Sapporo,
the capital of Hokkaido, northernmost island of Japan
| About Department Stores in Japan
“ What a convenient, exciting place !” for people of
all generations. |
| In Japanese, we call a department store "Hyakkaten”
meaning "one hundred goods shop”. As this term suggests,
they sell various kinds of stuff from fresh food, delis, usually
on the basement food floors to cosmetics, jewelry, clothing, daily-necessities,
traditional goods such as kimono, pottery, lacquer ware, iron ware
or etc., furniture , or so on, all of good quality. On the upper
floor, there are many restaurants ranging from traditional Japanese
to Western or Chinese, or so on for every generation. They also
have amusement space for children to have fun, or often offer nursery
for customers with babies. Depending on the week, they hold certain
“ Special Event”, often collecting local specialties
not only from local areas but from abroad inviting artisans of handicrafts
or sales-clerks ?well experienced. Just in front of you, they have
the demonstration about how they are making the stuff they’ve
cherished for long. While at the food-counters, they offer you some
for tasting with reasonable explanation about their selling points.
The customers, feeling as if they’re visiting the local areas
just for a while, or recalling the places they’ve visited
before can trace the areas surrounded with the very local areas.
When they’re going to have this special event, we can usually
learn the contents through commercials or advertisements. Many are
looking forward to going to the department store to buy something
special or just to enjoy the atmosphere, often lining up before
the opening time of the stores. Among this kind of special event
held in the department stores all over Japan. “Hokkaido Fair”
is the most popular collecting most people because of the good quality
of food of all kinds. If you love to look at some artworks Japanese, they usually have the floor for art-exhibition. As they are proud of the good selection of goods here, you can rely on them for their quality and the service they offer you. Sales-clerks here are so well trained, kind and polite and good at artistic wrapping skill. They usually open from 10, closing around 7:30 to 8 or 9. When a traveler spends over 10,000 yen on certain items, 5 % consumption tax is paid back. You need to show your passport, filling in a form. If you have some time to spare, why don’t you visit this attractive place? When you feel too tired from window-shopping, there’re many for you to take a rest, of course. |
(as of June 2007) |
