In the neighborhood

 This is a sign on our favorite bread store. The sign on the left say in English Baker Moved and in Japanese sakurai. I have absolutely no idea what either of them is supposed to mean. I checked the dictionary and sakurai is not listed. I do know that it can be a last name, I do not see the relevance. The sign on the right is a bit more transparent. In Japanese it says pan-nagata and in English bread & chef. Pan is bread and Nagata is apparently the name of the chef/owner, so it makes sense although I doubt we would every do something like that in English.

This is kozumosu, Cosmos, a drugstore. According to the left side of the sign, they sell discount drugs and on the right it indicates that they are open 365 days a year and the prices are cheap everyone of those days. Inside they sell a huge variety of things, in addition to over the counter drugs, they sell personal hygiene items, stuff for the kitchen, clothing, food, frozen food, health drinks and a lot of other stuff.

They only sell over the counter drugs because in Japan the doctor traditionally gives you the medicine as part of your visit. Recently a lot of doctors have started having an associated drugstore where you take you prescription and get if filled. There is no need to shop around because the prices are fixed by the government and paid for by your health insurance program. Tomorrow or the next day, I have to go to my doctor to restock the various medicines that I am taking so I will take some pictures.