Oh, the noise! From the store employees greeting you with, "Irashaimase!" to absolutely every cell phone playing their various, charming rings, as well as TV commercials being played on a continuous loop, a Japanese electronics store is not a place for those unaccustomed to noise pollution.
Aside from the noise, Japanese electronics stores are great. They have all the newest gizmos, but none of the old, basic models. For example, last year I was looking for a plain, corded, touch tone telephone. One that you can pick up at Zellers for $15 or so. Couldn't find one. So I was also interested in a plain, 900 MHz. cordless phone, the ones that are around $60 or so, still couldn't find one. The only phones I could find where combination, phone/fax/email + cordless phone combinations for around $150 or more. This isn't a bad deal at all, but if you don't want all of these extra features, you can't really get anything cheaper.
Another example is the dual cassette deck. Another cheap buy in Canada, $30 or so, right? Not in Japan. If you can find a dual cassette deck, they are often more expensive than a CD/cassette stereo, and not all that much cheaper than a CD/MD/cassette combo. Go figure.
But Japan does get
all of the newest electronics. Most of the major companies are
Japanese, and seem to sell their products here a few months before they get
shipped around the world.
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