Grocery Shopping

When you travel to another country as a tourist there are things that you get to experience that are geared toward just that...tourists. However, when you travel to another country and get to be in someone's home who lives in that country, you can experience a part of the culture that tourists don't see fully...the daily aspects of life. So, instead of giving you landscape or traditional Japanese pictures and experiences I am here today to give you the mundane. And what could be more mundane than going to the grocery store?

This is the street that we walk down to get to our local grocery store. Armed with our shopping bags we make the 7-ish minute walk to Coop down this narrow strip of pavement and pass many shops and people along the way. A french restaurant, a dental clinic, a sewing shop, a liquor store, an electronics store, a sushi restaurant, a pharmacy, a few houses and apartment complexes, a tofu store, an ice shop....basically, a wide variety of establishments all along this street!


Inside the store....

I am as tall as all the shelves. In front of me is a wide selection of green tea!


Many varieties of rice from which to choose. I have no idea what makes one different from another or why different ones are so expensive. We just grab which ever bag it seems most people have taken. :) That method has served us well.


The checkout....
Do you see how small the shopping baskets are compared to those in the States? This is as big as they come in Japanese stores.


After our stop at the grocery store we make our way to the vegetable and fruit vendor. We can buy fruits and veggies from Coop but the produce isn't as tasty and the prices aren't as cheap.


A loaded down stroller with all our goodies!


Then back home to unload it all and we will make the trip again next week or sometimes later in the week.