To me they are like a bizarre Japanese take on a Wal-Mart. Prices are cheap, the aisles are narrow, there's tons of Chinese-made crap, but they also have really

To me they are like a bizarre Japanese take on a Wal-Mart. Prices are cheap, the aisles are narrow, there's tons of Chinese-made crap, but they also have really inexpensive food too (steaks that are gigantic by Japanese standards....I think mostly imported American meat, pumped full of hormones and whatnot). I like to go there at 2am (no traffic = short travel time) to buy food, or maybe some small tools (socket wrenches, etc..) that I need while working on my cars at night or even radiator fluid. You can also go earlier in the evening (around 7-9pm) and scope out the makeup section, try some "nanpa" with the kabakura girls before they head to work. Between Aeon MaxValu (supermarket), DonQ, and Family Mart convenience stores, you have access to easily 90% of the consumable products you might need in a typical month, and available 24/7. Clean stores with all-hours convenience like this are one of the highlights of living in Japan compared to some other places in Asia. Ttry buying batteries at 2am in Hanoi...