After three days of touring with 50 of my closest friends and acquaintances I broke my sudden solitude with a trip to the second-hand store around the corner. Like the Santa bowl at Christmas that announces a discreet cookie pilfering with a loud "HO HO HO!" the entrance into any shop in Japan is projected to the world by the mandatory yelling of "Irasshaimase!" (Welcome!)by every employee on the premises. I'm sure that even in the back rooms, employees opening boxes or having a cigarette break on the back patio are sympathetically yelling this. It seems it can't be helped, they have to do it.
For someone like me, who is slightly introverted and afraid to disappoint by sheepishly shirking the follow through of a purchase, this can be an uncomfortable thing. And there isn't really a response to this grand greeting. It's always a bit of an awkward moment for me as I tend to just echo what is said because I don't know any better. "Welcome!!!" "Welcome," oh wait never mind. Why isn't there a word that means, "Why thank you for graciously welcoming me into your store! I very much look forward to seeing what it has to offer and enjoying the warmth of your honorable presence while I shop!"? If I were a Japanese rapper, I might create such a word and get it into everyday parlance (what? Japanese rap?). But since I still have a hard time telling the clerks that I've decided not to purchase the ten items that I took into the dressing room and where shall I put them, anyway- I think I'll hold off on making the Japanese language any more creative than I already have. For now I'll continue to marvel at these gracious greetings and the sorting of second hand clothing into "Gal" and "Sweet" brands. It's another world. At least most of the shirts still have two sleeves.
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