Shopping

We've been doing a bit of shopping the past 2 days. We needed a few things, but it's also just entertaining, especially when the weather isn't great. Today we went to a big, fancy mall. As we were wandering about, I noticed how many things are the same. Many mall stores, like Babies-R-Us, Toys-R-Us, Claire accessories, etc. are the same here. A lot of the food court options are too, e.g. McDonalds, KFC, and Baskin Robbins. We even saw a lot of familiar covers in the book store (I so want to buy the Very Hungry Caterpillar in Japanese!).

However, the Japanese have made a few improvements on the whole shopping-with-a-child experience.

1) There are lots more kids bathrooms with low potties and sinks.

2) Even the smallest stores have a play area.

3) But where the Japanese beat us hands down is with the shopping carts! The Mickey Mouse, Minnie Mouse, Thomas the Train, or Pokemon full activity carts you can take anywhere in the mall are just awesome!