Hello! I'm @Ryo54388667!☺️

I usually work as an engineer in Tokyo!

Actually, I got married this year, and my wife and I started life together in a new home! (By the way, I wrote up my experience with the marriage-hunting service Hitooshi separately)

This time I'm counting down the 10 best things we bought in the first half of 2026!

We furnished our place — furniture, appliances, storage — pretty much from scratch after getting married, so honestly, this was the most shopping I've done in my life (lol)

From all of that, here are the purchases that made us go "This was SO worth it...!", counted down from No. 10 to No. 1!

The ranking isn't by price — it's by "how much it changed our daily life." Which means that later in the list, an item under 2,000 yen muscles its way into the top ranks.

*This article contains affiliate links (PR) for products I actually use. Everything featured here was bought with our own money and earned its spot in our new home.

*Prices are what we paid or as of writing. They fluctuate with sales, so please check the links for current prices🙏

Here's the whole list up front.

In case you only came for, say, the washroom storage, I've put the price and what each thing actually changed right next to it. If a row catches your eye, feel free to jump straight there from the table of contents!

Alright — starting from No. 10!

First up is Nitori's mesh tension shelf (wide, 32cm deep). We use it for storage in the toilet room.

Without any shelves, a toilet room gives you nowhere to put spare paper or cleaning supplies...

Wedge this between the walls, and the empty space up top turns into proper storage. No tools required.

As you can see, it's now the official home of our paper stock and a storage box. There's no going back to leaving things on the floor.

It costs 1,690 yen. It works far harder than that price suggests.

• Right for you if: your toilet room or washroom has no shelving at all, or you're renting and can't put holes in the wall
• Skip it if: there's no facing wall for the pole to brace against

We went with the wide, 32cm-deep version. If you want to line spare rolls up front to back, don't cheap out on the depth.

The first kitchen purchase that made me think "glad we bought this" — Yamazaki's range hood spice rack (Plate series).

It simply hooks onto the range hood, giving your seasonings a permanent spot right above the stove. Setup took about ten seconds.

With salt, pepper, and oil within arm's reach, cooking flows so much better. The hooks under the tray hold ladles and spatulas too, so the workspace around our stove opened right up.

Every seasoning and utensil we use daily, consolidated right above the stove.

It's around 2,000–3,000 yen. I also love the magnetic rack from Yamazaki's tower series — I'm steadily falling into the Yamazaki rabbit hole😅

I've since written up the whole rabbit hole in my honest review of 8 Yamazaki products worth buying.

• Right for you if: your seasonings live on the counter around the stove and you shove them all aside every time you clean
• Skip it if: your range hood has no lip to hook onto (go take a look at yours first)

As a first move in redoing a kitchen, I think this is the best value of the lot. No tools, no measuring.

Time for the first appliance: Hitachi's cordless stick vacuum, the Pawakaru Stick PV-BL50L (light gold). We got it in the low 30,000-yen range.

When choosing a vacuum for the new place, I agonized over suction monsters like Dyson. But with vacuums, I figured "how easily you can grab it" beats "how powerful it is" when it comes to actual usage — so I went with this one, whose whole selling point is its lightness (about 1.4kg). The name says it all: "Pawakaru" is Hitachi-speak for "powerful & lightweight."

Full disclosure: this is not the latest model. I also eyed the newest PV-BL50P, but comparing the two, the upgrades were mostly extras like AR cleaning-app support — the lightness and core suction I actually cared about were basically unchanged. So instead of the just-released, pricier flagship, last year's discounted model was plenty. (This "if the diff doesn't matter to you, buy the previous model" strategy works for appliances in general — highly recommended.)

It played out exactly as planned. At 1.4kg you can grab it one-handed, so the moment I spot dust or a stray hair, I can vacuum right there on the spot. The "okay, time to psych myself up and clean" step is gone — we clearly vacuum more often now.

Weekend whole-house cleaning got easier, too. Cordless means outlet-hopping isn't a thing, and the self-propelled head pulls itself along, so your arm doesn't tire even going from the living room to the bedroom. Pop off the pipe and it turns into a handheld for shelves and the sofa — this one machine covers the entire home.

Emptying it is easy as well: pop open the dust case over the trash bin, and you're done.

Its spot is the corner of the living room. Keeping it "always visible and within reach" is, I suspect, the secret to keeping our cleaning frequency up.

One honest caveat: the charging stand does add a lived-in look to the room. You could hide it in a closet, but I knew that the moment I stashed it away, I'd stop vacuuming forever (lol) — so we prioritized the traffic line and keep it out in the open. Interior aesthetics or a lower barrier to cleaning: pick your priority, and decide where it will live before you buy.

• Right for you if: how often you clean depends on how easily you can grab the thing, not on raw suction. Or you want one cordless unit to cover every room
• Skip it if: pet hair and carpet are your main battle and suction comes first. Or there's genuinely nowhere to leave the charging stand out

Because the play here is buying last year's model, stock and pricing move around a lot. If you're running the same strategy, it's worth checking what it costs today.

Representing the washroom: ekans' laundry rack (tension-pole type, 3 shelves). It was around 9,000 yen.

Something I learned after we started living together: the amount of stuff a washroom has to hold is unreal. My wife's skincare, shampoo, detergent refills... all bulky, and once things start piling up on the floor, it's the beginning of the end (lol)

This rack gives you three shelves in the dead space above the washing machine. It's tension-mounted, so no holes in the wall — a big plus.

We line the shelves with fabric baskets and just toss in refill stock and towels. Lidless baskets make access instant, so even a lazy person like me keeps it going.

I love the white-and-oak look, too. The washroom — a space that clutters up easily — now looks put together.

• Right for you if: the space above your washing machine is completely empty, or two people's worth of stock has started spilling onto the floor
• Skip it if: your washroom has a dropped ceiling or an access panel where the pole can't brace

Measure your ceiling height and the width of your washing machine before ordering. Get those right and the shelf positions handle the rest.

Now for the furniture. LOWYA's Coupe dining table 3-piece set (90cm). A table plus two chairs for a little over 30,000 yen.

The deciding factor was the round tabletop. No corners means it doesn't block the flow of a smallish dining space, and the distance when you eat face-to-face feels just right.

Going round was the right call. Zero bulkiness — even a tight space doesn't feel cramped.

The natural wood looks more expensive than it is. And assembly was almost disappointingly easy.

If you're choosing a dining set for two, put this one on your shortlist.

• Right for you if: your dining area is tight and a cornered table clogs the walkway, or a four-seater feels oversized for two people
• Skip it if: you host often and want four-plus around the table (at 90cm round, it's two people plus the occasional third)

From here on, it's the top 5 — the heavy hitters of our home.

LOWYA's Onoma 2-seater sofa (156cm wide, natural wood legs). It was about 36,000 yen.

The corduroy-style fabric feels great, and the moment we set it down I thought, "Oh — this suddenly looks like a proper home" (lol)

Here it is. We went with mocha. The muted color blends right in with all the wood furniture in our place.

At 156cm wide, it seats the two of us comfortably. The natural-wood-leg Scandinavian design also matches the dining set from earlier.

One caveat: the sofa weighs about 36kg, so carrying it in and unboxing it is a real workout. I recommend two people for the job.

• Right for you if: you have a wall that fits 156cm, and you want to keep everything in the same wood-legged Scandinavian key
• Skip it if: your route in is narrow, or you're planning to unbox and place it alone (36kg is no joke)

You can pick between colors like ivory and mocha. We went mocha, which I'd recommend if your place already leans wooden.

RASIK's over-the-trash-bin kitchen board "Liora" (90cm, greige). 29,980 yen.

It's a 2-in-1 unit that stores your microwave, rice cooker, dishes, and trash bins in the space above the bins. It has a built-in outlet, so powering appliances is a non-issue.

The steel-and-woodgrain greige finish looks genuinely upscale for a kitchen. All our dishes for two fit neatly behind the doors.

We keep the toaster oven and kettle on it, with two trash bins tucked into the lower level. Appliances, dishes, and bins — the whole lot handled by this one unit.

And a confession: I did not assemble this one myself.

One look at the manual and I knew — "this is the kind that eats an entire weekend..." — so I hired a pro through Kurashi no Market, a local services marketplace. The result was flawless. If big furniture assembly isn't your thing, just hire a pro.

• Right for you if: your trash bins and your microwave stand live in separate spots and are eating your kitchen floor, or you're short on outlets for appliances
• Skip it if: you don't want to assemble it yourself and don't want to pay someone either (it ships as customer-assembly, so there's no way around this)

We went with the 90cm-wide greige version. Measure the width of the spot — and the height of your bins — before you look.

Third place is a dark horse: Toyo Plan's slim rolling wagon (12.5cm wide, 3 tiers). 1,880 yen.

Next to our washing machine, there was this awkward gap — maybe a dozen centimeters wide. A spot I'd written off: "nothing is ever fitting in there."

When this thing slotted in perfectly, I was far more moved than I expected. It's on casters, so you can roll it out to reach the back or to clean. Assembly was easy, too.

Look at that fit. The few centimeters between the sink and the washing machine became the official home of our detergent refills.

This purchase taught me a lesson: if you search hard enough, storage that fits your gap almost always exists.

If there's a gap at home you've given up on... don't give up yet!

• Right for you if: there's an awkward gap of roughly 13cm beside your washing machine, your fridge, or your toilet
• Skip it if: your gap is narrower than 12.5cm. No amount of willpower fixes that one

So go measure it before you look. This is the kind of purchase where a couple of centimeters decide everything.

Second place goes to WALL's wall-style TV stand V3 (swivel type, low, white oak). The stand itself is 39,900 yen.

It stands your TV up wall-mounted-style — no TV cabinet needed. You get that clean, mounted look with zero construction, and the living room instantly feels bigger.

The left-right swivel is more useful than I expected: you can angle the screen toward the sofa or the dining table. The cables hide behind the back panel, so the cord chaos around the TV is gone.

I'll show you the finished living room at No. 1, coming right up!

We added the optional multi-device holder and the magnetic power strip — both are earning their keep.

And the thing I want to shout from the rooftops: the assembly & installation service (4,950 yen) is worth every yen.

They handled unboxing, assembly, mounting the TV, and the cabling — briskly and beautifully. Just removing the anxiety of hoisting a large TV onto brackets yourself makes it a bargain at that price.

• Right for you if: you're renting and can't drill the wall but still want the mounted look, and your TV is between 32 and 80 inches
• Skip it if: you want to keep devices or decor on top of a TV cabinet (it's a stand, so that surface is gone)

We picked the swivel low type, and the height adjusts across five steps. If you mostly watch from the sofa, low was plenty.

And the top spot goes to Hisense's 55-inch 4K TV 55E7N (Amazon-exclusive, 3-year-warranty model)!

Paired with the WALL stand from No. 2, this is how our living room turned out. That no-TV-cabinet silhouette is my favorite thing in the room.

The reason I chose it: sports. I wanted to watch sports on a big screen, so I hunted for a model whose panel could keep up with fast motion (a 120Hz panel, with 144Hz VRR in game mode).

Verdict: bullseye. Fast plays render buttery smooth, and the quantum-dot colors are at a level where you go, "This picture, at this price? Seriously??"

YouTube, Netflix, and other streaming apps launch instantly from the remote. Games run great on it, too.

It launched at over 130,000 yen, but I timed a sale and got it in the 80,000s. Picture, gaming, and streaming — the full package at this price is, frankly, a little absurd (lol)

One honest caveat: as the reviews say, the sound lacks body. That's just physics with this speaker setup, and personally it doesn't bother me at all — and if it bothers you, a soundbar solves it.

The Amazon-exclusive model also comes with a 3-year warranty — reassuring for an appliance you'll use for years.

These days, my favorite part of our new life is sinking into the No. 5 sofa on a weekend and watching sports on this big screen.

• Right for you if: you want fast-moving footage — sports, games — on a big screen, and your living room has the wall space for 55 inches
• Skip it if: you care about sound from the TV's own speakers (no issue at all if you're adding a soundbar)

This one went from over 130,000 yen to the 80,000s, so the price swings are enormous. Even if you're not buying today, it's worth knowing where it currently sits.

That was our top 10 best buys of the first half of 2026! Here's the list one more time.

1. Hisense 55-inch 4K TV 55E7N
2. WALL wall-style TV stand V3
3. Toyo Plan slim wagon (12.5cm wide)
4. RASIK kitchen board "Liora"
5. LOWYA Onoma 2-seater sofa
6. LOWYA Coupe dining table 3-piece set
7. ekans laundry rack with shelves
8. Hitachi "Pawakaru Stick" PV-BL50L cordless vacuum
9. Yamazaki range hood spice rack
10. Nitori mesh tension shelf

Lined up like this... we really did buy something for every room — living room, kitchen, washroom. New married life is a force of nature.

You absolutely don't need all ten. Fill in the one spot in your home you keep thinking "this never stays tidy" about, and daily life genuinely changes. For us, that spot cost 1,880 yen and landed at No. 3.

If something caught your eye, check the links in each section — even just for the current price. These all move with sales, so the numbers here are only a guide🙏

I hope this helps anyone about to start married life or move in with a partner!

On the same new-life note, here's the household budget system we run as a dual-income couple. Check it out if you're curious!

If the second half of the year brings more good purchases, I'll write about those too. (Honestly, there were also a few purchase fails, so that article might come first...)

Thank you for reading to the end!

I tweet whatever's on my mind, so feel free to follow me!🥺

If this article helped you, I'd be moved to tears if you'd send a tip (an Amazon gift card) from my wish list 🥺