(If you want to just know about how to use your Japanese Credit Card skip down to Using a Japanese Credit Card.)

I’m pretty excited to say that I purchased a new couch yesterday. Since back when I first arrived in Mutsu I’ve gotten these “stories” about the couch in my apartment. It’s an old beige sofa that probably didn’t look bad when it was new, but it’s long since been worn out.

I started looking around for a couch locally, but the used couches I found either were over priced or not what I wanted. Asking around people told me of a place called “Nitori.” Nitori is sort of like a Japanese IKEA, but without the hype or the size. The store actually pitches itself as a “Home Fashion” store rather then the store chain “Sunday” which is a home improvement store.

So on people’s recommendation I drove down to Aomori city which is about two hours away and found this Store tucked in with some other big box stores. The store itself is very nice with three floors of furniture ranging from kitchen wares, to sofa’s and dining sets, to bedroom and office furniture.

The sofa’s were on the second floor and there were a lot to choose from. There were your basic fabric models, leather models, reclining models, high back models, folding bed models, and floor level futons. After sitting in basically every one I more or less had to choose between two leather sofas. One was a model just discounted (perhaps last years model) and one was a cushy newer model for $100 more. Both had similar feels though the discounted one was a bit stiffer. I ended up buying it anyway because I’m hoping that with use it’ll soften up.

To buy a sofa at Nitori was shockingly easy. It’s good (I suppose) if you’re buying something big to get the stores membership card before you buy something expensive. Luckily they ask you if you want to be a member. Anyway, so each furniture item has a ticket. You take the ticket to a clerk who will then print you out a receipt that you take to the register. This is time too to ask about shipping options. With me being so far away from Aomori, I’d thought this would kill me but it only ended up being $30.

Once you’re done and have your receipt you can either continue to shop (I happened to go to the first level and buy a lamp, and a coat rack..) or go to the register to pay.

Using a Japanese Credit Card

Now, if you’re using a credit card from Japan it’s important to know what you have. I happen to have a credit card from JAL, but it’s an “IC” card just like a lot of cards from other places (Tsutaya, Lawsons, 711, etc.). The “VISA” stamp just means it can be used anywhere world wide. If you already have one, you know that to get it you had to link it to your bank account. This is because when you get “the bill” it’ll just be a statement of the money that they’ll automatically withdraw each month equal to the amount you charged the month before.

Thus when using the card, unlike a US Credit Card, you need to tell the store you’re using the card with how much you want to pay each month. This is very different then charging on the card then paying it off in minimal payments on your own. Also this system puts the burden of payment on the store so technically if you had no money then the store would take a loss, not the bank. So it’s a simple mistake to think that you’ll just pay gradually on your own or that when the bill that arrives it’ll ask  you how much you want to pay each month. In fact, the way my card is setup if I charge 30,000 yen (~$300) on it then the next month the Credit Card company will take 30,000 yen out of my bank account. Therefore, credit cards here are more like “delayed debit cards” rather then actual “credit” cards.

A useful phase then is to say to the store clerk/or look for on a website…:

～回払いお願いします。

~kai barai onigaishimasu

“I want to pay this debt in ~ number of times please”

Where “~” is the amount of times. This tells the store that you don’t want to pay everything in a lump sum the next month, but rather you want the store to charge you a set number of times each month. This is vaguely like a scheduled layaway plan, but you get to take the stuff home.

Be careful then that you know this before going out and charging 200,000 yen (roughly $2,000) because you might not have any money the next month for rent. 🙂

~J out

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