Shopping experience at Costco wholesale, Makuhari

This was the fourth time I did purchase at COSTCO WHOLESALE at Makuhari after coming to Japan. When Balasan told about Costco and the economical benefits of purchasing from Costco one year before, I was not fully convinced obviously because I was leading a single life at that time in Japan.

Now with family, purchasing from Costco is an economically beneficial. Membership is mandatory to purchase from Costco. Two individuals can do shopping with one membership card. Balasan has taken the membership card for one year. The one year membership card costs 4000 yen without tax.

When we buy household items in bulk, Costco is a good choice, as far as our experience goes. I could see Ready to eat MTR foods from India, which is an attractive item for Indians and Pakistanis in Japan. The cost of 4 Nos of Palak paneer packs cost 898 Japanese Yen. The average cost of one pack is 224.5 Japanese yen. The same Palak paneer from MTR in other local shops in Tokyo that sells Indian foods costs 480 Japanese yen. There are some Indian shops that sell little bit cheaper than 480 Yen but not very near to the cost at Costco.

Another example is the cost of Olive oil. The one liter Olive oil I bought from a local supermarket cost me around 900 Yen, while the one I did yesterday at Costco cost me around 500 Yen per liter, when purchased a can of 5 liters.

Travelling from our place to Makuhari is the only disadvantage for us to shop at Costco. For me, living at Higashi Ojima, I have to take Toei Shinjuku line up to Motoyawata. From there by changing to JR line to reach Nishi Funabashi. From Nishi Funabashi the frequency of trains directly to Kahin Makuhari is less. Most of the time we have to make one more transfer at Minami Funabashi to reach finally at Kahin Makuhari. From Kahin Makuhari we will board the bus that goes to Costco wholesale, Makuhari. There are two buses in every one hour. We have to plan the travel as per the bus timings to save time.

When we used to go to OVTA for our Japanese lessons, it was easier to shop at Saturdays once the Japanese lessons are finished. Vegetables and Food items are much cheaper compared to shopping at local shops. Costco is a wholesale shop whose history dates back to 1976 when it started first sale in Morena Boulevard in San Diego, CA, U.S.A.

First Costco warehouse was opened in Seattle, WA, U.S.A in 1983, Costco have more than 500 locations worldwide. Best part of Costco is it is open not only to business customers, but to retail customers too can avail the benefit of purchasing the things at whole sale price. Costco operates at nine locations in Japan. The branches in Japan are in Fukuoka (Hisayama), Chiba (Makuhari), Machida City (Tamasakai), Hyogo (Amagasaki), Yokohama (Kanazawa), Kawasaki (Kawasaki), Sapporo (Sapporo) and in Saitama two branches one at Iruma and another at Shinmisato. We can see the Makuhari branch when we go to Kahin Makuhari from Nishi Funabashi on our way to OVTA for Japanese lessons. Click here for Costco website in Japan; Costco.jp

For address and location map to reach at Costco warehouse at Makuhari, click here; Costco Makuhari

For address and location map to reach at Costco warehouse at Tamsakai, click here; Costco Tamasakai

For address and location map to reach at Costco warehouse at Amagasaki, click here; Costco Amagasaki

For address and location map to reach at Costco warehouse at Hisayama, click here; Costco Hisayama

For address and location map to reach at Costco warehouse at Kanazawa seaside, click here; Costco Kanazawa seaside

For address and location map to reach at Costco warehouse at Kawasaki, click here; Costco Kawasaki

For address and location map to reach at Costco warehouse at Sapporo, click here; Costco Sapporo

For address and location map to reach at Costco warehouse at Iruma, click here; Costco Iruma

For address and location map to reach at Costco warehouse at Shinmisato, click here; Costco Shinmisato

Shopping at Costco is a good option to control the living cost in Tokyo. Living in Tokyo is highly expensive especially with family. Then the options like Costco will make the living somewhat comfortable though not fully. Daily living items, the expiry date of which are more than 6 months can be purchased at once in bulk to save money while we do shopping at Costco. One of the disadvantages is that most of the times we have limited options of brands to choose from. Electronic items do not have many options.

As one of the Japanese friend told, foreigners in Japan spend more money for living as they lack information on places where they can do economical purchasing. Local people and foreigners who have been living in Japan for long know such places and have many options for shopping. They can limit their expenses to their budget, while many of the new comers to Japan spend more unknowingly due to lack of information. Single living does not require many items to be stored in bulk. This also tempts singles to buy from local shops as and when required and that costs them higher making the living expense in Japan further high.

Memories live in heart – Friendship with Mustain-san

Along with drizzles there were agonies of severance when we hugged. That was the pain of heart which the pen might not be able to convey. That is the kind of communion of hearts beyond cultures, community, nations and religions that expatriates makes during their stay away from their mother land in a foreign country. Some of the Japanese people passing through at that late night at Keisei Narita railway station might have witnessed a traditional Indian way of hugging. It was the final moments we shared each other in Japan – Mustain-san and me.

Mustain-san departed from Japan. He was one of my best friends for the last one year stay in Japan. He was the one to whom I could talk at first in the office as a friend, with whom I shared my personal feelings, thoughts, ideas and pleasures. Mustain-san showed me where to do shopping, where to look for economical purchasing and how to transfer trains in Tokyo. Those initial training was very much essential and helpful for my survival in Japan.

We visited many places in and around Tokyo together during weekends. He introduced me to the Indonesian restaurants in Tokyo and one of the Indonesian shop at Okachimachi. During Sundays I also go with Mustain-san to buy some items from Indonesian shop at Okachimachi. The boiled tapioca tender leaves with small fishes tasted good for me. I became frequent visitor to that Indonesian shop till we shifted our stay to separate apartments during September 2008.

Through Mustain-san I learned more about Indonesia and its culture. I had some general idea about Indonesia, but through him I got some deep knowledge of the complex culture of Indonesia and its ethnicity.

We studied lessons of Japanese language together at OVTA and shared our new words while working and walking back to the apartment. We made fun together and enjoyed with other friends. We dined together in different Indian and Indonesian restaurants in Tokyo. Mustain-san was my argument partner interestingly. We argue on technical issues and gained more knowledge. Now I feel a vacuum without Mustain-san.

Mohammad Mustain from Indonesia is no more with me now. He had already crossed the sea that separates Japan and Indonesia. We are far away but the memories are warm in the heart. After all friendship goes beyond sea and sky.

Thanks Mustain-san for everything you gave me during our days together in Japan. I miss you a lot.

A trip to Asakusa - City of temples in Tokyo

It was from Morishita sensei that I heard about Asakusa first time while I was attending Japanese language class at OVTA. She mentioned about Asakusa while referring the Japanese word ‘Omiyage’. Omiyage in Japanese means gift or presentation. She told, there are plenty of traditional Japanese Omiyage shops in Asakusa.

Asakusa is a tourist spot both for people visiting in Tokyo from other parts of Japan and for foreigners. Today I got that opportunity to go to Asakusa. In fact, I was thinking to visit Asakusa for quite sometime after hearing about this place from Morishita sensei. I made the trip with a friend who was also wishing to visit Asakusa.

Asakusa is famous for its Sensoji temple. It is a Buddhist temple. Asakusa is a district in Taito Tokyo. There are several more temples in Asakusa, as well as various festivals. Asakusa is a traditional Japanese city famous for its temples and festivals.

Coming out of the A4 exit of Asakusa line (Tokyo metro), we asked the way to a Japanese girl standing in front of the exit. She could partly understand our broken Japanese, but she could manage to direct us to the desired location. We walked to the location to where she pointed her finger.

There were many foreign people on the road. I was surprised by seeing the man pulling rickshaws on the road. There are still these kind of old traditional vehicles seen in Tokyo! I could not resist taking photos of those rickshaws on the Asakusa road. I had a wrong notion that rickshaws are popular in India only. Now I realized that was my biggest mistake. I have seen a plenty of human powered rickshaws in India’s Northern states. Still those are bicycle connected. Human pulling rickshaws are considered a human rights violation.

In Asakusa, these rickshaws are maintained as part of tourism. Nobody really want to travel long distances in rickshaws. Sitting and travelling in human pulling rickshaws bring back memories of past mode of transportation. Later I learned that in Japan also rickshaws were popular. Probably I made a big mistake before realizing now that the word rickshaw have its origin in Japanese word Jinrikisha.

In Jinrikisha, we can see a combination of three words like Jin, riki, and sha. The word ‘Jin’ means human or person, ‘riki’ means power or force, and the word ‘sha’ is for vehicle. So, the word ‘Jinrikisha’ is human-powered vehicle! It was a new knowledge for me when my friend explained the concept of Rickshaw. Moreover, my wrong concepts of origin of human powered vehicles were being rewritten when I visited Asakusa. English people called human-powered vehicles ‘Pedicabs’.

Asakusa is famous for its ‘Omiyage’ shops. The street that leads to the Sensoji temple and the nearest area are full of Omiyage shops. We could see many women dressed in Traditional Japanese kimono. Asakusa is famous for geisha population also, I heard.

Asakusa was the center of entertainment in Tokyo for a most part of 20th century Japanese life. Now the attraction for entertainment has shifted to Shinjuku from Asakusa. Still Asakusa is famous for its classical Japanese films as many of the tourists are elderly Japanese who visit Buddhist and Shinto temples of Asakusa.