Going Shopping

Shopping in Japan is pretty similar to shopping in Korea, but there are a couple differences. It's much more different than shopping in the States. The place that I do most of my shopping is called Daiei, and it has a supermarket, pharmacy, and beauty and hygiene department, as well as all the departments you'd expect in a department store, like clothes, shoes, housewares, linens, etc. It's a lot like shopping at a Super Wal-mart, but most likely less evil.

At Daiei and similar shops, you have to buy a lot of things with the specific department--as in Korea. So if I want to buy groceries plus some eye drops, a pillow, and eyeliner, I have to make four purchases. It's kind of annoying.

Japanese stores don't have the massive shopping carts like we do. The only shopping carts I've seen look like this:



This isn't used as a container in itself. You have to put a hand basket into the top shelf and then put stuff into the basket. If you need to get a lot of stuff, you can put another basket in the bottom, or women also put their purses down there. No one will snatch it, even if you walk away from the cart.

When you go up to the cashier, you take the basket out of the cart and put it on a small counter. The counter is no longer than the width of two baskets, and there is no conveyor belt. The cashier brings the next basket in front of her (usually cashiers are women so far) and then after she scans each item, she puts it into another hand basket of a different color, usually red. After ringing up everything, she pushes the red basket to the other side of the counter, also about two basket-widths wide, and asks if you need a plastic bag. I always bring my nylon shopping bag, so I refuse, and they thank me, presumably for saving the environment and a little money for the company.

To pay, there is a little tray attached to the cash register (or in other shops there may just be a tray on the counter), into which you put your money or credit card. It's more polite to put the bill or credit card so it's right side up for the cashier, which may be sideways or upside down to the customer. The cashier usually gives the change directly to the customer with the receipt (although at the bank they put money into the tray, I think), bows, and thanks the customer. Then you have to take your red basket over to another counter in front of the registers to bag your own items. There is a stack of red baskets where you put yours when you've finished, and from what I can tell they seem to expect you to return your cart to where you got it. I'm not sure if you can wheel out carts to the parking lots or not.

I'm mostly okay with this process, but the one thing that really, really bothers me about shopping in Japan is that from what I can tell, this country hasn't figured out Cashless Society yet. In Korea and England (and the States of course) when I opened a bank account, I got a debit card that I could use everywhere. But when I opened my Japanese bank account, they mailed me an ATM card. I asked Louise if she knew anything about debit cards in Japan and she told me she'd never really seen anything like that here, only like department store credit cards. So I have to deal with inconvenient currency. What's even worse is that you get charged 210 yen (about $2.50) for an ATM withdrawal, unless you withdraw from your own bank's ATM during its meager business hours (9-3). As if you have to pay to use your own ATM after hours.

Anyway, shopping.

The end.