Turning Japanese, Part 3

Subtitle: Oh My Goodness, Best Store Ever!

On Friday night, Mike convinced me that even the sickly need fresh air and took me out to dinner at the Plaza Singapura mall. I did my best not to cough all over the mapo doufu while I filled him in on all my Tokyo shopping research, in particular how it was imperative that we check out a bunch of 100 Yen stores, the universally beloved dollar stores in Japan, which apparently have fantastical things like Hello Kitty chopsticks.

And then, on the way out of the mall, we just happened to pass a brand-new branch of Daiso, reportedly the very best of the 100 Yen stores (at least according to Lucky mag, and they are never wrong, except maybe about paperbag-waist skirts. I'm still not convinced about those.)

Anyway! It seems the Japanese 100 Yen store can also be found in Singapore, rebranded as a S$2 store (that's about USS1.25) and full of amazing things. We could have spent the rest of the night there, but they kicked us out when it closed. I am planning an immediate return trip, for more pretty little dishes and unusual home tools and funky desk supplies and all the millions of things they managed to pack into this store. It's a crafty person's dream. You will not be disappointed. (Er, I hope.) Here are a few things I picked up, and a few snaps from around the store.

Even the silliest things look cool when repackaged by the Japanese:


I picked up these little dishes, perfect for serving nuts or candies or just looking nice:


Of course there was a Hello Kitty section:


And… of course I bought myself a little plastic Hello Kitty case.


And here I am, somewhat overwhelmed by the vast incredibleness of it all: