While I’ve been in Japan, there has been one place that no matter what, made my days that little bit easier. Whether I was happy or sad, depressed or ecstatic, alone or with a group, drunk, hungover or sober this one place always had just what the doctor ordered and for a cheap price too.

I am of course talking about my local convenience store, SHOP99. SHOP99 was a great place, as you can probably guess by the name, everything in there cost 104 yen and while it was not always the best quality there was always something in there you could use for any occasion.

Imagine my surprise then when I went to get my groceries on Thursday that the entire shop had vanished! Sure the building was still there but all SHOP99 branding had been removed and replaced with a new name, Lawson 100. As you can tell by the name, now, suddenly, everything costs 105 yen in there.

“Inflation? Credit Crunch?” I hear you cry.

BULLSHIT I say!

Interestingly one of the things that stood out about the SHOP99 was that none of the staff in there ever said irashaimase that often. In a way it was like a breath of fresh air but for this one extra yen I now have to pay, I expect irashiaimases the second I walk through that door! I want to see that extra money I am paying go toward something!

Something else I noticed in this “new improved” shop is the sound of muzak wafting from the tannoy system. It’s so sad, mainly because SHOP99 had something special. It had it’s own incredibly cheesy theme song which played at random times throughout the day. Normally this kind of thing would piss me of no end and perhaps if I worked there and heard it 100 times a day, I would have gone on a shotgun murder rampage after a week but the enthusiasm the song has can’t help but win you over. This song really is quite the hit with the English speaking population of Higashi Rinkan, despite the fact that none of us really know what the high-voiced lady was singing many a drunken night has been spent singing the “Shopu kyu kyu kyu” refrain.

Hell, this song is so good that I fell I must share it with the world, so here for perhaps the first time (a Nippon The Bus exclusive!) are the lyrics translated into English.

SHOP99 99 99
SHOP99 99 99
Not only good value,
We have just the thing for you
We always deliver
with a good feeling. 99 99

SHOP99 99 99
SHOP99 99 99
Cabbage and radishes 99 99
Meat and fish 99 99
Sweets, pudding, yoghurt.
Let’s all buy them together.
SHOP99 99
SHOP99 99 99 99 99!

Here is the song itself, make sure you listen until the end to hear the orgasmic final “KYU!”.

August is festival season in Japan. Every weekend in villages, towns and cities up and down the country men and women don yukatas and well, watch people dance.
Two weeks ago it was Higashi Rinkan’s turn for a festival. Suddenly my sleepy little town was just chock full of people. They lined the main street watching all sort of funky dances.

Such as this one:

There were many groups of dancers slowly moving round the town, people of all ages were taking part. Interestingly, while each group had their own little dances, they all seemed to be playing the same song. Luckily I found that song strangely appealing.

Other than the dancing there were plenty of food stalls, as to be expected at these type of events no matter were they are in the world, selling all manner of Japanese food such as okonomiyaki, ramen and hot dogs. There was also a drink being sold called Ramune, which only seems to be available at festivals. It tastes very similar to Sprite so nothing special there but what does make it interesting is the bottle. It is sealed with a marble which is held in place by the pressure of the carbonated drink. The bottle is opened with a little tool found inside the cap, you push down on the marble and it is forced into the neck, where it bobbles around as you drink. The ingenious thing is that there are two little nodules which keep the marble from obstructing the flow of the liquid.

Unfortunately Higashi Rinkan’s festival was the only one I had the pleasure to going to this year, perhaps next year I will be able to see what kind of thing a bigger town can cook up.

Here are some photos from the event for your viewing pleasure:

Wow, this photo viewing thing is quite cool, I may have to use it again in the future. However the question needs to be asked: How many things can you embed into a website before you have too many things embedded in a website?

Way back when, just before I went to Japan, I did a google search for Higashi Rinkan to find out what kind of place I would be living in for the next year. Results were thin on the ground, as you would expect, but one result was repeated over and over: Mike’s Tex Mex Restaurant.

Now Mike’s is quite nice and all but it is not the only eatery located in Higashi Rinkan (restaurants are just about all there is here). There is, for example, the Hickory House pizza place. Disappointingly, its best characteristic is that it almost shares my last name because the pizza is so damn forgettable. Also there are loads of other nameless places that only have their signs written in kanji. There is a Mc Donald’s here too but as there seems to be a Mc Donald’s on every street corner in this country so that’s no big surprise.

My favourite place to eat out in HR is called Dan Dining, it is a cosy little bar that I mainly go to just for a drink due to my inability to read the menu. The drink is always nice and chilled and the food (when I bother to order some) is nice and tasty. The best thing about Dan’s is that the owners are the nicest and friendliest bar staff in the entire world. They will always do their darnedest to make you feel comfortable and at home. It feels like some sort of Japanese version of Cheers, it even has its own Norm.

So if you ever happen to be in HR drop into Dan’s because sometimes you’ve got to go where everybody knows your name.

Oh, and could you please google “Higashi Rinkan” and click on the link to this post (if it even shows up), together we can get info on Dan’s to be the top result. Where, quite frankly, it deserves to be.