"I feel like a Princess"...

said David as the door of the Mitsukoshi department store opened and the entire staff began bowing at us. As we get up at the crack of dawn over here, we had gone to Scottsdale (see below) for a Starbucks and what we heard was a mythically clean and elaborate play area for kids. Our timing was perfect to catch a little surprise... the opening of the store.

Apparently the openings and closings of stores here come with a bit of ceremony...


Step 1: The manager (or a man in a suit who looks like the manager) unlocks the door and walks into the waiting area to shout to all of the old ladies (and us) waiting to get in that the store is about to open (or that he likes long walks on the beach... not speaking Japanese, we can only guess what he is saying).

Step 2: Men and women line up inside the store by the front doors or near their work areas and stand at attention.

Step 3: At exactly 10AM, the manager and two others open the doors. As you walk in, everyone working in the store bows deeply over and over and over as all of the customers flow in.

Here are two bowing videos I found on youtube. One is of a store closing and one an opening. The closing video is better... but you can see a bit of what happens.





And once we stopped waiting for people to ask us for autographs, we found the mother of all play areas.

SHIMASHIMALAND....
Clean, empty, fun stuff to do, a giant tiger to play with...David could fulfill his fantasies of working in a fast food restaurant. Check out how cool those felt burgers and hot dogs are!