Your Japanese word of the week is...

"saikoo". It means best. Or supreme. Someone used it to describe my attitude when I told them I always try to be positive- "Saikoo desu" (It's the best). Of course, I'm not Japanese as you might have caught on, and so the first thought that entered my head was, what's so psycho about being happy?? Thankfully, I've been here long enough to probe for translations before I jump to conclusions... or jump kick whoever praised my optimism, for that would truly be psycho. Of course, saikoo and psycho are pronounced slightly differently (sa-i-ko-o vs psy-ko) but when people are speaking quickly, they do sound vaguely similar.

But no matter- this week I had some time and went shopping! Not in any place fancy mind you. Just around town and smaller areas near my work. One thing that really struck me is that some of the clothes here are really cheap! Perhaps I spent too much time in Vancouver malls and never really went out of my way to find smaller places, but I found even the smaller niche stores tended to be pretty pricey in Vancouver, marketing their niche-ness as a selling point.

Not so here. I suppose because fashion is such an integral part of Japanese culture (argue as you might how trendy Vancouverites can be, the proportion of people who care about every piece of their wardrobe is greater here I find), the demand drives the prices down. There are still the wallet-crushingly expensive areas of town with fancy brand names, but stray from that and there still some good stuff to choose from.

For instance, I bought a jacket for what amounts to about $40 CDN when, 4 or 5 months ago, I nearly bought a similar one in Vancouver for nearly $150. It looks good and the fabric feels decently nice (for $40, it's pretty darn good) so why not.

Then there's a store near my house called Avail. It sells tons of stuff, really rather trendy stuff too. Rather nice looking shoes even, for $20 although it's there where you start to see why they can afford to be cheap. For instance, when the inside of the shoe is faintly bright from the thinness of the material, that's a hint. Or the insole being made out of plastic and having a shape resembling a melted fish, that's another sign.

Really, I see some people wearing shoes that look pretty nice from 3 feet out but upon looking a little more closely (subtly, mind you, wouldn't want to be labelled as a psycho =P), it looks they just wrapped some construction paper around their foot. The clothes tend to fair better but when outward image and low cost are priorities, the quality stumbles at times.

So while Japan is sort of like shopping central, it's more quantity than quality. It still takes the keen eye to find the good stuff, it's just that with sooo much more stuff, it's easier to find =).