Taipei was tearing up the front of my Asics tennis shoes (thanks in no small part to all those storm drains and grates you see here) so I picked up some Converse-esque shoes from MUJI.
The surprising part? The price. About half the price as a pair of Converse but with more cushioning in the sole.
It was getting cold, then warm, then cold, then warm again here.
This flannel has proved to work well on the intermittent cold days. One thing that’s of note is how wrinkle-resistant this shirt is. I bought another flannel at Uniqlo and it needs ironing. This MUJI one though was folded on a rack for God-knows-how-long. Took it home, hung it up overnight and the next day there wasn’t a wrinkle in sight. Even after tucking it into a pair of pants all day, no wrinkles.
Nada. Zip. Zilch.
好可爱.
I felt like it was necessary to spice up my desk, which is kind of minimalist. MUJI had these paperclips in dog and cat varieties but I’ve never been a cat person so I got these. One is clearly a dachshund, the other? Not sure. Maybe an Akita.
Either way, it’s a nice little detail to get through the day.
Photo taken on a new fitted bed sheet from MUJI.
“We are so lucky to have been raised amongst catalogs.”
-Best In Show
Need a dress shirt for a job interview?
Head to MUJI.
This Gordon Gecko-style one fit the bill and frankly, a lot of the double stitching and reinforced areas on the upper back and lower seams left me impressed for the price.
Not gonna lie, but the apartment was getting funky smelling last week. So we picked up this ‘Fresh Leaf’ incense at MUJI. We’ve tried the ‘Jasmine’ one before and it wasn’t bad but this new one is much better. We’re not huge fans of incense really but most of the scented candles here don’t produce much aroma. And, this incense doesn’t make our place smell like a Confucian temple.
Which is pretty important.
Overall about as nice a fragrance I’ve personally ever smelled come from a regular incense stick. It’s burning right now in the white, ceramic incense holder from MUJI, which I would photograph if it didn’t have burn marks.
Trying to find the brand with no brand in Taiwan? Not sure where to go?
Here’s a map and a little advice.
After visiting almost every MUJI in Taipei (save for two), so far, we can confidently say that the best one is outside the Taipei City Hall MRT station in the Hankyu Department Store (阪急百貨店).
The layout, lighting, ease of accessibility and often English-speaking staff are the best. And when you’re done, there’s a Uniqlo upstairs and plenty of restaurants right outside (nevermind Taipei 101 down the road).
Not everything is available here, maybe about 3/4 of what you can get in Japan (but apparently much more than in the U.S.).
The most remote ones we’ve visited were the new, slightly smaller one in Taoyuan and the MUJI To Go in the Hong Kong airport. The hunt goes on.
WHAT. That’s amazing.
Well, to me it was anyway. I’ve heard about winter gloves that work with touchscreens for about a year or two but since I lived in Houston at the time, there was really no reason to get a pair. On a trip to Pittsburgh though, it was certainly a hassle taking my gloves off every time I wanted to do something simple on my phone.
Enter the recently released MUJI gloves that work with touch screens. I picked these bad boys up at the Hong Kong airport after testing them in the store.
I did notice some thread coming loose on the left glove’s index finger (as you can see in the photo) but that’s on me.
I chose the greyish-tan ones but was tempted by the navy blue with flecks of other colors (think of the socks that are similar).
And they really, really work. In terms of aesthetics too, these MUJI gloves (and their variations) are much better looking than some of the alternatives.
It’s not cold here yet but it will be soon and these should come in handy.
Photos by Bryan Shettig.
Travel chopsticks. They’re a pretty common sight here in restaurants from people who aren’t even traveling.
The idea though, is to be eco-friendly, by not using chopsticks that are often disposable wooden sets. Instead, cases for chopsticks (and spoons), usually metal, are the norm.
We recently got a set of MUJI’s black chopsticks and case (though they come in white too). What can we say? They go everywhere with us. Our only complaint though is that MUJI has no travel spoon and the chopsticks case isn’t big enough to fit a small spoon, which is normal to have here as many cheap restaurants provide free soup.
But, otherwise, a worthwhile addition with a lot of practical value. And we’re glad these kind don’t require any assemble by screwing together two separate pieces per chopstick like many travel sets. Maybe one day MUJI will experiment with other materials than plastic for the travel chopsticks, maybe wood or metal?
I decided to try MUJI’s Rooibos Green Tea the other day and share my thoughts (from what I understand, people in the U.S. still don’t have food at their MUJI stores).
First off, I’ve never tried Rooibos before. And technically, it’s not made from a tea tree (and it’s caffeine-free). I drink quite a bit of tea, mostly jasmine, Taiwanese Alishan oolong (阿里山烏龍茶) and some Japanese green occasionally.
The African tea plant feels a bit different then, though this is mixed with a green tea. Upon first sip…it feels a bit plain, though this is probably because of the fact that it was cold, which dulls and lessens the flavor of tea compared to its hot state. Upon further drinking the taste became evident but I couldn’t figure out how to describe it. Finally it dawned on me: hibiscus. Or, jamaica, as we call hibiscus tea in Mexico (served cold with sugar). So this is definitely a floral tea but not in the sense of a jasmine or Alishan.
It’s a bit offbeat in that sense, but worth picking up some day. Next on our list is their jasmine tea.
