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Clothing store employees approaching you: normal or odd?
I have a weird question. I am an ordinary gaijin guy in his early 20's living in Tokyo since April. Today I visited a few shopping malls just for window shopping. Nothing fancy, and not… Hey everyone,
I have a weird question. I am an ordinary gaijin guy in his early 20's living in Tokyo since April. Today I visited a few shopping malls just for window shopping. Nothing fancy, and not a touristy place either.
When I went inside a small, casual clothing store (not Uniqlo/GU etc) for men I was approached by a young shop clerk. He pointed out to a certain jacket on display (nothing special) and asked what I thought about it. I was honest and said (in an unenthusiastic voice) I'm only looking around. He then continued asking me a lot of questions: "do I prefer graphic tees or blank shirts", "Do I like this brand or that brand", "where do I usually get my clothes from", and then weirdly "what fashion do I enjoy wearing". At first I had assumed this was some store protocol to greet the customers, but this line of questioning was much longer than expected. (Like, honestly, do the employees get paid enough to care? haha)
Now, the thing is that this has happened to me at least 2 OTHER TIMES in completely different stores around Tokyo. Employees coming to ask me what style I like wearing and some other slightly-irrelevant questions.
I am not complaining about it ofc. I appreciate the friendliness. I am just wondering if this is normal/expected. Were they just bored, perhaps?
I have never experienced this in my home country. Nobody talks to you unless you request assistance (which is also true in most stores in Japan). Plus, these stores have a tiny inventory anyway. It's not like they offer a great variety of clothes to choose from.
Anyway, is this normal?
Correction: I don't mean is it normal for employees to talk to you at all. It's perfectly normal if they just ask "do you need a different size" or something like that once and leave. I was talking about employees who ask you a series of irrelevant questions.
Honestly this is just how smaller select shops operate here, it's not personal. The clerks are usually trained to do a "styling consultation" to figure out your taste and then push you toward specific items, especially if they work on commission. I've noticed it's most common in places like Shibuya Parco or Laforet, where the staff really try to build a relationship with customers and upsell entire outfits.
If you want to avoid this, stick to chain stores like Uniqlo, Muji, or even ABC Mart. Or go to secondhand shops like Mode Off or TreFac Style where they pretty much leave you alone. The clerks at those smaller shops aren't bored, they're just doing their job and trying to move inventory.
super common in those smaller select shops, especially in shibuya or harajuku. they're basically trying to figure out ur taste so they can push specific items, it's a sales tactic not just being chatty. if you want to avoid it, go to stores like uniqlo, muji, or even secondhand spots like book off super bazaar where staff just leave you alone. the ones that do this are usually commission-based or have quotas, so they're not bored, they're working
yeah that's pretty normal for smaller select shops here, especially in harajuku or shimokitazawa vibes. they're trained to do that "styling consultation" thing, not just bored. some stores like beams or united arrows are big on that approach, they want to upsell u a whole outfit not just a single item. if u go to a place like rag tag or kindal (secondhand) they'll leave u alone mostly
Where can I find crispy, pan-fried bacon similar to a certain international style?
if u have a costco membership the kirkland thick cut is the move, 4 packs of 500g for around 2500 yen and it crisps up proper in a cold pan. for smaller runs, precce in azabudai hills & the basement at isetan shinjuku both carry imported US & danish brands in the chilled case, just read the label for "thick cut" or "smoked" and not "loin". also worth knowing japanese bacon is often wet-cured so pat it dry before frying or it steams instead of crisping
kaldi coffee farm is hit or miss but their smoked bacon from denmark shows up pretty regular, the 200g pack runs about 600 yen. what actually works better for me is asking the butcher counter at peacock or life to slice the block bacon thick, like 5mm, they do it for free and it crisps way better than the pre-packed stuff. also fwiw cheap bacon crisps faster, the fatty supermarket kind at 300 yen a pack works fine if u cook it from cold in a dry pan and pour off the fat as it renders.
tbh the gyomu super store brand bacon is surprisingly decent for crisping up, its not thick cut but if you cook it low and slow it gets pretty crunchy. the key is the dry cure vs wet cure thing, wet cure steams. also check hanamasa if you have one nearby, they sell big packs of american style bacon thats actually smoked and firm.
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