The Zen of Costco

I walked into Costco and bought a piano.

Okay, I didn't buy the piano but I thought about it. You know you would have too. It's Costco people.

I've been in this country for 3 months now and my pants were on fire to check out the big box store, so on a whim I printed off directions, strapped Kawaii Girl #2 into the backseat and chose the hardest possible route to get there. For reasons that defy common sense, I opted to suffer my way through the narrow and trafficy streets of Yokohama, on a 45 minute drive vs. a 20 minute, quick and straight shot on the toll roads.

I did it for the adventure. An adventure is what I got.

This is the farthest I have driven from the base and before I even started the car, I read and memorized how to get there, complete with drawings of landmarks. I knew to be on the lookout for a Colonel Sanders, of Kentucky Fried Chicken fame, tucked on the side of a building where I was to make my first turn. Kawaii Girl #2 started in on me and after a brief discussion of her losing her after-nap graham crackers dipped in Nutella, I never heard a peep from her again. With that squared away, I started to panic a little...crap, the directions said to turn in 9 kilometers, what was that conversion again?? My palms started to sweat and my eyes started to go cross as I kept glancing from the road to the directions to the rearview mirrors and back to the directions. Ahh, is that chicken I smell? I made my first turn.

The rest of the drive was more relaxed until the directions didn't quite mesh with the actual street I was on. I kept driving deeper and deeper into an industrial area and my language reflected that of a stereotypical American truck driver. Why didn't I take that toll road? After a quick sumimasen (excuse me) I somehow figured out how to ask where Costco was and when the truck driver pointed across the street to the large and familiar looking warehouse, I laughed out loud, a mixture of relief and glee. I bowed and made my way up to the rooftop parking. I may be in Japan, but for this moment, I was home.

Some things that made this Costco unique:

On the way from the parking lot to the store, the downward sloped people mover that magnetically locked the cart in place so it wouldn't roll away. Kawaii Girl #2 began to hold on for dear life when she saw me take my hands off the cart to take the picture. Really, the cart didn't budge a bit. Very cool!


Local fare


Butter in a tube and grated gouda...so cool! Forget Buddha, Gouda is my inner peace.

And the reason you go to Costco:

The gadgets...and the muffins...heaven!

I went for chicken breasts and left with enough bread and croissants to overflow my freezer but just enough to satisfy me until my next trip out here. So I didn't walk away with the piano, it was tempting, but equally challenging, I am now faced with where to put the 10-pack of paper towels.

Top 5 unfortunately named Japanese coffees

Canned coffee, both hot and cold, are staples found in every vending machine you encounter in Japan. WTF Husband and I were giddy (okay, I was giddy, he was thirsty) with excitement when we had our first can of hot coffee from a machine. Then we read the names. No doubt I should be more mature about it, but truthfully, every time I see these, I can't "can" my laughter. No commentary necessary, these speak for themselves:

BM Coffee Deepresso Coffee

BJ Coffee Black Boss Coffee

GOD Coffee

Product of the day - kairo pad

In the category of neat things from Japan, here is a little invention that I could use today. Maybe because I've been sick, but I'm cold. Really, truly, cold. The kind of cold where you wish you could get off the couch to adjust the heat but it is so cold you don't want to move, cold. Is it just me who that makes sense to?

I've seen little warming bags that you put in your pocket to warm your fingers in America, but nothing like this. These come in all shapes and sizes. This particular style is for your shoe.

This little cloth bag gets hot when you open the plastic wrapping. Stick it anywhere on your body, but please do so on the outside of your clothes otherwsie you might just suffer 2nd degree burns. Anything that gets hot enough to burn you is my kind of product. This heating pad - called a kairo pad, warms up to 43 degrees celcius...I'm still learning my conversions but that is about 109 degrees farhenheit. Sounds like heaven on a cold day.