Groceries at the Department Store

Takashimaya Times Square

Veggies I am not familiar with

Fruit at designer prices

Our hotel is in the Shinjuku district of Tokyo, which is primarily a high rise business district. But there is also a department store across the street that appears to sell everything that you could ever need, except maybe an automobile.  It's called Takashimaya Times Square, and it's like a mall, without well, the mall. The building is a block long with 14 floors.  Several stores coexist inside, including UniQlo (think the Japanese Gap), and Tokyu Hands (a little like Target).  And then in the basement is gourmet heaven.  On one end is a pricey grocery store, and on the other end are a series of even pricier gourmet specialty shops, like Godiva.  The most surreal shops for me were the high-end fruit vendors. Two perfect musk melons can be yours for a mere Y23,760.  At the current exchange rate, that's about $237.00.  And no, that's not a misprint.