Homac

Today, I went into Homac (Home Amenity Center) and bought furniture. As I left, after ordering a loveseat, a microwave and a desk (all to be delivered on Saturday), I felt a sense of satisfaction. One- because I feel like my apartment will start to look and feel like home. Two- because it was all at a fairly reasonable price with a mere 525 Yen of a delivery charge (for everything!). And three-I am now an independent woman because I just bought furniture in a foreign country all on my own.

I very quickly realized that the latter feeling is somewhat...misguided. I went to the service counter not really knowing enough Japanese to communicate what I had wanted to accomplish and boom, there they were ready to help. The Homac employee listened as best she could, looked at my crumpled ad, let me lead her to the back of the store for the desks, and even apologized for not knowing enough English to help me. I know it's a vast generalization, but it feels as though that it's only in Japan will they be that kind and forgiving to foreigners.

In America, they'll probably eat you alive or ignore you completely.

If that same situation happened in America, meaning if I were an immigrant trying to buy furniture without knowing any English, I think I would've walked out of the door empty handed and discouraged.

Perhaps I'm not as "cool" and independent as I thought. Bummer.