Japanese Shopping Etiquette

[pinky75910]

So I work in a major tourist-y retail place, and the other day we must've had a large group of Japanese people, likely students sparsely arrive and shop throughout the day.

Sorta clued me in when they started bowing and I recognized other clues. I am not yet clever enough to distinguish between most Asian countries so I waited to be sure I was right.

My humble question is this:

As a Japanese person in America approaches a checkout, what is customary etiquette upon the cashier?

I guess I was afraid of over-bowing or making people feel uncomfortable, and that's the opposite of my desire. After doing some research on Japanese etiquette after the fact, I believe I was fine. I just want to know a lil more what I'm doing to make people feel welcome.

Speaking of: What are proper store greetings and how to say them?

Thanks for any tips.

[Tigrin]

I'm not any kind of authority on this at all, I've just been studying Japanese for a long time... but I imagine if Japanese people are visiting the US, they're not really expecting you to act in any other way than your normally would. Japanese cashiers in America do a lot of the same things Americans do, like greeting customers when they come in ("irrashaimase" [pronounced 'ear-rah-shy-mah-say'] is basically "welcome")... but they always try to be super polite. Something different Japanese cashiers do is they'll handle your credit cards or money with both hands, or they'll sometimes use a tray and hand you change on a tray. When giving a business card or money to someone it's polite to use both hands. But Japanese cashiers in America are kind of used to Americans just handing over change or what-not. Again, I doubt they're expecting anything special. They might be delighted to hear you try to speak Japanese though.

http://japanese.about.com/library/weekly/aa080501a.htm

Uhh hopefully someone who knows more than I do can give better advice, I'm usually in the opposite situation of shopping in Japanese stores.

[pinky75910]

Thank you for the tips! This is a good start, and at any rate, good for discussion and education.