A Little Slice of NYC

The same day I went to Harajuku, I walked far enough into the tree-lined streets of Omote-sando. From what I was later told, this is a poshest neighborhood any foreigner has seen. I would compare it to Beverly Hills in California. Mercedes G-wagons and Jaguars were abundant -- this is Tokyo!

Regardless, this sign outside the new Kangol store took me back to New York City, if only for a moment. The store is bizarre and would never exist in the United States in its shape. It is built in a staircase.

As you walk into the doorway to enter the building there is a staircase downward. Along the walls are hats. Fifteen steps to the bottom there is a women at a cash register to say hello. There are probably less than one hundred hats in the entire store.

This brings me to the greeting you receive in ninety percent of the stores in Tokyo. As you enter the store, the staff will yell out in a sing-song manner. I don't know what it means. And when you leave, the give another call.

The entire staff does this for each person entering and leaving. It is a strange chorus compared to the complete and stifling silence in high-end boutiques in New York City.

Even the boutiques in Tokyo's main shopping district, Ginza, has staff members whisper the phrase as you arrive. Shopping is religion here.