Tokyo depato question
 

The soon-to-be-defunct (IMHO) ésforta gym chain enhanced my membership with ¥10,000 in Visa gift certs, valid only in major depatos.

Do any of the majors carry electronics (i.e., iPods)? Somehow I don’t feel the need for two pairs of ¥5,000 socks.

Any other useful suggestions are welcome.

You obviously checked the booklet to see which stores would take them?! Some of those Depato must sell electronics (Ito Yokado comes to mind). How about the "Loft", Tokyu Hands, etc? You could always take them to a ticket re-seller and get a percentage of cash for them!

Ya, just the usual big guys (i.e. Mitsukoshi, IOIO, etc). Not Ito Yokado, unfortunately.

Ergo, the original question. The whole "shopping" thing isn't covered in my owners manual.

I've queried my most knowledgable source and all he could suggest was Nekobukuro. :cool:

Ah, yes Nekobukuro.......I am surprised this source shops outside of Minami-Oyama. :p I guess the next best thing will be to go to the depatika and gone on a "little" gourmet shopping spree......You could easily make a meal or 2 if you don't mind kinpira-gobo, kamaboko. Though I would wait until the 2/14 madness subsides........

Smidgen has given a strong endorsement to the Nekobukuro. As for shopping outside Minami-Aoyama (as opposed to Minami-Ayoyama, which is what Mrs. Pickles calls it), Smidgen has been known to head out to the Azabu Juban shotengai to rile the dogs at the dog grooming shop.

Usualy visa gift certs can be used online. You should be able to imput the numbers and expiration dates on Amazon for example.

Sorry, kcvt750, I only go into depato for food, stationery, wafuku items and to 'freshen up'. The rest of it is always a blur.

I do have a depato question of my own.

Is it true that the muzac changes according to the weather outside? i.e. that the assistants in the hermetically sealed and daylight proofed rooms get cues and clues to tell them if it's raining/stopped raining so that they can wrap goods up accordingly? (Other than seeing customers with condoms over their brollies, which is the cue I had assumed they were using)

Takashimaya in Shinjuku has a store for music / video / computing products. I wouldn't expect them to have the best prices, but it's probably a better deal than taking your vouchers to one of the ticket stores, where they'll probably buy them at 20% off face value or something.

I was about to offer to buy your vouchers from you - but I asked Mrs. Jib if she needed any depato vouchers, and she says that there's nothing she wants to buy right now. This is a rare event that deserves to be marked in some way... I'm going to put out the flags. (Look out for them all over town in the next couple of days).

This would be extraordinarily cool. Perhaps our local amazon expert could enlighten me?


I will also look into this. I can always find useful computer stuff/dvds when I take the time to look for them.

Maybe this calls for a celebration in Kagurazaka? :D

I know these Japan-only products well, having a 1000 JPY one sitting next to me that I've had for over a year. Sadly, since they aren't a real credit card number, you can't use them on Amazon. I believe these are redeemed similarly to travelers cheques (ie no real-time check for validity) so you can't use them anywhere online.

Nezumi. :(

Thanks!

Odakyu HALC next to Shinjuku station has a BIC camera store in it, and it might still count as part of Odakyu department store.

The Bic Camera outlet doesn't count as part of the Odakyu department store. But that doesn't necessarily mean that you can't use those Visa vouchers there.