Costco: A $10 Train Ride to America

Today, in celebration of my four day weekend, I decided to go to Costco in Osaka. For those of you who do not know Costco, (I'm resigned to the fact that there still may be a few people left on the planet that do not know this magnificent shopping experience) it's a large shopping warehouse that sells American goods at wholesale prices and in gigantic portions. Though economical in it's design, why anyone would need three 2-liter bottles of ketchup is beyond me.

Everyone i have talked to said that Costo Japan is the closest thing to an American shopping village like a Chinatown or Little Tokyo back stateside, but what I was not expecting was to step into a store 6000 miles away. Every detail about Costco USA has been duplicated in Japan without exception. It was almost as if i was transported to the Scottsdale Costco I know so well by some futuristic Japanese de-atomizer. But to my awkward surprise there were still a lot of Japanese people around. In the past two months I have grown accustom to miniature shopping carts, miniature parking spaces, and super compact shops. After the initial membership test--retinal scan, secret handshake, super-secret verbal password with voice recognition--they scanned my Costco membership card and I was welcomed by the familiar, no, identical store layout. On the right hand side, immediately after the entrance was the shady eye doctor and prescription center. Directly to the left and in the immediate path of all the foot traffic were the overpriced flat-screen and plasma televisions, outdated printers and computers, cheesy jewelry and random assorted "on sale" items. I am used to crowded places by now, but Japan + Costco = chaos. It was a bit surprising seeing Japanese people pushing these overloaded, extra-wide shopping carts while balancing two screaming children, two hot dogs and two cokes. It was far too unusual for my liking, but it made me feel surprisingly at home. The rest of the store was just as one might expect; clothing, dvd, music, chips and outdoor furniture in the middle. On the far left side of the store was all the food in bulk and on the right side of the store was all the non-consumables like kitchen knives and vacuum cleaners. Lastly, in the back was all the alcohol, fruits, meats and breads. It really felt like a bizarre-o version of America in the heart of Japan.

After spending the equivalent of $70 on only 6 items (huge tub of Skippy chunky peanut butter, Quaker Oats granola, Best Foods mayo, kirkland brand tuna, kirkland canned chicken, and Poppycock-nuts and popcorn and caramel) we made our way to the japanese version of Costco food. To my pleasant surprise, it was the same exact food offered at US Costco. I indulged myself on two large slices of pizza and a coke. It was pleasant to not have unusual things like corn and mayo on my pizza.

Overall, it was a successful trip. I bought just the perfect amount that would fit in my suitcase I brought, because like at American Costos there are no bags provided. It would have been a real pain in the butt to try and juggle all my things home on the train without my suitcase. One of the members of our group had to buy a bag to carry all of her things home. Prepare yourselves, this will sound a bit chauvinistic but it remains true... My hypothesis that women have no eye for spacial relations remains valid and unchallenged.