenience especially when you buy lots of items like i do.

Above are all the items I bought during my Osaka trip.

Snacks, chocolates, shampoo and hair dyes were all bought at Don Quijote.

It is definitely a place worth to shop, just watch your pocket before it get burn badly.

POM POM Purin Cafe in Tokyo

One of my favorite Sanrio Character is Pom Pom Purin. This cute pudding dog just make you feel like giving him a big hug.



When i get to know that there is this cafe in Tokyo, immediately i put it inside my "To Go" list.
If you are wondering where it is, there is one at Harajuku, a building call Cute Cube at level 3.
( here a link of the cafe: http://pompom.createrestaurants.com/jp/index.html )

Very prominent sign of the building and the Pom Pom Purin sign on it.



Immediately when we are at the door step, I get super excited and would love to be immerse in this kawaii place. Lucky the Que was not super long, and we manage to get seated in less than 15min.

So here the meal we order... it so cute..

The little pom pom purin cup also available for free when you order the set. But please don't take away the one on the plate.. the staff will specially prepare a brand new pom pom purin cup for us to bring home.

Well with such a cute environment, I'm so crazy but to have photo bombing.

Super enjoy been there. How I wish I'm working there.

Japan Hual from Daiso, 100Yen Shop ( Can Do), 3Coins and Natural Kitchen

Japan had many dollar store, and if you did not control yourself well, you might burst your wallet easily.

I went to some of the stores and here what i got from Tokyo:

Daiso
This is super popular all over the world and I went to the store at Harajuku.
All items is typically at 100Yen before their tax so is like SGD1.26 / item

But for Daiso, i just got a few items as follow:

100 Yen (Can Do)

This is the shop that I prefer more than Daiso. Actually they sell almost similar to Daiso, but I find I'm able to get more items that does not sell back in Singapore Daiso. And most important they carry more sanrio products like Pom Pom Purin or My Melody. This are items you won't be able to find at daiso. They also carry snacks from Meiji.
So here a snap shot of items i got from there:

3 Coins

As what the name say, 3 coins of 100 yen which make all items selling at ¥300. This shop is targeting at selling items at a better quality of those 100Yen shop. Is also a place where you are able to get all sort of items. But this time round I only get some Christmas ornaments as a gift for friends.

Natural Kitchen

I would say this shop selling more of home decoration items. They are like pop up store, where they often change the items according to festive season too.
Price can range from ¥100 to ¥1500. But most of the items is at ¥100 or ¥300. If you do not see any price label, that mean it is selling at ¥100.
So far in Tokyo I only manage to find it in Shinjuku some where at 2nd floor between the connection from My Lord to Odakyu department store.

So if you are in Tokyo and pass by all this shops, pop in and take a look.

With so many choices of dollar shops... you just can't have enough shopping at Japan.

I'm already start missing it.

JAPAN Haul on Toiletries and Cosmetic

My favourite place to shop in japan is none other place then their toiletries cum medication shop. It is something like Watson in singapore but with lots more of brand there.

I can spend hours looking at their different type of facial wash, sun block, vitamins and even snacks.

Here is some of the items that I bought this time round.

You can get the items from almost every toiletries shop except for the Kose Facial wash which only special carry by 7-eleven.

In Japan, places like Tokyo and osaka etc, most of this shops and 7-eleven is able to obtain tax free done at the shop for consumables items such as cosmetic and snacks by spending minimum  ¥5000. So plan your purchase well and you can save the 8% tax. This is one of their way to encourage tourist to spend more. Yup a clever move, and that is where I spend alot.

Comparing the price to singapore is definitely more worth it for those Japan made items. So be prepared to comb through the shop and burn your wallet.

Best Sushi in Tokyo - Sushi Dai 寿司大

This shop is super highly recommend by many travel blog, magazine and TripAdvisor.

The shop start operation from 5am end close at 2pm ( if i'm never read wrongly on the shop information paste on it). But i need to highlight, you may be disappointed if you come late, as they may end the Q earlier, due to long waiting time or running out of ingredients.

To get there from Shinjuku, take the Toei Oedo line (E27) and drop off the subway at (E18) Tsukijishijo Station and exit at Gate A1. This is the nearest subway station to Tsukiji Market .

We reached at around 6am and the que is already quite long. Everyone patiently wait for their turn. For us, we que almost 5hr... yes you never  hear wrongly.

You may check out the following website for the location:

http://www.tsukijigourmet.or.jp/22_sushidai/index.htm#02#_=_ 

Finally our que is outside the shop. The reason why the que is so long is due to the seating capacity. If not wrong, the max capacity is 15pax.

Since we que so long, we had chosen the Omasake Set which cost ¥4000 to enjoy 10pc sushi selected by the sushi chef +1pc of your choice. While waiting for our sushi to be serve, the set include yummy miso soup and piping hot tamagoyaki. 

Fatty Tuna

Sea Bass

Snapper

Sea Urchin

Yellow Tail from Hokkaido

The Scallop inside look super big and yummy

Yellow Jack

Skura

Not sure what type of hand roll. But taste like Maguro

Sea Eel

Clam ( Shell Fish)
It still moving when the chef give a hit on it

That the lovely chef who is preparing my last piece selected by myself. I like to have scallop and he prepared if fresh from the whole shell.

Here what we had. Left side scallop and right side abalone chose by Alan. Yum yum. 

After we finish our yummy sushi, out of curious we went to check how is the Que. It get shorter because a sign had been put up. And it was just coming to 11.30am. See that is why I highlight get there early to avoid disappointment.