Oh Japan, the home of ramen, sushi, onsens and yup, 100 yen stores. This is definitely the homeland where practical meets cute.
pratical meets cute.
Take good notes, the 100 yen shops you don’t wanna sleep on are:
SERIA
Of all the 100 yen stores, this is my go to. I love the layout, selection of glassware, trinket dishes, paper goods and seasonal items.
The front always has their seasonal goodies like heart items for Valentine’s Day, calendars and little figurines for new years and last month, they had a huge array of dog items like a hand towel with a puppy tail. Woof!
While Seria doesn’t have snack items, I find their stationary and craft aisles to be twice as big as other 100 yen shops.
TANCHAT:
If you’re a hard core shopper, give yourself time to peruse up and down every aisle at Seria. It’s a great place for souvenirs and gifts to bring back home at 100 yen. Honestly, I can spend 2+ hours in a Seria in the blink of an eye. Ask Bryson!
CANDO
I love Can Do for a lot of practical yet over-the-top cute items like the duck can opener, bear sponge or ziploc bags with banana designs on them.
It’s much more everyday useful, but the products are all good quality for 100 yen. They have a small snack and food area with delicious ume packs, chestnuts, warabi nuts, grape and peach gummies galore and my fave, Calbee mini granola packs. Oh those are TWO for 100 yen.
Check out our Can Do must haves here.
Can Do also has licensed products from Miffy which I am obsessed with! It’s pricier (500 yen for a set of Miffy sponges, 300 yen for a Miffy towel) but so much cheaper than anywhere else. Those are the few 100 yen exceptions at Can Do, which we can do!
WATTS
Located in Watanabe, near Tenjin Station.
This is a mini, but awesome, 100 yen store. It’s super similar to Can Do with practical items that are smartly designed and invented.
For example, I stock up on round mini bandaids for my blisters, menthol nose plugs for runny noses and super tiny tongs you can use for peanuts at a party or for a stuffed animal. LOL. 100 yen right?
I stop at Watts when I can find them! They’re normally connected to a drug store on 2nd floors. Keep an eye out for a 100 yen sign with WATTS! written on it and dip in.
LIVCHAT:
True story? On the last day of our Tokyo trip, we were all heading back to the hotel to have our last lunch and meet the cab driver to head to the airport. Tan pointed at a sign that said 100 yen store 2F. Watts? I’ve never heard of it! So she asked me if I wanted to pop in there and skip lunch with the gang. We both looked at each other and head up the stairs. LOL!
We power shopped in that 100 yen store for 20 minutes and had to hand carry our haul back in a store purchased zip bag. That was totally worth skipping lunch for!
DAISO
Located in Hakata Station, Hakata Bus Terminal
Then there’s Daiso, which is all over Japan and now all over Hawaii, California and Las Vegas. Daiso is a “if-we-have-time” kinda 100 yen store now. The one win in Japan? Things are still mostly 100 yen compared to $2.25 in Hawaii.
Daisos are big, which means they have a ton of stuff. But that also means they have a ton of people, which makes shopping a little less fun! To me, Daisos are good for the necessities when you’re on your trip. I run in to buy hand warmers, extra socks, a pack of chestnuts, bottled drinks. Daiso is also perfect for buying omiyage since they have aisles and aisles of snacks and food all at 100 yen.
Pro tip? At the Hakata Bus Terminal location near the snack section look for the big “7” and “100 yen” sign. There’s a little candy bar area and you can get 7 pieces for 100 yen. They also have snacks that come in packs of 4, perfect for goodie bags – 4 for 100 yen = 25 yen each!
Did you know Daiso has two sister stores that are usually connected or nearby the big Daisos? Threepy and Standard Products. Both are about 300-500 yen stores but a lot trendier. They have bear shaped plates and bowls, bag straps with lace, funny house slippers, fake plants and good fabric sprays. While it’s not 100 yen, it’s still really affordable!
bonus!
3 COINS
Located in Hakata Station in the AMU Wing
While this isn’t a 100 yen shop, it’s a 300 yen shop called 3 Coins. It’s a must stop for me since they have really stylish earrings (clip style too!), ear cuffs, hair pins and brooches. Plus smart gadgets like a cooling neck pack, tiny UV umbrellas and a soap dispenser that pumps upwards so you never have to lift the soap. Some items are 500 yen but most are 300 yen, hence the “three coins” name. Woohoo!
