Have you heard of Daiso? Also commonly known as the 100 yen shop in Japan. Well, Daiso is but one of the many 100 yen shops… but it’s the only one that made it to Singapore. And many other countries too. It’s in USA, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, China, Hong Kong, Malaysia, Indonesia, Philippines… and many more. Check their website for a full list of countries (Scroll to the bottom and look for your country flag).

Of course, depending on your country, the price is different. But the bottom line is that, everything is that same, cheap, fixed price. Well almost. I went to the Australia store and they had some larger items for more. In Singapore though, everything is $2.

I brought my friend to Daiso yesterday… It was her first visit there and she was really amazed. She couldn’t believe that EVERYTHING is only $2. Even things like a small pot/frying pan… Or the whole claypot set. All for two bucks. She was amazed at how they managed to sell the goods at such a cheap price. Indeed… many of the items were sold for way more elsewhere.

Decorative tape from Daiso

For example, these decorative tape. I got these from Daiso, for 2 bucks each. Elsewhere, the decorative tapes of presumably higher quality are sold for 7 bucks each. I could get all these 3 tapes and still have a dollar remaining.

Naturally, with things being so cheap, you tend to end up buying stuff that you  might need, but end up not using. Which I suspect is the main reason why they are doing so well. The queues at the checkout stretches for miles each time I’m there….

Still, there are a lot of great deals there, and plenty of useful things (many of which you never knew even existed) invented by the creative Japanese people. Somehow they are really good when it comes to little home conveniences.

I chanced upon this cup while there yesterday, and took a liking to it immediately.

Cup, with names of fishes inscribed

Not only are the kanjis of various fishes written on the cup, the hiragana is also included at the side! I know a bunch of them already, being the sushi/sashimi loving Chinese speaker that I am, but there remains kanjis to learn, and fish to eat and recognise. I’ll post some of these words as a kanji spotlight article in the days to come. 🙂

That’s all there is for this blog post! Do check if there’s a Daiso near you, and check it out if there is! 🙂