We’ve got keys for the new condo and have started to get appliances and stuff. We had refrigerator a combo washer/dryer delivered on Thursday. Almost no one uses a real dryer in Japan because the cost of electricity is so high. The vast majority of people line-dry their clothes so as you travel around Japan you will see a lot of clotheslines – even in the fancy parts of town.
Japanese retail stores have a different spin on the “90-days same as cash” financing scheme that American retailers do. The majority of salaried positions in Japan have a twice-a-year bonus, one in summer and one at new-years, so the retailers offer delayed billing. They will not charge your bank account or credit card until your bonus is scheduled to arrive. It’s a lot simpler than the “open an account” process that you get at American retailers.
The major appliance stores are willing to negotiate a little, too. The one that we finally bought from was willing to go lower in price after Chiho found some advertised prices online for the same products. It’s not quite a match-or-beat-the-price guarantee but it functions in a similar fashion. Chiho shaved about $150 (USD) off the price of everything with a half-hour worth of online searching.
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