Off to Co.Stow.Co

Being the Southern girl I am, I can certainly tell you all about Sam's Warehouse store.

Being the Momma of four ever-growing kids, I can certainly rattle off the benefits of "bulk" shopping for certain items. 

But, we just moved to Japan. 

Japan has 124 million people in a country smaller than California.

Things are tight here. 

Their cars skinny and quite small.

Wait, a second, so are the Japanese themselves 😃

Japan is known for having tiny amounts of storage in their itty bitty homes. 

Our "house" here is over 1,000 square feet smaller than the one we just left in Texas. 

Yes, I said 1,000 square feet. 

So, when I heard the scuttlebutt about having a warehouse store I thought I had

misunderstood. 

(Yes, I phrased that sentence just so I could use the word scuttlebutt. It's a fabulous word that I rarely get to throw into normal conversation. Thanks for letting me use it now. Alas, I digress.) 

Then, our sensei for the head start class we are required to take asked if I enjoyed shopping.

Umm, .... yes ... Especially alone and without an agenda.

He told me I needed to check out this great store that Americans and locals love called, "Co-stow-co". 

He said it several times, hoping that slowing down the pronunciation would help this chick.a.dee. 

I still couldn't understand. 

Finally, a light bulb went off.

"Would you mind writing down the name of the store for me so I can look up directions," I asked our wonderful sensei. 

He sounded out the syllables as he wrote.

 "Co.stow.co" is what he said, as he slowly write down the letters...C.o.s.t.c.o!

Wow! 

Talk about getting Lost in Translation! 

I smiled and tried hard not to laugh.

After class, we grabbed the kiddos, loaded up the van and headed off to "co.stow.co".

It is a HUGE warehouse store, just like in the states! 

Here are a few of our finds...

Those are shrimp the size of Matt's hand! I don't think I've ever seen that in the US!

Octopus anyone? It is precooked, like that makes it anymore appealing. Carson loves it, but he's a teenage boy and we all know they are not normal :)

Here are some dried sardines for you. I hear they are like potato chips. 

I'm not sure who in the world would think this are like chips! I'm worried about where they get their chips!

Here's another version of the sardine thing. These are young dried sardines. Maybe they are easier to eat since the eyes are staring at you. Doubt it.

Costco will certainly get it's share of our family grocery budget! 

It is large, bright and open! 

They even have crazy "booney" hats that my oldest brother would just love. (He's the redneck in the family!) 

The people are very kind.

The prices are good.

If you can't find me, you should there.

Conquering Japan one store at a time,

~ Aggie Amy