The year is coming to an end. Inspired by a similar-themed thread over in r/newsokunomoral, what is your best/worst purchase of 2023? Can be as small as an electric shaver… or as big as a plot of land.
**Best-** mine is probably an electric pressure cooker. It’s so nice. Pop ingredients and seasonings in, push a button, and it does its magic.
Also a motorbike, I’ve always been riding back home and kinda missed it after moving to Japan, so I took riding classes some months ago and purchased my first “proper” vehicle in Japan. Been riding a couple times a week now and I’m definitely not regretting this purchase.
**Worst-** Nespresso machine. I own a proper espresso machine back home which I couldn’t bring over. I live in a small 1K with nowhere to put an espresso machine on, so I thought *maybe* a Nespresso with its small footprint can scratch the itch? As it turned out, no it couldn’t. Tastes nowhere near actual espresso. Luckily I was able to resell it on Mercari after a month.
Things that improves QoL are very welcome. Maybe it will inspire other users?
45 comments
Best purchase would be a new(used) car
Worst purchase would be a 12 time use beauty clinic treatment for my wife that only went 3 times before the rest of the certificates expired and it cost 10万円
Best: Dishwasher, live in a rental, so a table-top one. Probably the best purchase **ever**, cleans dishes so fine, no hands can do that.
Worst: Clothes tumble dryer. Shrinks the hell out of clothes, makes them thin, consumes insane amount of electricity.
Both Panasonic.
Best purchase: Bengal kitten
Worst purchase: Bengal kitten.
This is no starter pack cat. The Siamese and giant floof are not amused.
Best *and* worst – our wedding reception.
What a great thread!
**Best**
Electric car. I made my driving license recently so it’s my first vehicle. Very convenient and fun way to commute.
Big, solid cat tower. I was worried that my cats won’t care, but they spend on it most of the day, especially when it’s warm.
**Worst**
I guess I’m too positive to find anything that I wasn’t happy about. I usually return the things that I don’t like (mostly Amazon), so I don’t really remember them, lol.
Best: A new to me fully loaded Mazda CX-8.
Worst: Various video games that I never got into.
Best purchase?
Hands down the Mazda Roadster. Still think it is right not to wait for the refreshed 2024 model.
best
timemore digital scale
tfal pressure pan
onitsuka tiger laceless shoes
uniqlo new airism mens underwear
Best – Benq monitor for my eyes with disabilities…
Worst – I started to play Genshin…
Best household item: Probably my wife’s Apple Watch, which she -loves-, or her iPhone 15, after using an iPhone 7 for ages. I’m still on the 13, which is perfectly fine for me, after upgrading from a 6 two years ago.
Best fun item: while I love my Airstep Play, honestly the power drill peg winder for my guitars has been maybe the best bang-for-buck item I’ve purchased in years, not just 2023. Otherwise it’s a toss-up between my Ibanez or PRS.
Best family item: Programming and dance classes for the tax deductions. One is now head of the programming club at school, and the other one has passed auditions at a major talent agency.
Worst item: Waffle maker didn’t stay flat, Mercari for you and I got a bigger electric one on its way.
Best purchase: Physical therapy at the right clinic
Worst purchase: Physical therapy at the wrong clinics
Most of my spending this year went to medical.
Best: A motorcycle (generally speaking). It’s great not to have to rely on public transportation, and has opened the door to a lot of cheap trips to cool areas that I wouldn’t have otherwised visited.
Worst: An air-cooled Ducati motorcycle. It’s sexy, fast, handles like a dream… everything I had hoped, but it’s air-cooled and gets hotter than the surface of the sun after riding in stop-and-go traffic (and it’s never not stop-and-go traffic in Tokyo). It’s borderline unrideable in the summer, but even now it could still burn my legs if I wasn’t wearing special heat-resistent leggings. Absolute love/hate for me.
Best purchase : starting with ideco and Nisa.
Best: my gaming chair. Use it for everything except gaming, but it’s helped my back a ton.
Worst: water filter. Used it once, ended up with a stomach ache because of how it changed the water ph. Now we just use it for the “one stream/multiple streams” feature.
**Best**
**Home:** A small family sized Crockpot
**Work Product:** A Mac MIni M2 with lots of Ram & Space
**Work Efficiency:** My ChatGPT Pro Subscription. You can’t upgrade to pro now & people are waiting.
**Worst**
Home: Crockpot (again): I originally bought a large Crockpot that took up way too much space & went close to stove while I was cooking & the faceplate melted off. I still like my Crockpot but I bought one that was way too large.
Best purchase: Sharp air purifier/humidifier
Worst purchase: Cheap dual-tuner RCA TV. It had one of the worst panels and set of speakers I’ve ever experienced. Returned it and got a Toshiba. No regrets.
Best: Zojirushi steam humidifier. Semi-double instead of a single bed. PS5 and TV. Usagi rug from Nitori. The rental unit I moved into. Spice rack for the dead space next to the stove. Topre keyboard.
Worst: Bottom-tier microwave (should’ve splurged on an oven range instead). Quickle Wiper (flimsy).
Best purchase: [gelato pique Snorlax onsie](https://www.pokemoncenter-online.com/?p_cd=4570178076825) for little one.
Worst purchase: gloss paint for my office, assumed it was matte and thought it was taking ages to dry before realizing the amount of time and money I’d just wasted.
Garmin running watch is my top for the year. Also OP if you get beans from a roaster learn how to make pourover coffee too
Best: Got a great deal for a well maintained Honda S2000 (AP1)
Worst: Not a lot but probably glass baking dishes from Amazon that were smaller than expected (my fault for not measuring beforehand)
Best: bread maker so I get fresh bread (Panasonic)
Worst: Nintendo switch and Zelda. I don’t have time to play it.
I would mercari the switch but the way mercari are handling my account verification and point management has made me swear to keep that company at a wide berth. They just rejected me for middle name :(…. after letting me sell my stuff. Theyve got the order wrong surely!
Best: 4 concert tickets, blind seats, ended up being 5th row
Worst: Lightweight package sent to America cost me ¥5000 just to ship
I would say best: My motorbike. Second best: My motorbike heated grips.
I would say best: My motorbike. Second best: My motorbike heated grips.
Best: Small Chi-Fi tube amp (AIYIMA T9 PRO )
Worst: Non-refundable/changeable Business class ANA ticket to the US that I couldn’t use
Best:
– a second hand pair of Mizuno Hickory pants from Mercari for 1700 yen
– toe socks
– colored pens from Daiso
– second hand pair of GU wide pants
Worst: probably a lot of frivolous small things- an umbrella from Lawson 100 that broke on the first day, bowl of duck soba that sucked, unnecessary spending at Daiso
Best: a new apartment at a portion of the cost of th previous and more convenient in a dozen different ways. Also, it doesn’t rhyme with Cleo.
Worst: the pair of wide running shoes that are still a bit tight on the sides. I’ll probably use them if I ever go to the gym for a workout
Edit: For clarity ‘s sake it is a rental but it certainly feels like a purchase, especially since you have to pay all the extra fees to start
Best: Convection Oven from Iris Ohyama. Cheap and good enough for baking, grilling and streaming. Suitable for anyone staying here short but still want to do some basic bakings.
Worst: my mistake for buying a keyboard with Japanese characters. Some keys are not correctly displayed.
Can I ask what pressure cooker you got? I’ve been looking into getting one…!
Best: a Nintendo Switch Lite for 12,000 yen in practically new condition
Worst: no clue, haven’t bought much this year.
**Best**
Not really purchased, but a credit card and ETC card. Credit card makes many things sooooo much easier and ETC card means I get the kei car AND holiday discounts. So many fantastic trips this year.
**Worst**
Cirque du Soleil tickets and trip to Tokyo to see said performance. Had high hopes after seeing many Cirque du Soleil performances and Kinoshita circus earlier this year (it’s AMAZING you should see it) but was quite disappointed with the performance, which required a Shinkansen and hotel to go see.
Best purchase of the year : a Sodastream we got for half the price since it was the on shelf model.
Worst purchase A round trip ticket for a family member to come and visit us. This went really wrong.
Best: ふるさと納税
Worst: 国民保険
/s
Best purchase: gaming desk and chair… having a proper gaming chair after all these years makes me regret not doing it sooner.
Worst purchase: bone conduction headphones… decided to try a different style, and they’re not for me.
Bonus worst purchase: the dozens of children’s toys that broke after an evening with my toddler.
A soda stream! It’s helped me cut down on my soda intake massively and now I can make any flavor sugar free soda I want. I harvested a bunch of pomegranates and squeezed them for juice and then I made soda with it and it was great.
Best: Nintendo switch OLED
Worst: Yamazen microwave/oven combo.
650w (max) is worse than it sounds and the oven function is incredibly inconsistent compared with my previous Panasonic oven. To be fair it’s SUPER cheap….
Have an almost two month old kiddo. So all purchases are connected to her.
Best: diaper genie and a bottle sterilizer that doubles as a dryer and has an attached kettle that we can use to warm frozen milk.
Worst: baby carriers. We bought two because of mine and my husband’s size difference. Kiddo hates them both.
I finally got AirPods this summer ahead of a long flight and honestly as someone who jumps between Apple products all day (half of which no longer have a headphone jack) it’s been a game changer.
But the *best* purchase was this [airpod case cover that looks like a Reese’s Cup package](https://www.amazon.com/Airpod-Cartoon-Silicone-Keychain-Children/dp/B08NH4ZCL9?th=1). The amount of delight it has brought me for about $5 is truly unmatched, plus the case now has enough heft in my pocket that I don’t lose it.
Worst is all the hobby stuff/games/books I’ve bought but haven’t gotten around to using yet… I will eventually, I’m sure, but for now it sits there taunting me.
Best so far is Montbell Hiking Pants! It feels so good!
Best purchase looks to be my Steam Deck.
Worst Purchase… I still have time to do it, but if not, a calendar that I put on the wall on January, forgot to fill it in February and forgot all about it until it dropped from the wall in June with the April page on the front.
Best: kettle with temperature preselection. Tea, especially green, tastes noticeably different and less bitter.
Worst: thought I could save money and buy FFP2 masks on AliExpress. Will donate these to a woodworking workshop probably because I hate waste.
Best: Stardew Valley for the Switch. I didn’t want to buy it again since I already have the PC version but damn it’s great having it on a handheld.
Honorable mention to my Surface Go 3.
Worst: probably the IKEA kids tent thing that my kid just knocked over and then looked at me like “OK, now what??”
Oh and the BuddyPop headphones he refuses to wear. He’d rather just watch YouTube on mute.
Basically most of my worst purchase are toddler fails.
Best: honeymoon in Hokkaido, especially the night at 十勝川温泉 三余庵. Only a few days but it was so nice.
Worst: some ebook photobooks. I had some coupons from Sony that I felt I should use, but while I’m all in on ebooks for text, photos aren’t great in that format.
Best – land in Iwate, 20,000 sqm for 3.5m, new hot tent (nortent gamme 8 PC) and wood stove (firegraphix bliss mini) also a bunch of new flannels.
Worst – insta 360 x3, Makita chainsaw, turkey off amazon, mountain hardware sleeping bag and Keen sandals
Still up in the air – land in Tokyo 50sqm for 80m,…
Best- my entire nail “salon” set up. Its been helping out with my mental health tbh, another one is my nespresso machine, Its one of those “hobby” i’ve been trying to keep up with to help my mental health, plus I really enjoy making my drinks.
Worst: the nails I paid ¥7000+ for (actually 10,000 bc i gave her a ¥3000 tip) they werent so bad while she was doing it? But the more i looked into it under natural lighting, the more crappy it looked. Its very bumpy, and not to mention she didnt even clean up the gel polish off of my skin after she used the dang airbrush for my ombre nails.