We spent most of yesterday morning in Japantown in San Francisco. Most of that time was spent in Kinokuniya, the bookstore. I love Japanese craft books and magazines and while I order some on Ebay occasionally, I much prefer to look at them first and that's where the odd trip to Japantown comes in. I lucked out yesterday, found quite a few of them. I am always amazed at the quality of the Japanese magazines, all glossy, full of excellent pictures. But I am even more amazed at the huge variety and even more so at the amazing quantity of magazines exclusively dedicated to shopping. Wonder how that's going right now.
The next stop was a supermarket where I really didn't recognize much of anything other than the soup and rice bowls and these incredibly cute little chop sticks for beginners. No, I don't need them, I'm past the beginner stage but they were just too cute to pass up.
Then it was on to Ichibankan. To me, it's a Japanese version of either a Five & Dime or a 99 c store. Full of cute things, just about all of them plastic and all inexpensive. I couldn't pass on the Pooh Bear bowls, they'll be good for snacks, and the lunch boxes. I know I took too many pictures but I had to show how cleverly they open up to hold sandwiches etc.
3 comments:
I didn't know there was a Japantown! You sure looked at bags! I know how to use chopsticks, but now that my hands shake, I tend to launch food with them. A fork is safer. Cute lunch boxes! You really picked up a lot of nice things!
I didn't know about Japantown either!
When I worked in Philly, I never had the transportation to go to Chinatown -- and I wanted to.
I've been to NYC to Chinatown -- now that is a story for sometime....
Japantown is much smaller than Chinatown - only a few blocks this way and that way. But there's that terrific bookstore, Ichibankan, a store full of all things origami, a cool hardware store and, of course, lots of restaurants. Kinokuniya is in a nice mall but I tend to visit only the bookstore. Strangely enough, just about all of the plastic things (lunchboxes etc.) are made in China. But, then again, what isn't these days?
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