Guide to setting up a flat in Tokyo

Since we have gone through this experience recently, I thought I share my insights for the benefit of other gaijin (foreigners) who have to do the same.
Since we have a limited time horizon in Japan, we rather went for the cheapish segment. We bought from the following stores:

• Nitori (ニトリ)
• Muji (無印良品)
• Ishimaru
• GrandStage
• FrancFranc

Of course there’s also IKEA in Japan, but of this we have had already our fair share in Europe….
Of course the above list of stores is by no means exhaustive, it just contains stores that were in convenient reach for us.

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Kappabashi-dori

Our new flat is located just off Kappabashi-dori (Kappa Bridge street). This street (and surrounding ones) are notable for selling everything you might need to open your new restaurant, from pots big enough to cook small children in, to waiter and sushi chef uniforms, to the plastic food that is on display outside many Japanese restaurants. Apart from this, they also have everything you might need in your own kitchen at home. You want Japanese tea boxes, a Damascus steel chef knife or, say, carp shaped chopstick rests? No problem.

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The 100 Yen Stores

There’s something that you could call a Japanese institution: the 100 Yen Stores. These are stores, where, as the names says, everything costs 100 Yen. Well, almost. In some stores, special items can also cost 200 or 300 Yen (100 Yen = 79 Euro Cents = 1.16 CHF today). But in general, the cashier just counts the number of items you bought and multiplies this number times 100 (sometimes plus taxes). Everyone goes there. In fact it was our translator who took us there first, right after the city hall and the bank.

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Shopping in Kashiwa City

Since today was a holiday (autumn equinox), we decided to start exploring our surroundings a bit and go to Kashiwa city. The train station is an half hour bus ride away from the campus. Over and around the station, a big shopping complex has grown. Looking down from the station, Kashiwa really looks like one imagines a Japanese town.

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