Today, I'd like to introduce depachika to you. I've mentioned that when you visit Japan, looking around shopping arcades is fun and I've already posted some journal entries about it. I'd like to add exploring depachika is fun too.

Depachika means a basement of department, where you'll find a wide variety of foods. I recommend going larger department stores so that you'll see much more variety of foods. Looking around them is so much fun! You'll love it.

Since my husband had been away for three days for watching the Formula 1 races in Suzuka with a friend, I went out to pick up some ready-made food at a depachika in my city. Unfortunately, my city doesn't have any large department stores, so it might not be exciting for you. Even so, if you can get the idea of what depachika is like, I'll be happy.

Depachika has usually several sections. The picture below shows the vegetable and fruit section, where you can find fancy vegetable and fruit.

For example, the strawberries look amazing, but they cost twice as much as those in regular supermarkets.

The picture below shows a sushi corner.

A fish shop.

A butcher shop. They are selling higher quality seafood and meats.

The picture below shows a wagashi (traditional Japanese sweets) section.

When you see a wagashi corner, of course, you see a western sweets corner as well. The picture below shows a chocolate shop.

There is a bakery that bakes fresh bread at depachika. You can enjoy warm, freshly baked bread every time you visit.

Cakes! Since I'm not a big fan of whipped cream, I normally skip this corner. I prefer my own homemade sweets.

Here's a deli corner. I stopped by this shop in the picture below and bought my dinner.

It might sound unusual, but there's a high quality supermarket in depachika too. I'm a big fan of this supermarket. They have many varieties of cheese, wine, daily products, sausages and more.

This is the only one shop that sells clotted cream in my city, so I bought two containers of clotted cream for my homemade scone.

The pictures below show what I bought at the depachika: two clotted cream and my dinner.

The dinner was delicious, but the portion was large. So I split it in two and had the half as dinner.

Next time I go to one of the busiest areas in Osaka or Kyoto, I'll visit their depachika too. I'll share more about it sometime soon!

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