On working a cash register in Japan, and some other thoughts

Hmm, so, I've been trying to figure out what exactly I should write about in this blog. For the past three days, I've been working at Saitama University working the cash register in two different convenience store-type shops on campus that are run by Saitama Co-op. I had absolutely no prior experience working with a cash register, but I soon got the swing of things. At first, it was a little scary, since I had to conduct business in Japanese where for once I was the one providing the service instead of the other way around. I suppose we do this in the States as well, but every part of a Japanese transaction is narrated. It begins with a greeting, いらっしゃいませ！Irasshaimase! WELCOME!



Then I use my fancy scanner to scan the bar codes (thank god for bar codes), tell the customer how much that will come to, push some buttons, and wait for them to give me some money. If it's exact change, I announce that I will now humbly accept their exact change (ちょうど頂きます) which always makes me feel like I'm saying I will now humbly eat their 100 yen coin (it's the same verb you use when you announce you will now begin eating your meal, it's all about humbly receiving). If they require change, I repeat the amount they put down and then say I will humbly take care of their change. Then I do so and tell them how much change it is. And finally, we end with a Thank you very much.

I already knew a lot about Japan, Japanese, and Japanese spending habits before I started this job, so it's difficult to say what really stands out. I already knew that hardly anyone uses a credit card, it's still mostly a cash-based economy, although lately cards like Suica are becoming popular. These are prepaid cards that you use mostly for the train or the bus (I have one, very handy) which you can scan at the register and recharge later at the train station. People also try to get change back in denominations of 10 or 5, even if that means giving some weird coins in the first place. Also, 一万 10,000 yen (a little over $100) bills are not that uncommon. Perhaps the most practical thing I have learned is that if you would like the person ringing you up to take whatever money you have set down and change it, it's useful to say おねがいします onegaishimasu (please take care of this), so they don't keep waiting for you to put down exact change.

One of my favorite parts of Japanese monetary transactions is that there is almost always a little tray where the customer puts the money, and there it sits while you finish with your business. You don't have to hold it somewhat awkwardly in your hand, and it doesn't have to sit there on the counter looking like it could blow away at any second. Instead, like many things in Japan, it has its proper place, and there it stays until your business is done, when it goes into the register. They often have little rubber nubs that feel really nice to touch, so that you're not grasping something hard all day. It's the small things that count.

In other news, everyone is super nice to me and says very nice things about my Japanese. For some reason, they are all surprised when I say I can read Japanese too. I do tell them that I majored in Japanese right off the bat, but for some reason this does not automatically mean that I can read Japanese to some people. I am not sure why. Maybe it's because speaking and reading/writing skills are very divorced when it comes to the average person's proficiency in English. A lot of people tell me they can read and/or write English a little bit, but speaking is absolutely impossible. So maybe because they can see I am proficient in speaking, I must be deficient somewhere else. It's probably actually because there seems to be this notion that Japanese is a super hard language. I have never found it to be that way. Everyone is quick to point out that the pronunciation of Japanese is actually really easy. It's super regular, and the vowel sounds are all very standard. If you put any amount of effort into listening to native speakers, you can speak Japanese like a pro. English is a completely different story, as I'm sure you can imagine.

As last time, I find that I am proud to be an American. This is a pretty special feeling. I am also extremely grateful that I happened to be born a native speaker of English.

I'll have to write about the good times I'm having with my host family another time, since this is already long enough, so we'll close with a picture of the tree-filled Saitama University campus.