Shopping at the Japanese Wal-Mart!
Published on October 16 2016
Segment: tours
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Prior to finding this location, we were shopping at Maruhei (a grocery store down the street), a drug store, and at the convenience stores for our supplies. There was also a Daiso (dollar store) and a Trials (another grocery store) in the other direction, but we would always need cash to go to any of those places, as credit cards are still a hit-and-miss in rural Japan.
That was, until we found Cainz (pronouced "Ka-i-nnz", like "Kind-z"). Cainz - to us at least - is the Japanese equivalent of Wal-Mart, and we do mean that. And it's only a 30-minute walk (or 10-minute car ride) from us!
They have everything you could ever want, and some stuff you didn't even know you wanted, like a hanger just for hoodies. They have a grocery section, a clothing section, a hardware section, bikes, workout gear, gardening/outdoor stuff, housewares, appliances, a barber shop (starting at ¥2400 per cut - we'll explain more about Japanese haircuts in a later video), a dry cleaners, and even a cafe (fries, coffee, ramen, etc) and a hot food section (fried pork, fried chicken, other fried stuff)! They also have a photo printing area and a hanko machine, which I used, and we'll explain hankos in another video, too.
And best part of all: they take credit cards! That doesn't mean that we are going to rack up our credit usage, but that also doesn't mean that we have to withdraw $100 every time we want/need to go shopping (which was a pain, since as of now, our finances are mainly in our American account, and we can only withdraw $100 minimum, plus transaction and ATM fee, from our account, until payday in Japan).
The only downside to Cainz (at least, the one in our town) is only open from 9am - 8pm, unlike most Wal-Marts which are 24/7. Since both Keat and I get off work at 4 (and I sometimes get home at 5:30, thanks to the trains), that means that we only have 3-4 hours to shop during the week.
Additionally, they also have their own version of a Membership card, called a Cainz card, that we got after our 2nd visit. Apparently, when you shop at Cainz (and buy other non-food items), you can build up points. I don't know what the points are for (yet), but we have about 50 points so far during our last few trips.
We just thought it would be nice to do a little tour video of our "local Japanese Wal-Mart" to show you what we have found, and where we're shopping.
What do you think of our little discovery? Do you shop at Cainz? Would you shop at Cainz? On a boat? With a goat? (Oh, wait...sorry, that's Dr. Seuss)
That was, until we found Cainz (pronouced "Ka-i-nnz", like "Kind-z"). Cainz - to us at least - is the Japanese equivalent of Wal-Mart, and we do mean that. And it's only a 30-minute walk (or 10-minute car ride) from us!
They have everything you could ever want, and some stuff you didn't even know you wanted, like a hanger just for hoodies. They have a grocery section, a clothing section, a hardware section, bikes, workout gear, gardening/outdoor stuff, housewares, appliances, a barber shop (starting at ¥2400 per cut - we'll explain more about Japanese haircuts in a later video), a dry cleaners, and even a cafe (fries, coffee, ramen, etc) and a hot food section (fried pork, fried chicken, other fried stuff)! They also have a photo printing area and a hanko machine, which I used, and we'll explain hankos in another video, too.
And best part of all: they take credit cards! That doesn't mean that we are going to rack up our credit usage, but that also doesn't mean that we have to withdraw $100 every time we want/need to go shopping (which was a pain, since as of now, our finances are mainly in our American account, and we can only withdraw $100 minimum, plus transaction and ATM fee, from our account, until payday in Japan).
The only downside to Cainz (at least, the one in our town) is only open from 9am - 8pm, unlike most Wal-Marts which are 24/7. Since both Keat and I get off work at 4 (and I sometimes get home at 5:30, thanks to the trains), that means that we only have 3-4 hours to shop during the week.
Additionally, they also have their own version of a Membership card, called a Cainz card, that we got after our 2nd visit. Apparently, when you shop at Cainz (and buy other non-food items), you can build up points. I don't know what the points are for (yet), but we have about 50 points so far during our last few trips.
We just thought it would be nice to do a little tour video of our "local Japanese Wal-Mart" to show you what we have found, and where we're shopping.
What do you think of our little discovery? Do you shop at Cainz? Would you shop at Cainz? On a boat? With a goat? (Oh, wait...sorry, that's Dr. Seuss)
References (In case you didn't know)
- Why Japanese people, why!? [Potato Jason] - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AqragQq63Js
- Pen Pineapple Apple Pen - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0E00Zuayv9Q