Christmas Shopping
Well it's that time of year again. Time to spend your money on everyone else but you. Though the religious meaning of Christmas has never quite existed in Japan, the true commercialism of the season does. With store displays going up from October (does anyone shop that early?), overpriced Christmas cake (which is the same strawberry shortcake selling for halfprice the month earlier) and best of all...Christmas KFC. Yes, KFC. In fact, there will often be a line outside and around the corner with "pre-ordering" possible. Yikes.To get back to my point, where do you find your presents? Especially if those presents need a bit of a Japanese flavor for the people you will be visiting back home this season? Well, here's the Fudocom top 5.
Number 1 is Amazon Japan. This online shopping resource has gone so much farther than books. You can buy electronics, toys, DVD's and even the mundane things like bandaids! With easy service you can order items and pay for them at your door. They have an English section for foreign books and music only. If you do browse about the Japanese pages for other items and you have a limited English option for the item information. It's not perfect, but better than nothing. You can also go through the complete order process in English so there will definitely be no misunderstandings. The only real complaint I have about their service is that you cannot pick the date and time window for the delivery. That can be a bit cumbersome if you are a full time worker and have a gift deadline.
Number 2 is another online shopping giant. Yahoo! Japan allows you shop from the comfort of your chair, find and compare prices from a variety of vendors, collect points for discounts and select the day and time you want your object to arrive. Sounds perfect, doesn't it? Only problem, no English. But such a good resource that I had to mention it here. Get yourself a Japanese buddy to help you out. Will also require a Yahoo! Japan ID.
Number 3 is a good place to get little things for children and adults alike. Outlet is as it's name suggests, a little outlet store in various neighborhoods offering good deals on those stocking stuffers. The logo is usually on a large and painfully yellow background in blue writing. Definitely, hard to miss. I'm sure most people who live here have seen one at one time or another.
I know, I know. A 100 yen store is bottom of the barrel cheap. But it has good little gifts that have Japanese flavor, like Japanese style chopsticks, handkerchiefs, etc. Good for the presents back home. So the 100 yen store is a definite number 4.
Ever finish all your shopping and remember someone you've left out at the last minute? Perhaps one of the best places to get the cliched Japanese items is at the little trinket shops at the airport. I'm not talking Duty-Free. Does Aunt Edna really want that 2L bottle of overpriced whiskey they sell at the Duty-Free shops? No. But she might enjoy a Japanese geisha doll. Or a kimono. The prices are decent and you get to look worldly. Not bad. Airport shopping is number 5.
Got the idea? Give it a try!
posted by Fudocom - Celina @ 6:53 PM
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