<-since August 1st 2005
A Joyful Honda Tour
I talk about this place all the time, and the last time I went
out there,
I took the time to take some pics of this great DIY center I go to.
The trip to the Moriya Joyful Honda is about 50 Km or 30 miles and takes
anywhere from 50 minutes to 2 hours depending on traffic
The Yellow section of the trip cost 700 yen and the orange section cost 750 yen
each way.
Here are a couple of over shots...
here it is in 1995 when it was first opened
They do not have a new pic up on their site, so I changed the one they did have
to reflect the near areas built.
To the left they have expanded the parking lots, and doubled the size of the
Garden Center,
and added a few new stores like the Bed and Bath store, the Exterior Center etc.
I went on a Sunday, and they were fairly busy.
This is a pic from the far end of the main parking lot, the parking lot has 2300
parking spaces.
They say on their website that the total retail space is 2.3
time the size of the Tokyo Dome stadium.
The Tokyo Dome is 500,000 square feet, so this place is 1,150,000 square feet.
Now this is not all in one building. there is the Exterior
Center
you can only see a small portion of the Exterior center here.....
Steel Garages for sale
Next to that, there is a "Bath and Bedding Center"
This in it self is a huge store (for Japan) with two floors and so much stuff,
hard to look at it all.
On the back side of the main store is the Pet Center...
Dogs, cats, ferrets, all kinds of birds, a the whole main floor is fish, maybe
200 LARGE fish tanks.
Then on the side of the Pet Center is the Fitness Center....
There are two of these covered walkways from the parking lot, on a rainy day
these are sure appreciated!!
Outside they have huge areas that are for stuff like this, everything you could
want to build a green house!
The store is in the farming area in Ibaragi, outside of Tokyo
In an area that is under roof, but not really "IN" the store they have
plumbing stuff.
This is where my ducting came for my cyclone
Also in this area are the "Deck Kits".
Yes they sell all the pieces precut ready to assemble, all pressure treated
lumber.
Here is some ready made Japanese style fencing
Japanese lumber, some of it is around 4 meters in length (just over 13')
More lumber for sale
and another look
Here is some good old Canadian lumber, 2x4s, 2x6s, 2x8s, 2x10s, and I think
there were some 2x12s this time around.
Here is a line up of door, and wall coverings, as well as some sheet goods
More sheet goods
Here is a bunch of wooden flooring, with manufactured pine in the background
One thing that they have added is a hardwood selection,
but except for buying a small piece of some exotic wood, this stuff is WAY too
expensive
The put this stuff in the "Arts and Crafts" section of the store, so
that should tell you something right there.
Some WILD table tops, that is what these pieces are meant to be....
Most of these pieces are about 6' to 8' long and 2" thick, they are really
nice, but they are all over $1500 each!!
Here are some more reasonably priced ones, they are in the $500 to $800 range! (youch!)
While in the hardwood section, I saw this lathe, they want $400 for it, and it
is a POS.
I could build a better lathe, what a joke! (this lathe extends under the shelf
with the mini lathe on it to the right)
This is in front of the main entrance to the main floor of the main store, which
is to the right in the pic.
Ahead of me is a full on super market, and a bicycle shop, all part of Joyful
Honda.
Here is a look into the main store, see how far those lights on the ceiling
stretch into the distance!
They have these little trucks you can borrow, to take your stuff home in,
for free is you bring it back in less than 30 minutes,
if you take it longer, there is a modest fee.
Here is the main tool area, it is large, and if you notice, Bosch is really
coming on strong here.
Need a wheel or a caster?
How about a hose, a pulley or a motor?
and a belt or two for those pulleys??
I saw these Hitachi 10" chop saws the last time I was here, they do not
slide, but look OK.
They are NOT made in Japan, and are cheap (for Japan) at 29,000 yen ($250 US)
and after all that walking around shopping, if you get hungry, they have a MacDonalds
on site,
even with a drive thru, which we do not see often in Tokyo.
Well in a nutshell, that is the DIY store I go to the most, I
had to take a lot of the pics on the sly,
the staff did not want me taking pics in the store.
Cheers!
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