Placeholder Image

Subtitles section Play video

  • Tonight Mario and I are going to check out our favorite home furnishing store.

  • [Life in Japan Theme Song]

  • It's time for a trip to our favorite Japanese home furnishing store, Nitori

  • to see what makes these stores different from their Western counterparts.

  • Your hands...

  • Did you get them nice and clean? Nice and sanitized, Dude?

  • Clean and sanitized, alright!

  • When you first walk in, this whole section over here is just bedding and sheets and futons,

  • And everything to stay nice and cosy in the winter.

  • One very interesting thing here [in Japan] is that you buy everything seasonally,

  • I did not know that until I came to Japan.

  • So you have like spring and summer sheets,

  • And you have winter sheets.

  • And you can buy them at different levels of warmth.

  • Warm, Super Warm, Moist— I'm not quite sure why you would want moist, but...

  • It doesn't sound too cool. That doesn't sound very appealing, does it?

  • But warm and super warm are so cool.

  • And here the bedding sizes are so different!

  • They have the single, the semi-double, the double, the wide double and the queen.

  • So trying to figure out my American sheets to the Japanese futon and bedding sizes was a little crazy at first

  • But I've got it down now.

  • I just found my first purchase! I was not going to buy anything here, but...

  • I can hardly walk through this store without buying.

  • And this is so soft. It's kind of like a mattress cover.

  • Thereand you can see it here over the futon.

  • And it just adds "Super Warm." Yes, that's it then.

  • We are buying the Super Warm for Joshua. Joshua's going to love it.

  • So another very interesting thing is sitting on the ground.

  • Everyone sits on the ground, so now they have sofas that are on the ground that make it a little more comfortable.

  • I'm going to try this one!

  • But they have heated rugs, they have these heated tables that I so want to buy,

  • Oh, look at you.

  • It can move. Yea it can.

  • What about this one? Oh, is that comfortable?

  • Yea, so are these...

  • If you look closely, and number of these plants are plants that we have in our house.

  • All of my curtains are from here.

  • They have such a great variety.

  • A lot of our windows are very very tall so we have to order them

  • They come in in about 2 weeks. It's great.

  • Joshua, let's go!

  • No touching. No touching, Big J!

  • Oh, all the dishes. So beautiful.

  • Oh! Fondue!

  • Oooo! Do you Fondue?

  • I fondue.

  • It's all made for small spaces.

  • So these things like this,

  • It goes inside your cabinet so your cabinet can still close,

  • But then it hangs underneath.

  • And you can hang things from it.

  • There's a lot of, like this...

  • It's magnetic, so it sticks to the side of your fridge.

  • This section is Nate's favorite section... It sure is.

  • Lights!

  • So we always come down to the light section.

  • And we have this light and that light

  • A lot of the lights from here we have.

  • Some clocks!

  • Oh, I need a set of these.

  • Then most of the times when we come, we're always organizing.

  • And that section is all about organization.

  • And we can go a little crazy in it sometimes.

  • Let's go get crazy.

  • And one great thing... Mario keeps popping out over there.

  • Is that everything interlocks.

  • So you can get any color, any size but they all fit into certain configurations, which is wonderful.

  • And you can buy them with lids or without lids,

  • Which is also really cool.

  • And then they have all the really cool wicker baskets.

  • But if you have seen our house, we have tons of these.

  • Tons of those!

  • And we have tons of these shelving units.

  • Did we get our Joshua here too?

  • Joshua, he was a special purchase.

  • He was a special purchase, that's right.

  • And who doesn't go a little crazy over baskets?!

  • I don't need it, but I want it!

  • So I try to come up with ideas of what I could use it for.

  • It's so hard. I love you, baskets. They're just so glorious!

  • Oh and see, here's some more.

  • I have this actually in my bathroom under the sink.

  • So I can put it in like this...

  • It just works great anywhere.

  • Oh, and we have this.

  • Yea, we sure do.

  • And one thing about Nitori is putting together their furniture is 20 times easier than IKEA.

  • So if you have the option of buying at Nitori versus IKEA, buy it at Nitori.

  • Sorry IKEA.

  • I have more than I can count of these types of shelves in our house.

  • Because we organize in one all the pencils and colored pencils,

  • And in another all of the crayons and markers,

  • And in another stickers, and da da da.

  • I have three girls who all love to craft

  • And a little boy who thinks he does too, so we have a lot of art supplies.

  • Oh Dude look! Look at that chair!

  • Oh Dude, look at this desk man!

  • That is awesome.

  • I'm going to drink some...

  • Oh it comes with some coffee, huh? That's nice.

  • They have some fun ways of envisioning your house here.

  • Adjustable table height so you can get it nice and low.

  • With low sofas, compact, meant for Japanese houses. Very cool.

  • What did you figure out here with this Dude?

  • Oh, you lift it up. You can put stuff in there if you need to, or use it like a table.

  • And then it comes back down nice and slow, huh?

  • Very nice, yea, it's going.

  • It's a full-size heated table. We could fit six chairs around this easy.

  • So these heated things. It's a heater underneath this.

  • You sit...

  • And you go underneath it,

  • And it's just ... game's over!

  • I mean, you could work all you want and stay nice and toasty.

  • And find out you have fallen asleep.

  • It's even got like a little pocket or a remote control or something.

  • What did we find over here Dude?

  • Did you find a little cubby hole for you? Yep.

  • It has a thing right here to put stuff.

  • Oh yeah. There's a thing there to put stuff?

  • You can only put stuffed animals on these.

  • Oh, ok.

  • This, look how much this yen.

  • Yeah, look how much that is, huh.

  • This one is hardly not worth it.

  • It's probably not worth it? Yeah.

  • But this one is ....

  • It's so softy! Yeah?

  • Oh my goodness, you are funny Dude.

  • This one is soft.

  • And all three of our girls, we have bought their randoserus here.

  • They range in price... And quality.

  • And quality.

  • This is usually seasonal and I guess it is because it's showing warm things but,

  • At Christmas time, it is full of Christmas decorations

  • At Halloween, full of Halloween (decorations)

  • At Easter, Easter (decorations)

  • But right now it is just blankets.

  • I found you!

  • Ohhh... Ohhh, aprons.

  • Aprons and utensils.

  • And all kinds of goodies. Look out!

  • Those are so great.

  • These tiny little pans.

  • These you can adjust the width of them so that they fit inside your walls

  • They go from 73-112 cm.

  • Then you can stack things on them then hang

  • Hang things on the side.

  • Mom, can I push it all by myself

  • They have all different sizes.

  • Sure you can push it all by yourself.

  • All the laundry baskets. I don't need any help.

  • Oh, I have this.

  • Yep, that is in our bedroom.

  • One thing that has been super useful are these things.

  • They go over your washing machine

  • So you put all your laundry detergent here

  • Your washing machine is right here,

  • And then when you are going to hang up your clothes,

  • Because in Japan they don't have dryers, you just hang them up outside,

  • You put your clothes line, clothes thinging here

  • And you can just pull it from the washing machine and hang everything up

  • And then carry your laundry outside.

  • So, I actually need to buy a new one because

  • I'm running low on mine.

  • I mean I wash clothes until the cows come home.

  • So, look at this its 52 pieces.

  • Interesting. I think I should buy a 40 though.

  • The classic 40.

  • I mean, the options are endless. Look at this.

  • And it all closes, so it's all compact.

  • Or you can hang them up individually if you only have one.

  • Nitori trips are rarely faster than 15 minutes.

  • Rarely

  • But it's so fun to look.

  • Got our purchases purchased.

  • Yes, unfortunately I wasn't going to buy anything, so I didn't bring any bags.

  • I had to buy them. Had to buy them. That's alright though.

  • Alright. That does it for tonight.

  • Going down!

  • Yes, we're cold! So cold, huh Joshua? Yea, so cold.

  • You like the smell of our car?

  • It smells nice, huh? Alright, should we go home?

  • Um, this is to put on Joshua's bed. Let's go make Joshua's bed with mommy?

  • OK, well I just made his Mario bed. Sweet!

  • I've got to unmake it.

  • Just unmake the bed, to make the bed.

  • Oh, we should have gotten something warm for Sarah too.

  • Yes!

  • Boy, it almost makes me want to sleep on it too.

  • Oh, I like how the sides go down around the mattress.

  • Sleeping just on that would have been glorious.

  • Are these your new pajamas?! Yea!

  • So nice!

  • Did you have any homework?

  • I already did mine. Good job.

  • Good job!

  • You're a good "studer"

  • A good "studer?"

  • A... a good "student."

  • Alright, looks great! Big J's got a warmer bed now.

  • It's still 7:04.

  • 7:04? What did you guys do today?

  • Let's do some popcorn! Ah! Popcorn?!

  • Alright, popcorn time! Wait!

  • We didn't tell you what we did!

  • I gave Becca and Anna a message...

  • And then we watched something.

  • And then we played on the Switch... "Sound of Music"

  • Look at thisthis is the best feature about this.

  • If it's too bright, you can turn that off so it's not a bright light there.

  • It projects on the ceiling.

  • So the kids can just lay in bed and know what time it is.

  • Hey Dude, is it almost time for our Mario game?!

  • No, can you please start the popcorn for me?

  • Yea! Somebody?

  • We have some announcers for us, huh?

  • Here we go!

  • Watch out! No no no no no no!

  • 12th (place)

  • Aw, poor Momma-chan.

  • But she's having a good attitude!

  • Ohh! The popcorn's ready!

  • Beccster's doing her awesome popcorn job!

  • My famous popcorn!

  • Your famous popcorn!

  • Everybody's going to come from around the world to eat my popcorn!!

  • Whew! Yes!

  • OK guys, time for our next race!

  • Is the popcorn so yummy guys? Yea, it's so yummy.

  • It looks yummy. I want to get some.

  • Oh yes.

  • I'm sitting in your chair! My chair?! Hey!

  • I love you so much! OK, have a good night baby girl.

  • One kiss.

  • A kiss? OK.

  • Awww. And I want to give a kiss to the camera.

  • Aw, that's so nice.

  • Night night. Night night.

  • Joshua, we go the new thing for your bedit's under the sheets.

  • It should feel even softer and even more warm.

  • Where?

  • You can't see it, it's under the sheet.

  • You can't see it! It's under the sheet, Dude!

  • It's already there.

  • The big sister can get you Apple juice.

  • Night night!

  • Night night. Can somebody get me apple juice?

  • Get me apple juice! OK, we'll get some for you.

  • I can get it. Can you run it upstairs?

  • I can open it!

  • Oh!!!

  • When people sometimes ask if we ever get upset at the kids, well tonight...

  • We just got the brand new bed skirt down, brand new sheets down,

  • And what does Joshua do but spill his whole drink on top of it.

  • Had to take off all the sheets, going to have to wash them all and put the other sheets on there.

  • Can any other parents relate? Oh my!

  • My new thing. It's beautiful!

  • So all of Joshua's sheets are going on this? Yea.

  • Oh my goodness!

  • We bought it just in time!

  • Japanese and Western home furnishings are very different.

  • In Japan, furnishings are compact and practical. In America, they're large and inexpensive.

  • While we do enjoy American stores, we've also come to love Japanese home stores like Nitori

  • that offer many stylish and compact offerings that help facilitate life here in Japan.

  • Add it to my collection. No joke, huh?!

  • Well, when you have four kids, you have a lot of laundry and some of them spill sometimes...

  • Whew, it's chilly! Chilly, chilly!

  • Did we miss any of your favorite items?

  • Comment below, and as always, thanks for watching, liking and subscribing.

  • We'll see you next time on Life in Japan.

Tonight Mario and I are going to check out our favorite home furnishing store.

Subtitles and vocabulary

Click the word to look it up Click the word to find further inforamtion about it