Japan's Boxing Day/Black Friday equivalent
If you're from one of the UK's commonwealth countries (i.e. - Canada, Australia, etc.) you've most likely heard of a notorious shopping day called Boxing Day. Boxing Day is basically the biggest shopping day in Canada and happens the day after Christmas. It's the equivalent of America's "Black Friday" which happens the Friday after Thanksgiving. Though retailers have slowly tried to introduce Black Friday in Canada as well.
I asked many Japanese people if they had some kind of big shopping day once during the year, and they often said that after New Year's Day was when all of the big sales happened. So I decided to go with my friends out on January 2nd to Shinsaibashi, one of Osaka's biggest shopping hubs.
We were less than thrilled to find that many of the shopping deals they had going were similar to the one's they had pre-Christmas and pre-New Year's Day. In fact, many of the smaller shops were still closed and wouldn't re-open until Jan 3rd or 4th. Shinsaibashi and Namba were busy, but not much busier than they normally were. In fact, once we went outside those major shopping areas, the Osaka was actually very quiet. The train stations were relatively empty and there weren't nearly as many people moving around. It was only 6pm but my friends and I felt like we were wandering the streets of Osaka around midnight!
Of course, New Year's shopping isn't a total bust: many of the stores have this promotion called a "Happy Bag" or "Surprise Bag" which is basically a mystery bag full of goods that you buy for cheap. Or they have a promotion where you get a special gift bag if you spend x amount of money at the store. If you were planning to shop in Japan anyways, probably shortly after New Year's is the best time if you want to get bonus goods or are looking for some kind of deal. I was out shopping for luggage, which unfortunately wasn't anymore discounted than normal.
But just because the sales weren't that great, doesn't mean I didn't have a good time. I enjoyed showing my friend all of the little shops I discovered where you could buy really cheap kimonos. And the Shinsaibashi and Namba areas are one of those places you can walk again and again, and still discover something new.
I asked many Japanese people if they had some kind of big shopping day once during the year, and they often said that after New Year's Day was when all of the big sales happened. So I decided to go with my friends out on January 2nd to Shinsaibashi, one of Osaka's biggest shopping hubs.
We were less than thrilled to find that many of the shopping deals they had going were similar to the one's they had pre-Christmas and pre-New Year's Day. In fact, many of the smaller shops were still closed and wouldn't re-open until Jan 3rd or 4th. Shinsaibashi and Namba were busy, but not much busier than they normally were. In fact, once we went outside those major shopping areas, the Osaka was actually very quiet. The train stations were relatively empty and there weren't nearly as many people moving around. It was only 6pm but my friends and I felt like we were wandering the streets of Osaka around midnight!
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| The Japanese version of Boxing Day or Black Friday: Just another ordinary Day. |
Of course, New Year's shopping isn't a total bust: many of the stores have this promotion called a "Happy Bag" or "Surprise Bag" which is basically a mystery bag full of goods that you buy for cheap. Or they have a promotion where you get a special gift bag if you spend x amount of money at the store. If you were planning to shop in Japan anyways, probably shortly after New Year's is the best time if you want to get bonus goods or are looking for some kind of deal. I was out shopping for luggage, which unfortunately wasn't anymore discounted than normal.
But just because the sales weren't that great, doesn't mean I didn't have a good time. I enjoyed showing my friend all of the little shops I discovered where you could buy really cheap kimonos. And the Shinsaibashi and Namba areas are one of those places you can walk again and again, and still discover something new.
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| Lunch with my friends at Namba walk (only 960yen!) |
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