Costco: the Japanese love it more than Americans

On a recent trip to Osaka (bad choice, we know) we decided to bail on Osaka and make our way over to Costco. We had heard that Costco membership cards were universal, so we thought what the heck, worse case scenario we just hop back on a train and head home.

A glimmer of Costco from the bus. 

To get to Costco from Kyoto or Osaka, you have to take a series of trains. It's pretty easy to get there, just be sure you have a bit of time and a planned out method to bring goodies back.
Thankfully for us, when we finally got to Costco and showed the two guys standing at the door (just like Costco back home) our membership card, they welcomed us and we walked in.

Just like back home, to get inside you grab a cart and have your card checked at the door. 

Both of us did a jaw drop the minute we walked in. It was just like walking into Costco in the states. Food court after you check out, pharmacy in the corner, and a vision center -just like back home. In addition, and sort of odd, all the major signs are in English. This was one thing we thought for sure would be different.

After doing a lap around the store, debating on what was most important for us to buy (we don't have a car so we can only buy what we can carry or put in a backpack). We decided it was probably best to eat at the Costco cafeteria -you know to really get the full Costco experience. This is one thing that is sort of a US/Japan blend. Many of the items are identical to back home (hotdogs, pizza, churros) and then some things are a little different. For instance, the soft serve was called "Hokaido soft cream", but looked just like soft serve. They also had bulgogi bakes instead of chicken/cheese bakes, but otherwise it was just like America. It was a lot of fun to watch people learn to use the soda fountain machine -from what we can tell, these are not very common in Japan, where most soda comes in bottles.

Seating was also insane. Families will take whole tables and stay for 30-40+ minutes eating everything on the menu. We have literally never seen anyone eat as much as we did at Costco Japan. We each ate a slice of cheese pizza and thought we would die (biggest meal in a while), while Japanese women half Meg's size would finish off a slice, a bulgogi bake (same giant size as in America) and then go for soft cream. People also park their carts as if parking a car to eat.

In actuality we really shouldn't be that surprised at home many people stayed to eat at Costco, as we learned on our way out to Osaka, "eating on the go" is about as bad as murdering someone on the street. You will receive looks of shame and disgust (literally, disgust) if you eat while standing, walking, or in public (and by public we mean anywhere that isn't your home or a restaurant). The best thing to do if you have to eat on the go is squat in an alley or at the very least as out of the way as possible.

Anyway, Costco was amazing. We ended up buying a huge Costco freezer bag to carry everything home. Including 4 pounds of grapes, Amy's bean burritos, guacamole, blueberries, raspberries, 4 giant pillows and two US-sized towels (and that wasn't even the whole list of things we carried home). As our temporary apartment came with the world's worst pillows (aka normal Japanese pillows) and two child-size towels, these were by far the best win from the trip. The whole way home, we received humorous laughs from Japanese adults who (I assume) thought we were crazy, and their children pointed and laughed likely thinking we were pillow-loving tourists. With shit eating grins plastered on our faces as we ran through the subway trying not to miss the train, who could blame them.

Here are a few more photos of a Costco adventure:

Take away pizza -really similar, but with seafood added (normal topping in Japan)

5+lb tiramisu 

Sampling is a little different in Japan. Well, different for people not Japanese. It's feels so normal now, but you line up and the sample woman will put your little sample in a cup or paper dish and hand it to you. There is no taking one from the try as you walk by, so you will see lines of people in the isles waiting for samples. This woman was giving samples of sparkling wine -also might be weird for some Costco visitors to see alcohol being sampled freely, but in Japan there are really lose restrictions on drinking (age limit is 20, on the streets drinking is totally ok, vending machines all over selling beer and shochu)  

Costco Christmas -in a country that doesn't celebrate Christmas or have much in the way of religion this is just really silly to see. People still had giant wreaths in their carts, and others were eyeing the tree lights and ornaments, possibly debating what they were for. Please note the giant nutcracker to the left -it's larger than most Japanese people. 

Cheese is really expensive in Japan, so to see full-size blocks was like hitting the jackpot. We couldn't help but bring home lots of cheese. 

I swear this is in Japan. 

Achievement Unlocked - Ordering Pizza Over the Phone

Friends and family, citizens of the world, we have an announcement.  In a stunning achievement, the ordering of food by telephone has just been accomplished by the very capable duo of Megan and Kevin.

It doesn't really matter that we had previously visited Pizza LA in person to create an account by providing them our physical address and phone number (after about 30 minute of back and forth banter in broken English and Japanese).  Nor does it matter that the bulk of the call was me just saying "Hai... hai.... hai" ("yes...yes...yes...") to anything they said, regardless of whether or not it was right.  At one point, I did realize I needed to pick a crust type.  "Crusto typee Itarian?" was my best attempt at "Italian Crust".  In total, maybe 20 words were spoken by me, about 300-500 by the clerk at Pizza LA.

Doesn't matter, because in the end, we had fresh hot pizza delivered in 20 minutes to our door, no tip required (this is Japan, good customer service is the norm).  It was a little odd because we got fresh basil delivered in a separate baggie.  Along with the basil, we also got the more traditional packets of Red Pepper, Olive Oil, and Spicy Herbs (oregano).  Meg decorated the pizza with the basil and we had dinner!  See below for the proof.  One thing to note, pizza in Japan is extremely expensive, likely due to the fact that I think they import most of the ingredients (sauce, cheese, veggies, etc).  This pizza was a large cheese pizza, about the size of a med/large US delivery pizza and it set us back about $30- definitely a special treat rather than a spur of the moment meal.