“Is this for you or a present?”
“For a present.”
The clerk started to tear a price tag on the product and let me choose color of wrapping paper and ribbon. The clerk said she would call me after the present was ready and started to wrap the product. So I wandered the store again. Few minutes later, she found me and gave me another choice. “Which paper bag would you like, pink or blue?”
“I like pink one.”
She put the present into the pink paper bag.
You see this conversation in the stores many times. The shopper can get gift-wrap for free. I thought it is normal situation in the stores. However I was shocked in the United States.
One time, I went shopping to get some gifts for my Japanese friends. I asked the seller to wrap them up as presents, as always. But the seller seemed that she didn’t know how to do, and then she talked with another clerk. She wrapped them up with some paper without ribbon and just put them into plastic bag. I was surprised that it looked not presents at all! So I ended up wrapping them by myself.
I felt many differences between Japanese and American culture. This is the one of them. In America, most stores do not have such neat gift-wrap services. We should buy beautiful papers and ribbon and wrap goods by ourselves. On the other hand, most products are in small plastics from the first in Japan. We wrap it with paper and ribbon, and then put into paper bag as well. The goods are covered with many papers and bags at the end. I think this is waste of natural resources actually, but it shows Japanese people’s courtesy and hospitality. 
Very interesting post. Many people comment that Japanese stores over-wrap products. But I very much like it when stores wrap presents up nicely when they are gifts. I take it for granted now. Recently I bought a couple of bottles of wine for a friend as a present. I requested that they be wrapped but the sales clerk said because they were on sale (but still expensive!) that they couldn't wrap them. I was shocked! But luckily (and for an added cost) there were some attractive wine bottle bags that could be used as wrapping. I hope this was an isolated incident and not a sign of change for the future...
ReplyDeleteThank you! I like this service too.
ReplyDeleteI was shocked too about your story! I think even though it is on sale, they should have wrapped them up for free...I will try to ask gift-wrap on sales goods in the future and see how a clerk treat them.