Aeon Jusco

Japan is new to the whole mall thing. There aren't a lot of malls here. It's more like the city is a huge mall. Most of the areas are distinct in that they sell a certain type of good. If you want electronics, there is an area that all these electronics store are. If you want sporting goods, there's another area. If you want clothes, there's another area.

They have big department stores, which are kind of like malls. The most popular being Marui. When I first came to Japan, I thought that this store was pronounced oioi. I thought it was some kind of Australian store. haha. These department stores are usually at least five stories high, and have a basement floor with a supermarket, one of the higher floors with restaurants, and each floor being dedicated to a different type of product.

I guess no need for malls. But, recently malls have started popping up here and there. Chain malls. All the malls are the same. They all say Aeon on the outside, are pink, and have the same stores inside. There's one near my house, and I went there to do a little grocery shopping. It's Monday today, and let me tell you that place was frickin packed. Each checkout line was ten deep. Why? I have no idea.


Oh, I totally forgot about the lalaport franchise. This is another chain mall that they build on the outskirts of Tokyo. I kind of like this one cause they are usually huge, and have better stores than Aeon. There really isn't a mall culture like they have in the states. Whenever I think of malls, I think of mallrats or heathers for some reason. I guess over here, Tokyo would be the mall, and all the districts would have their own type of culture. It's kind of nice that way.