Shopping at Jusco
Jusco is a department store chain with a presence in many parts of Asia. A Jusco store has the size and layout of a Macy’s, but a Wal-Mart like focus on everyday goods, with a grocery store thrown in. We go to our local Jusco about twice a month to stock up on essentials. It’s not near a major train station, and like many in Tokyo we don’t have a car, so we use their free shuttle bus, which stops just a block away from our apartment. As an American, shopping there is a bit eerie, as it’s 90% just like a US department store, but then you’re thrown off by the other 10%, which is really different.
Take, for example, this picture, of a young man in his underwear hawking beer coupons and beer mugs to kids. In the US he’d get arrested and the company would undoubtedly be sued for half a dozen different things, but here it’s no big deal. But it was unusual for someone to take a picture - after I snapped this one he got into a boxing stance and facetiously offered to fight me - I declined ;-).
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The next picture shows a man who’s there to sell you your very own personal hyperbaric oxygen chamber, just like Michael Jackson’s! Many Japanese are very big on, if not obsessed with, purity and cleanliness, so there’s a bigger market for this kind of thing here than there would be in the US.
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Then there’s Japlish, aka Engrish: the Japanese typically use English as a fashion accessory, not giving much thought to whether the spelling is correct or even if the words make any sense. For example, at Jusco we bought Kai a shirt that has a cartoon drawing of a military tank on it, surrounded by random English phrases such as “Donkey Lick” and “Forest Bath.” We got Eidan a shirt with a picture of a hot air balloon on it, and it says “Zepperrin.” We also bought a box of tissues that says “always to by the side” - what I think they’re trying for is “always by your side.” See these pictures from our 2004 Japan trip for some other examples (and if you want even more, there’s engrish.com). But every now and then I’ll come across some Japlish that actually makes sense and is very funny. But the humor is ironic, and I doubt the person who wrote it is aware of how it sounds to a native speaker. This picture of trash cans for sale at Jusco is a good example. They read, “would you like to review what your life should be…?” I almost bought one.
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