Because the kids are still at home, shopping is an undertaking that involves the right timing (must avoid nap times), right weather (no heavy rains because we travel by bike), and the requisite amount of parental energy (a lot). This is a long-winded way of saying that we don't go shopping often, even though there is still much to buy. This is a list of things I'm either glad I brought or wish I had brought from the U.S. I realize most of the things on this list (especially what to bring) are far from being essential.
1. Waxed Floss Picks
There are waxed floss and unwaxed floss picks. I am still looking for the elusive waxed floss picks. I don't know how anyone can use unwaxed floss. I tried it, and maybe there is something wrong with me, but it took me five minutes to floss because the floss got stuck every time.
2. Women's Shaving Cream
This is a mystery. There are plenty of shaving razors for women. But there is no women's shaving cream. In the shaving section, there clearly are razors for men and shaving cream for men. Gender-targeted marketing in Japan is not subtle: black or blue for men, white or pink for women. Must the women shave only with soap?
3. Ikea Food Storage Containers
This one is very particular, I realize. Ikea Japan does not sell this slim container that I love. I donated all of the ones I had thinking that I could easily buy it here. None of the other containers available stack up compared to this. I love its slim profile and easy flip lid. I use it for dried grains, legumes, oats, cereals, etc.
It makes sense in a way. I used these to store pastas and oats, but rice is king in Japan. There are entire aisles dedicated to rice storage.
4. Vaseline
Did you know that Tokyo's winters are extremely dry? I expected to be luxuriating in humidity through the winter and into the spring. In Chicago, when the temperature fell, I knew to moisturize to avoid dry and chapped skin. Here, it may be in the 50s F and so warm that I don't notice how dry and cracked my skin has become until the end of the day.
My go to for preventing dry skin is Vaseline, a tub of which costs about $16 and can only be found in international-type stores. It is possible that there is something similar to Vaseline out there. I just have to learn enough Japanese to be able to read labels.
5. Kosher Salt
The salt is...not salty. It is also very expensive. No matter how much I sprinkle or grind, the food does not become sufficiently salty. I'm used to handling larger granules of kosher salt, so maybe I just haven't got the hang of using finer salts. In any case, I have stopped salting my pasta water because salt is more precious now than ever before. I long for kosher salt.
My small collection of not-very-salty salt
6. Spicy things
Traditional Japanese favors are mild, subtle, and well-balanced. Spicy in Japanese cuisine is more of a wasabi-like spicy. Sometimes I crave intense flavors. There is a Chinese spice sauce that we always had in our fridge, but there is nothing like that here. The most common chili oil sold is relatively mild and comes in tiny containers. Sriracha is also sold in tiny bottles and is hard to come by.
Honorable mentions: All baby things (especially organics and Nose Frida) and ibuprofen
What to Leave Behind:
1. Foot care products
I thought I walked a lot in Chicago, living in the city and commuting by train downtown to work, but I walk even more now. People here not only walk a lot they walk in leather shoes and heels. It is no wonder then that there are everywhere a huge variety of foot care products.
I went shopping for an insert specifically to relieve my Morton's neuroma and found a wall of these inserts. There are many, many more products for other types of foot issues. The selection dwarfs anything you would find in the U.S.
2. Hair accessories
Hair is a big thing here. Tokyoites almost universally have neatly coiffed hair. Hair stylists are seen more as artists and less as service providers. Correspondingly, hair accessories are varied, inexpensive, and high quality - even down to bobby pins and hair bands. It is very possible that I am clueless and this actually exists everywhere, but I have discovered a dryer brush-wand that dries hair much better and more quickly than the standard blow dryer.
4. Hangers
Rows and rows of hangers. Sometimes there are two sections of hangers: one section for closets and the other for laundry and line drying. Hangers for ties, purses, belts, turtlenecks, everything. Hangers made of all textures. Hangers are inexpensive and ubiquitous.
5. Baby and Toddler Toothbrushes
Have you noticed how toothbrushes marketed for young children have massive brush heads? The electric ones are better, but the non-electric ones are too large for the tiny mouths and teeth of small children. Small brushes allows for easier maneuvering to better clean tiny teeth. But bring your own toothpaste, as no-fluoride, safe-to-swallow toothpaste is difficult to find.
6. Bike Helmet
Leave the helmet if you have always had trouble with helmets sitting on the top of your head like a soufflé rather than around your head, protecting it like it should. There are Japanese-made helmets designed to better fit Asian head shapes. This discovery has been a revelation.
I recently bought one of these for M to wear while riding on my bicycle. E, the elder, has a relatively large round head, and I plan to ditch her old Giro helmet for one of the same.
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