Japan: Driving to Costco!

If that menu looks familiar, it's because the menu at the Costco in Kawasaki is similar to the one in Kirkland!  Same hotdog for the incredibly low price that you can't believe you get a drink with it. But, how do you go shopping at Costco in Japan? How do you carry back all the goodies you buy? You rent a car!

Sunday morning I woke up unsure I would succeed at my plan for the day. In my many visits to Japan, I never really believed I'd ever drive in the country. Nevertheless, I rented a car and started driving on the left that day. On the way to the rental place, I passed the Insomnia Hotel. LOL.

It turns out that with a valid US driver's license and an international permit, easily obtained from AAA in advance, you can drive in Japan.  What's more, you can use it and evidence of US residency to score a Japanese driver's license without paying $4000 in classes. Definitely the way to go. Just be sure to drive on the left, and drivers sit on the right!

The car cost about 11,300 JPY (just over $100) for 12 hours and my apartment building would not allow me to park the car in its lot.  They only rent by the month. Instead, I parked the car next door in a public parking lot for 200 JPY per 15 minutes. It sat there in the morning while I waited for Kinori to finish LAX and shower. Then we took off!

The freeways have an automated toll system, so I rented an ETC IC card for 300 JPY and racked up 1300 JPY of tolls in each direction. The ETC IC card is inserted into a slot in the car just above the navigation system and radio.

ETC card plugs into slot inside cover.

Driving around, it took much getting used to. Left turns are OK on red (NO THEY'RE NOT ;-)) and right turns are the ones which take time and care. The worst problem was that I kept turning on the windshield wipers instead of the blinker. All my muscle memory was wrong! But, it was a fantastic adventure and I had a big smile on my face.

Smiling eyes - happy driver!

When we finally arrived at Costco, we had to circle it a couple of times because the Nav system freaked out. I don't know what it was thinking, but it didn't guide us to the store! It had us drive past it and make a big U turn through some neighborhood and then approach it from the other side. We passed right by the entrance. Weird.

As usual at Costco, the problem is parking. We couldn't spot any empty spaces and there were cars waiting everywhere. There were 4-5 cars circling for each opening parking spot. But, like many things in Japan, the etiquette for dealing with these crowds was something particularly Japanese.

Waiting in front of our appointed spot.

At the start of each row, there are a few cars queued for the row with their hazards flashing.  They cooperate to make the queue first come first served. When someone comes with a shopping car full of goods to any car in the row, the first queued car moves to just past the car leaving. The waiting car sits with its flashing lights still on. After the departing car leaves, the waiting car then backs in with no contention. It would be possible to defeat this cooperation by being greedy and jumping ahead, but that would be very un-Japanese and the system is quite fair and efficient. It wasn't too hard to figure out the rules - I couldn't believe I gave up a spot I was closer to, but we let the front queued car take it after I backed up. It was really cool to know I would get a spot after a few minutes.

At Costco in Kirkland, it's a matter of continuously circling until a spot appears that you're in a better position than any other car. There are times I circle forever looking for a spot when other people luck out and grab ones I see. I prefer the Japanese method! But it requires an intense level of cooperation that I've not seen elsewhere.

We started with lunch. For a mere 2110 JPY, (less than $20), we got three hot dogs with three drinks, a beef bulgogi wrap, two slices of pizza and two soft cream sundaes. There was a line of about 50 people, but it moved super fast. Lots of people were buying full, Costco pizzas to take home with them. They had the normal Pepperoni, Combo and Cheese slices. The soft cream sundaes, however, were matcha and caramel chocolate.

2110 yen haul

We brought a friend from my work with us for this Costco run and he paid for lunch. Thanks!

Inside Costco was packed with people. It was really crowded. There were many of the normal items, but labelled in Japanese. Great deals on super thin, flat TVs. There were also many items that you can't find in the US.

Orderly, long lines for samples

Bulbs of separate balsamic vinaigrette and olive oil with a twist off top

Takoyaki maker and grill

Sushi never looked this good in Kirkland!

The whole trip took an incredible five hours. We dropped off our stuff at our apartment and then took our friend to his.

From there, we drove to Kinori's old apartment and packed his remaining possessions into the car. Then, we unloaded it at our new apartment and returned the rental car with 15 minutes to spare at 10pm. We walked the 10 minutes home and got Indian food for dinner on the way. It was a super long day, but we accomplished so much and had a huge, huge adventure. I can drive in Japan!