Shopping in Japanese is "Kaimono" - Which Literally Means "Buy Stuff"

So the basic principles of shopping are basically the same here. Look at the stuff, pick what you want, put it in your cart, pay for it, and leave. So I won’t bother much with those. However, in writing what I fully expected to be a short post, I realized that there actually are a lot of nuances that set Japanese shopping apart.

So let’s explore those!

First and foremost, check your wallet! One of the biggest changes I had to make to my daily life in Japan was the switch from card to cash. I never carried cash in America. Ever. Here, it’s all I use. It’s not that Japan doesn’t have credit/debit cards (they do – though debit cards are VERY new), it’s that a good number of stores, even some of the big ones, just straight-up don’t take them. You can’t go into a store and expect to be able to pay at the end unless you have cash. And it’s rough to have a cart full of stuff and find out that you can't pay at the check-out counter. And embarrassing. For everyone. Yes, the cashier will be embarrassed for you too.

Isn’t it weird? Japan is on the cutting edge of technology, embracing every widget that makes life faster and easier, but for some reason, cards just aren’t mainstream like they are in America. Even Burger King doesn’t take cards, and they’re an American company!

So as a general rule for everyday living, I try to keep no less than 5,000 yen ($50ish) in my wallet, which will always be more than enough to buy me a meal and a trip home in case of an unprecedented navigational emergency (it happens). It’s that sweet spot that is enough to cover my needs and a little treat or two, but also limited enough to keep me from spending when I shouldn’t (and Japan is DANGEROUS like that. Did you know they have photo-realistic potato chip post-it notes? TOTALLY NEEEEEED.). It’s also an amount that won’t traumatize me if I lose it. Obviously if I have something more expensive in mind, I will withdraw more. ATMs, thankfully, are ubiquitous. Vital for a cash-driven society. Still, the fact that you have to expend that effort to find one keeps you more mindful about how fast you empty your wallet.

Japanese currency amounts are a bit different. Coins are 1, 5, 10, 50, 100, and 500 yen. Yes, that means that until you hit 1,000 ($10), you pay with coins, and “$1” and “$5 bills” are coins. You learn to count them real quick, which is another skill in itself, let me tell you. Bills are 1,000, 5,000, and 10,000. 2,000s are no longer printed but you see them occasionally, and there is no equivalent for a quarter. If there are any others, I’ve never seen them. Get rid of 1s as fast as you can, hoard 100 and 500’s (SUPER useful), and keep a few in between. The 10s are especially handy for vending machines.

So you pay with cash. Let’s talk about tax.

Sales tax in Japan is 8%. Yes, it’s 2% more than America, but that’s just the price of awesome and you have to live with it. If you are a visitor and bring your passport, you can actually get this tax refunded to you. Good to know, right? For everyone else, when sales tax was raised a few years ago, a clause in the law stated that stores MUST display the price with tax included, which saves you some brain power. Nice, right? Some stores are very upright and just say the price flat out, others are sneakier and display the higher number in smaller font. There are also kanji, but you don’t have to know them to see that the higher of the two listed prices is probably the one that includes the tax. If only one price is listed, you can be confident that it includes the tax already.

Comprehension check: How much will you pay for this lovely shelf?

One more cultural note on shopping before we dive into the nitty-gritty. In Tokyo, most people don't have cars. That means you have to haul your goods home yourself. Now think of carrying home that cart you filled to the brim with stuff from Wal-Mart last week. Doesn't work, does it? In Japan, it's not only possible, it's normal. The first part that makes it work is that shopping centers are close to residential areas. If you're more than 10 minutes walk from a grocery store, you are an anomaly. Grocery stores are everywhere, even, awesomely enough, in malls (why has no one else done this before??). I am within reasonable walking distance of no less than five grocery vendors, and two of those are supaa's, or Japanese superstores (more on those later). The second part is that grocery shopping is more like an everyday chore than a weekly event. You get smaller batches more frequently. This keeps food fresher, doesn't overfill your tiny refrigerator, doesn't break your back, and allows you to utilize the different sales that stores have each day. 

 And now, for the actual shopping.

There are all flavors of shopping in Japan – everything you can think of and more. But for this article, I’m going to focus on the basic, everyday flavor and save the amazing wonders of street shopping and convenience stores for another time. Supermarkets, called “supaa” in Japanese (just take the "rmarket" out of "supermarket"), are the staples of my life. They range from the friendly neighborhood grocer to the most unbelievably enormous monoliths to the gods of shopping that you have never been capable of imagining before.

Take my personal favorite, Ito Yokado. Fun fact! Guess which company owns it?

Yes, THAT slurpee loving, gas-station 7-Eleven. 

This behemoth is 8 stories of shopping. So, when I say you can get everything here, I mean you can get EVERYTHING here. It is all stores in one store, the one store to rule them all. It is your Wal-mart, Albertson's, Walgreen's, Home Depot, Ikea, Kohl's, Best Buy, Barnes and Noble, Dollar Tree, and more rolled into one location. Gaze at their store directory and weep. I have summarized as much as I can of it for extra effect.

B2 and B3: Parking

B1: "Food Floor" - Grocery, liquor, food court, entrance to train station

1F: "Daily Living Floor" - Daily necessities (cleaning stuff, etc.), pet goods, bicycle repair, watches, personal care products

2F: "Clothing and Young Fashion Floor: - Accessories, youth clothing, shoes, purses

3F: "Women's Fashion Floor" - Women's clothes, including professional business attire, a beautician's studio

4F: "Men's Clothing and Sports Floor" - Men's clothing, including casual and business attire, sports clothes AND equipment (both sexes)

5F: "Children's and Underwear Floor" - Children's clothing, underwear, socks, handicraft, toys, stationary, pajamas

6F: "Living Floor" - Bedding, interior (design stuff), household goods (kitchen tools, furniture, etc.), organization, home appliances

7F: "Food and Hobbies Floor" - Misc. restaurants, dollar store (Daiso), CD/DVD, glasses/contacts, playland for kids

8F: Some kind of gallery. Never been there. Too busy with the other 8 shopping floors.

You could live very nicely out of this store and not have a single want ever. Or any other one like it. Aeon is another big name with monster stores like this. 

So WOW. You can get lost in these things. It's an awesome feeling. It's also a great place to stop by if you're a tourist, because you will get to see ALL THE JAPANESE THINGS!!! With more effort, you could find cheaper places, but prices are usually perfectly reasonable. And it doesn't get much better than the dollar store on the 7th floor, which is like an American dollar store but with more things and higher quality things.

The only rule you really need to know for these megashops is that you need to purchase the items on the floor where you selected them, or from the specific sub-shop if there is one (there's a purse boutique in Ito Yokado, for example, that has their own check out stand). This means you will need to check out several times if you buy from multiple floors. They usually have a stamp or printed tape they put on the bag or over the barcode to show that your item has been paid for so you don't get questioned as you move from floor to floor. Japanese stores are also great at bagging and packing your goods so they will survive the trip home, even if that trip doesn't happen immediately. When I bought an assemble-yourself shelf set, for example, they attached the niftiest handle so I could carry it easily. I proceeded down a few floors to get some groceries before heading home. Shopping in Japan, you see a lot of people carrying multiple bags on their arms. You get used to seeing it, and doing it too.

So for the rest of the article I'm going to teach you the grocery shopping process, because that's kind of essential for life and stuff. 

It starts with the basket. Not the cart. It starts with the basket because you take the basket and put it IN the cart.

You can put a basket on the bottom too if you need more space! But that's a lot to carry home...

Random note, Japanese carts have the best maintained wheels ever and drive like a breeze. I never knew what kind of difference that would make in my life until it happened to me.

Getting back on topic, the basket is vital for the check-out process so don't skimp out on it. You can just use the basket if you want, too. But DON'T just use the cart. People will shake their heads and secretly sigh at you.

Then the fun part, shopping! Here's what my groceries were a week or two ago:

So after you've gotten your fill get in line and wait to check out. When there's room, take your basket OUT of the cart and set it on the long counter. There are no conveyor belts to move your goods like in America, so scoot your basket along as you move through the line. This is why you have a basket. It's more awkward to scoot without it. 

The cashier will scan each item and move it from your basket to a different colored basket, indicating that it has been paid for (at this Aeon, it's red). They will take your original basket and transport it back for you. Instead of handing your money directly to the cashier, there is a little tray for you to put your money in. I suspect this is to either out of respect for personal space or to limit germ spread through contact or both but I can't honestly say that I know. What I do know is that unless a hand is extended, or there really is no tray, use it. It's just a thing in Japan. 

The checkout stand has several cool features that you're missing out on if you don't use. You can ask for plastic cutlery and/or chopsticks, free of charge. Good employees will even ask you if you want some if they see some ready-meals in your basket. They have the most adorable ice-cream spoons for individual ice cream cups, and little plastic shovel/spoons if you buy Japanese gelatin or cakes (yummmm). There's a microwave beyond the bagging counters so you can get something tasty fresh-made and eat it right there. You can also ask for a dry ice token to help transport your frozen foods home (more on that later).  

After you've paid, take your new colored basket and approach the bagging area(s), which are easy to find because they will have rolls of the clear bags and other people will also be bagging their things there. Get out of the checkout area as quickly as possible so you're not in the way of the next customer. Don't try to bag in a location that's not a bagging area unless you can stuff it in your pocket or something in less than about a second. You'll disrupt the flow. And I know this from personal experience because I am a bumbling, clueless foreigner sometimes.

The place appointed for the bagging process.

Bagging groceries is a strictly DIY activity, right down to providing your own bag. You can buy one if you need one by taking a tag from the side of the check-out screen and putting it in your basket for them to scan with your groceries. They cost 3 yen for a regular size and 5 for a large. Not going to break your bank, but you really just get used to carrying your own fabric bags every time you go shopping. The clear bags are free, so use them ad libitum for your meats and loose produce. These are super handy to use for disposing of food later (see post on trash disposal) so save them! 

One more awesome feature: the dry ice machine. Remember how I said the Japanese are pros at packing and storing? They work on the assumption that you will NOT go home right away, so they pack you up accordingly. This means protecting frozen foods. Even some refrigerated foods will come with little cool-gel packs. But anyway. If you got the token from the cashier, you take it and the special bag provided to THE MACHINE.

It's dry ice. It's intensely cold. It kind of feels like you're in a chemistry lab because you have to lock the hatch and stuff. It feels dangerous. It's not...totally, anyway. If you're careful. So basically you hang the bag inside, yellow tube in the bag (that's where the ice comes out), and shut the door. Insert your token and push the green button and shaved dry ice magically dispenses. Put your frozen goodies in the bag and have no worries about them for up to several hours! Just make sure that the ice never touches your skin, ever, no matter how slightly! 

Because it's dry ice, your food won't get wet as the ice melts. So cool. Literally, so cool.

And that's the low-down on shopping! Just like train stations, it sounds like a lot written down but in practice it just flows. If nothing else, I present you my motto for living in Tokyo: "When in doubt, watch someone else do it first."

A few final notes for shopping the Tokyo way. If you are buying something heavy, the store will have delivery options, because they know most of their clients are on foot and it's really hard to carry home a new microwave. If you pay enough (for appliances, furniture, etc.) it's usually offered for free. Sometimes you have to wait up to a week, or you can pay more to rush it. It depends on the store. But it is offered. Almost always.

If you're the type who likes to save time, get packages, or both, then grocery delivery services might be right for you. They are super convenient. We use one called Co-Op, erroneously pronounced as "cope" and it drives me bananas every time. They hang a bag on our doorknob every week. 

Inside the bag are about seven different catalogs. We only use the one for food and household goods, but you can order anything from them.

And then there's an order form, which looks scary but isn't.

You find the item you want in the catalog, find the corresponding number on the order form, and enter the desired quantity. Hang everything back on the door in that lovely mango-colored bag. When the delivery men come (once a week, Thursdays for us), they will take your order sheet and replace the old catalogs with new ones. Next week, your food shows up at your door, they take your order sheet, and they give you a new catalog and order sheet. The food is packaged to last with plenty of ice-packs in coolers, stacked, and then the whole tower of foods is covered with a silver, insulating tarp. You pay through automatic deposit so no need to worry about paying the guys, and the food stays fine even if you don't bring it in for a whole day. Best part? Prices are comparable to those at a supermarket, and a lot of times, even better.

"Honey, groceries are here!"

Last shopping secret for Tokyo area only...that will make you so happy....

Amazon.jp has FREE next-day shipping on EVERYTHING. 

(and also an English webpage)

So between them and Co-Op, you kind of don't have to go shopping...like ever.

...Yes. I will just end on that note. What else needs to be said? Tokyo is amazing.