Whenever I go to Japan and visit the mega department stores like Takashimaya, Mitsukoshi, Isetan or Seibu, I love to window shop and look at all the pretty things they have there.  But I rarely buy anything, because just one look at the price tag and I go into sticker shock.  For someone whose favorite store is Target, the $100 t-shirts just don’t seem that appealing.

But the one section where I will go crazy at, is the basement food hall. Locals call them “depachikas”.  “Depa” is short for department store and “chika” means basement.

When I enter the seemingly endless corridors of the depachika, I feel like I’ve died and gone to food heaven. Individual stalls hawking pickles, cakes, confectionaries, fried foods, sushi, bentos, yakitori, fruit, meat and liquor can all be found here–probably overpriced and probably overpackaged, but guaranteed tasty.   In fact, if I had to be holed up anywhere due to zombies or end-of-the-world disasters, I can’t think of a better place you’d want to be.  (Sorry, I just finished watching “The Road,” so I needed to revisit my “end of the world” strategies.)

I found the secret to getting a bargain here is coming to the depachika at night, close to closing.  That’s when all the prepared food goes on sale for cheap.  Vendors compete to offer you free samples and slashed prices.  I also liked the ala carte sushi booth.  You got tongs and a tray (like you do at Asian bakeries) and picked out your sushi pieces for about a buck, each individually wrapped in cellophane .  Maybe the price influenced me, but I thought the department store sushi was better than a lot of restaurant sushi out here in the states.  I’m not sure if the ala carte stalls still exist, though, because I couldn’t find one on my last visit.

The variety and quality of bento meals at depachikas are incomparable.  The last time I scouted a bento lunch at a depachika, it took me a good half hour just trying to decide which one I wanted to eat because I wanted them all!  It was hard enough picking just one bento from a particular stall, but one from a bunch of stalls, all selling delicious-looking bentos was torturous.

The best part of the depachika is the confectionary section.  Cakes, chocolate, cookies, traditional sweets–all in pretty packaging.  A lot of people buy food as gifts (omiyage), so everything comes individually wrapped, and then placed in a beautiful or unbearably cute box, and then that box is always gift wrapped and handed to you in a sturdy bag with the stall’s logo.  Not doing much for the environment, to say the least, but it feels like Christmas every time you get sweets from the depachika.

Whenever I visit Japan, I try to make a stop at the Aunt Stella’s cookie stall.  Aunt Stella was the brainchild of an American, Joseph Dunkle, who started his franchise in Japan in the ‘80s.  The Pennyslvania Dutch cookies are not available in the U.S., but in Japan it was/is pretty popular.  The cookies aren’t as sugary sweet as Mrs. Fields or Amos’s.  They are more delicate and crispy.  My Japanese DNA definitely prefers these less sugary cookies.  The cornflake cookies are my favorite.

Another uniquely Japanese brand started by a foreigner is Juchheim.  Karl Juchheim was a German confectioner who was actually interned in Okinawa during World War I (a story in itself).  He introduced baumkuchen (a traditional German layered cake) to Japan, and Juchheim is now one of the most recognizable confectionary brands in Japan.  I wonder if he could ever fathom how popular his name would eventually become with no less than 7 sub-brand companies. Here are some pics of Juccheim products:

I am salivating as I write this blog, so if anyone out there is planning to visit Japan in the near future, be sure to stop by at a depachika and I welcome any omiyages you may bring back!