5 Essential Stores for Living in Japan

CAINZ is a home center that provides you with everything you need for home improvement and more. Mainly focused on construction tools, gardening tools, and products for daily life can be found at CAINZ. This would be equivalent to a Home Depot in the US. Like most large Japanese retail stores, you can find almost anything you need for everyday life. While CAINZ is a home center, they also offer daily essentials like toiletries and food.

If you need anything electronic, Edion is the place to go. Edion is a consumer electronic retailer chain, and has everything from air conditioners to computer chargers. Although Edion is not the largest electronic retailer in Japan, Edion is the easiest to navigate through the inside of the store. Another store similar to Edion would be YAMADA DENKI. YAMADA DENKI is the largest electronic retailer in Japan and has a location in every city. However, YAMADA DENKI and other electronic store like it may be harder to use for foreigners as the inside of the store is often crowded with signs in Japanese.

Aeon Japan is a retail store that mainly focuses on its supermarket division. Aeon is one of the largest and most reliable supermarkets in Japan, and can be found in almost any city. It is often attached to a shopping mall with over 100 retail stores from clothing to baby toys. This is a place you can get your grocery shopping done as well as your luxury shopping. Food courts can also be found in most locations, making it easier to spend more time without hungry kids.

Don Quijote, or more popularly known as Donki, is a discount chain store that fills its floors from floor to ceiling with a wide range of products. Unlike other retail stores, Don Quijote is opened at later hours or even opened 24 hours. There is nothing you can’t find here, offering cheap snacks to Japanese souvenirs. Going to Don Quijote can be an experience in itself with its mesmerizing range of products they have in the store.

The name says it all. This is where you can get almost anything for 100 yen (equivalent to 1 dollar). 100 yen stores are the equivalent to a dollar store in the U.S. However, 100 yen stores offer a wide range of great quality products, unlike its US counterparts. You don’t have to worry about these products breaking easily or become useless in a month. Although there are many reliable 100 store brands, Diaso is the most well known in Japan.