Welcome to the craze that is sweeping the nation. When I first arrived in Japan the dollar store boom was just taking off. It seemed that everywhere you looked there were buildings with 5 or 6 stories full of nothing but items for only 100 yen.

'Who cares', you're thinking, 'Japan isn't the only country with dollar stores selling useless crap'. Well hard to believe but dollar stores in Japan actually sell good stuff, useful stuff that you can use more than once and aren't ashamed to have bought. The competition is stiff to rid you of your 100 yen coins, so nowdays the stores are selling better and better stuff. Just as an example, the other day I bought an oven dish at my nearest dollar store. A few days later at a regular housewares store I saw the exact same dish for 2000 yen. I pity the fools who'll end up paying 20 times more than they should. I felt like putting up a little sign warding people away.... Anyway back to the main topic of this artice. Recently a new player has entered the dollar store battle, and that is the above named 99 Yen Shop. One thing about stores in Tokyo, they evolve faster than you can think. If there is a niche to fill, it'll be filled faster than you can say 'irasshaimase'. The 99 Yen Shop doesn't just sell things, it sells food! (as well as all the regular stuff). Imagine the fun of shopping in a grocery store where everything is only a buck. Not only that, but they have pretty much everything you could want, the staff is hardworking and polite, none of their products are crap, and most importantly, you get to listen to their theme song. Goes something like: Kyu, Kyu-Kyu, Kyu-Kyu, Kyu-Kyu-Kyu! (kyu means 9 obviously). Of course more expensive things like meat and cheese come in smaller quantities, but you can still save tons of money. Now I can't even fathom what I'd do without their 99 yen 1 litre carton of low fat milk, or their 99 yen bunch of banans. You rock 99 Yen Shop!

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