Daily Shopping in a Familiar Place Mitaka City Moving Stalls

There are areas near Tokyo public house where there are no supermarkets or other stores, making daily shopping difficult. The Tokyo Metropolitan Government currently operates a moving stall service in 30 locations in five wards and six cities, and this summer the service was newly started in Mitaka City. There are two locations: Mitaka Osawa 4-chome Apartments and Mitaka Osawa 2-chome No. 2 Apartments. A small truck, commonly known as “Mobile Supermarket Tokushimaru,” carries and sells products from the Comodi-iida supermarket chain.
When the truck stopped in front of the gathering place at the Mitaka Osawa 4-chome Apartment at 11 am, shoppers gathered from within and nearby the apartment complex. While not a large group, the number of visitors did not let up for the nearly 25 minutes the truck was there. It offered about 1,200 items from around 400 different categories, including fresh food items, sushi, prepared foods, and daily necessities. Tanaka Masao, chairman of the Osawa 4-chome Housing Community Association, said that it should not be too expensive even though 10 yen has been added to the price of each item, considering that residents would normally have to take a bus or taxi to go shopping.
Mr. Tanaka places a few chairs in front of the gathering place on the days when the moving stall will come. This allows customers to talk and rest for a while. They can also check on each other's wellbeing. One female customer said, “I cannot go shopping very often because I am too old and my body is not like it was before. There are no stores around here, so I am very grateful for this kind of service.”

The moving stall is a place to talk with neighbors	A small truck filled with goods