Christmas shopping in Japan-I wish I were elsewhere

I went Christmas shopping with Fumiko the other night. Obviously our ideas on how one should conduct Christmas shopping are diametrically opposed. I'm of the belief that gifts should be bought in secret. Sure the receiver is free to suggest ideas for gifts but that's as far as it goes. Fumiko on the other hand had the idea that I would pick out gifts for her to buy and then she would pick out a gift for me to buy.

Fumiko had already told me what she wanted-accessories (which is japanese for "jewelry.") I met her on Saturday night after work in Ikebukuro and we went shopping at Seibu (which is japanese for "most expensive department store in Japan.") I took one look at the prices for pants, shirts and jackets and thought 'thank God she wants jewelry and not clothes!" That of course was until we got to the 'accessories' floor, whereupon after glancing at the prices I thought "if only she wanted clothes!"

First we went shopping for me which was difficult because I didn't want to say 'I want this' but instead wanted to merely give hints or ideas. I also hate trying stuff on. I was liking one pair of pants until I saw that they cost $160. Fumiko said that was fine and I tried to explain to her that for $160 I would rather have two pairs of $80 pants than one pair of $160 pants. Heck truth be told, I would rather have four pairs of $40 pants! This of course was impossible for the other party to understand. She thought it was perfectly reasonable. After seeing the price of the ring she wants I'm starting to think it's perfectly reasonable too!

Would you like some wine with that couch?

So I went furniture shopping with Fumiko last week. I've been assured that that is a sure sign of a completely domesticated boyfriend. All I can say in my defense is that I had no idea we were going in the first place-we were shopping in Shinjuku and since we just happened to be in the neighbourhood...
It actually turned out to be pretty interesting though so I would probably do over again.

I don't know for sure but I think I can say with a sense of confidence that you've never experienced furniture shopping like this. This is exactly how it goes:

• you walk into an upscale building about 7 or 8 stories tall and go up to the front counter
• they ask you for your membership card and fill out a short questionaire for you regarding the purpose of your visit
• you are then led over and sat down (they pull out the chairs for you) at a table where you wait until a man (or woman) dressed up in a suit comes over and introduces themselves and hands you your business card
• they then take any packages that you happen to be carrying and put them away in a safe place somewhere and give you a number so that you can get them back when you leave-who wants to shop while encumbered?
• they then proceed to guide you around the entire store. That's right-there's no casual browsing here. For every customer in the store there is some guy in a suit giving the ins and outs of all the furniture
• at the end of your excursion, should you decide to buy or at least reserve a piece of furniture, you are then led to yet another set of tables where they sit you down and a nice lady brings you a glass of tea or orange juice (your preference)
• after all the neccessary documents or information has passed hands, your guide will fold up the receipt, put it in an envelope and hand it to you (with both hands of course,) whereupon you hand him your number and he goes and retrieves your packages
• finally he walks you to the door, bids you goodbye and bows to you

And that's that! We got a couch (by "we" I mean that I followed Fumiko and the salesman around the store, uncomprehending of the strange language that was a fusion of japanese and "furniturese.") Lord knows you'd never catch me in a store like that on my own. I'm quite proud of the fact that we have two "pleather" couches from the recycle shop for a grand total of about 15,000 yen. Less than 1/10th of the new couch.