In Japan, every department store has a basement.
Not parking.
Food.
Glass cases of wagyu beef.
Strawberries arranged like jewelry.
Twelve kinds of pickles.
Sushi from a real chef
for less than a sandwich back home.
Then 8 PM happens.
The staff start putting yellow stickers
on everything that won’t survive the night.
30 percent off.
Then 50.
Then sometimes 70.
A 5,000-yen bento becomes 1,500.
A whole roast chicken becomes pocket change.
The savvy locals don’t talk about this.
They just show up at 7 45,quietly,
and walk out with dinner for two
for the price of a coffee.
The best meal of your trip
might cost the least.
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