Tuesday, August 17, 2010

2nd Day of Shopping

Today Mai and I got together for lunch. It was considered a business lunch because she needed to place an order with me. We met at one of our favorite places to eat which serves the best garlic chicken. We both got it with a green salad and brown rice.


After I was done with work, I went shopping again. This time I went to a relatively new Japanese grocery store. I'm not sure how long it's been open here but I think approximately a year. I love Nijiya! There are items at this store that isn't available at the long-time Japanese product stores that we have here. I ended up spending more than I should have.  I went mainly to pick up this juice.


It is the husband's favorite juice. It has a lot of pulp in it, which he really likes. I bought him 15 cans for his birthday. I know that a lot of the Japanese products are priced waaay more than in Japan but it's the price we have to pay if we want these things. The cost of the juice was $2.55 USD each.

I picked up some grocery items--nori, soba, cream stew mix and okonimiyaki sauce. I didn't know that they made it spicy! I had to get it. I have the regular sauce already but I love spicy foods! The average price of these were approximately $4.00 each.


Next is snacks for me! I love the choco baby candy and this was a giant container! The kitkat is in bitter almond flavor, which I ate tonight and it's really yummy. The suika (watermelon) candy isn't what I really wanted. My son, who lives in Japan,  had sent me this same candy except it was a gummy candy. I loved it! This one is a hard candy so it's not as good. My son said that the gummy one is a seasonal candy and he can't find it any more. He didn't realize it was seasonal otherwise he would have bought a whole lot more. He said that he really liked it too. Then there's the cream pan (cream bread). This has been my favorite for a long time. I can't find it too often though. My friend in Kamisu nearly had a heart attack when he heard how much it is here. He doesn't buy it but he thinks it's under $1.00 in Japan. I got it on sale for $1.99 USD.


I've been jealous by the fact that in Asia the magazines come with great gifts. The bookstore here doesn't sell the magazine with gift, as far as I have seen. Perhaps I hadn't been looking at them properly. However, this store sells the magazines with the gifts! I was so happy that I picked up 3 magazines today. I don't like the pricing because I can see how much it costs in Japan. Our pricing is over double the cost of Japan.


There was one magazine that I haven't heard of before but I liked the look of the gift so I purchased it. That magazine is Nylon. I'm glad that I got it because it's a fashion magazine, which I'm finding interesting. The bag is really great too. It's a decent-sized tote bag and it doesn't feel really cheaply made.


I really love the gift that came with the Spring magazine. It's a zipped Milk Fed tote bag. I love bags that will zip shut. It's a heavy duty nylon/plastic fabric and is quite sturdy.



The last gift came with the More magazine. I thought that it would be much bigger than it is. As you can see, it's just about the same size as my iPhone. I doesn't hold much at all.

Lastly, and this makes this a beauty post, I purchased Shiseido Hadasui Skin and Body Lotion. On the back of the bottle, it also says that it's a facial lotion. This is a spray bottle with water consistency lotion. You can spray this on to hydrate your skin. It is especially nice to use to refresh yourself during the hot summer months.  It is a nice-sized bottle at 240 ml. and it cost $7.99. I believe that this is a good value.


I had fun shopping in Nijiya today. I rarely go to this store since it's a little out of my way but I will try to go there more often.

*Kat*

13 comments:

K said...

Thanks for sharing! People may think that Japanese stuff in the US is expensive, but the opposite is true too. UDPP, found online, was more than 3000 yen! Our magazines are the same way. For example, Cosmopolitan was over 1500 yen when I last saw it!

I know what's going in your package from me!

Unknown said...

Hi Kat,

Magazines over here are very expensive too. I remember when I picked up an asain mag and it was like $35 or something, I almost had a heart attack!

The garlic chicken look really tasty. Hope you enjoyed your great day =)

Georgina said...

hi kat! the chicken looks delish! glad you got to shop today, thats so sweet of you to buy hubby's fave OJ :)

im jealous of your magazines! :D i love magazines with gifts too! but my favorite asian mag is ViVi, just because the stuff inside are so kawaii :D

galpal.hi said...

K, yeah, that's true. Non-Japanese items are expensive in Japan. I actually spent over $100.00 yesterday in Nijiya but overall I'm really happy with what I got.

*Kat*

galpal.hi said...

Lisa, a magazine was almost $35.00?! OMG! I haven't seen that pricing for a magazine. The highest that I paid yesterday was just about $20.00.

The garlic chicken is yumm! Thanks for commenting!

*Kat*

galpal.hi said...

coffretgorge--That garlic chicken is really the best that I've tasted. As long as you don't mind smelling like a bulb of garlic all day long and perhaps even the next day, then I highly recommend it.

Yes, I love ViVi and Nonno. Actually, there's others too but too many to mention since it's not just the fashion magazines but the idol ones too. Gotta have my eye candy.

*Kat*

♥ Starryxuan said...

Magazines with nice gifts often sell out very fast! I like Nylon too :)

The Shiseido Hadasui Skin and Body Lotion seems like a great value! hope you will review it :):)

galpal.hi said...

Hi Starryxuan! Thanks for following and commenting.

I'll do a review on the Shiseido Hadasui Lotion after I use it for a few times. It seems like it's something that I'd like since it's hydrating.

*Kat*

Anonymous said...

Karage looks yummy there! but its weird, i always avoid it because i get pimples from greasy food :(

Lovely haul, i LOVE hadasui when I used it before... I hope you'll like it as much I do!

I love your magazine with GWPs! That's what make japanese mag so great.. xD

BV said...

I buy Japanese mags purely for the gifts. Sounds shallow but they have seriously good gifts!! It is easily double the Japanese price in Australia but Kinokuniya has sales at least once a year where everything is 50% off. I usually pick up about 10 magazines then! Guffaw! Unfortunately I can't read the articles but they have fantastic pictures and I love drooling over Japanese brands, gorgeous clothes (so stylish!) and of course, amazing nail art!! Thank you so much for sharing this I felt like I had gone shopping myself...

Audrey said...

That food looks uber yummy! ♥

galpal.hi said...

BV--I know! The gifts are really great, nice quality too. At least you have a Kinokuniya there. We don't have one in Hawaii, which seems odd to me. Hawaii has a lot of Japanese people so you would think that they'd consider opening up here.

*Kat*

galpal.hi said...

hkittygirl--Thanks for commenting! I see that you like Rilakkuma. My friend in Japan has a super huge stuffed Rilakkuma. It will fit on his whole bed. Amazing!

*Kat*