Consumer Frenzy

06/02/2002 English German

Edition # 40
San Francisco, 06-02-2002

Japan, Finally Aircraft as Arcade Tokyo Gastronomy Tokyo Fish Market Masks Beverages Beer Paper tissues Shuwattchi! Fashion Safety Technophilia Shinkansen Japanese speaking English Busy Bodies Rambunctious Youth Surveyed by Students Geishas Original and American knockoff Consumer Frenzy Japanese toilets Bicycles in Tokyo Train station in Tokyo Uniforms Taxis To Bow Shoes Off and Shoes On Hiroshima Ryokan Japanese Bath In the temple for AOL Koya-San Cemetery in Koya-San

Consumer Frenzy

Angelika Strolling through the food sections of the large department stores in Tokyo is a delight for the senses. There, alongside delicacies from around the world, you can find Japanese specialties such as crazy expensive Kobe beef. It comes only from specially raised cows that are massaged daily and even fed beer at times, costing up to 160 euros per kilo at the butcher. Unfortunately, the fourth case of BSE has just occurred in Japan, and even the Japanese are currently holding back on purchasing beef.

Figure [1]: 100g of the finest Kobe beef cost 1800 yen.

There are also sweets like Swiss pralines or cakes that look as if they came straight from the Viennese court bakery. And what did we discover as we leisurely strolled through the aisles of the "Takashimaya" department store (pronounced: Takashima Ya!)? Sausages from Dahlmayer in Munich - the original! There were lovely gift baskets with ham and all sorts of different sausages. However, a generous gift basket, a threesome of a large whole smoked ham, another piece of meat, and some sausages, cost 40,000 yen, which is 345 euros.

Overall, the department stores were absolutely stunning. There are extremely beautiful things from all over the world to buy, and you can really get everything your heart desires. In this regard, Tokyo is truly a cosmopolitan city, while San Francisco is more provincial, if we're being honest.

In upscale Japanese department stores and in some important public buildings, we encountered what I have termed elevator ladies (again, no men in sight), whose job is to operate the elevator all day. Uniform, hat, and white gloves are mandatory. The elevator ladies not only continuously use Japanese polite expressions but also indicate with hand signals whether the elevator is going up or down or when the doors are closing.