The super markets that actually live up to their namesake

I feel almost redundant in relaying how different it is here than any place I've ever been. Even the oranges taste differently from the ones back home! They're much less tart, and way more pleasant to eat just after waking up from an unsound, jet lag-induced night of almost sleep. They even have a different psychology than the oranges back home in that they have never fully grown up. They still can't decide whether they are oranges or clementines. They exist somewhere in the limbo of being not too big, and not too small. It's almost like this sweet citrus fruit is in its adolescent phase, trying to figure out who it is and where it fits in the world. You know, the awkward phase. I can almost relate.

I picked up a couple at the local market. What an amazing place. I have yet to enter a market in Japan that carries anything less than incredible quality meat and seafood. Even the fish markets don't smell like fish! To put it into layman's terms, the super markets really live up to their namesake: super! The best part about these markets is that if you wait to shop after a certain time, say 6 or 7:30 PM, the bento lunch sets (individual little meals with a variety of fish, tofu, veggies, rice, and other such pleasantries) are discounted to up up to 50 to 70 percent. Since Tokyo and the rest of Japan is so mind-numbingly expensive (one of its few impurities along with its almost military-like police state, and its complete aversion to certain herbal "remedies" easily come by back home), the prospect of getting your next day's breakfast or lunch for less than 1000 yen (about 12 or so USD) is enough in and of itself to geek out about.

Spend enough time in a place like this communicating with other foreigners and you start to pick up these little cheat-cheats on how to get by on less money and more love. Now if only I could figure out a cheap way to reach REM...