Japanese Shop and Store
Words and Vocabulary

This section covers the words and vocabulary of Japanese shop and store.

Do you have this experience? When you enter a Japanese store, you are often welcome by the shop assistants with these words: いらっしゃいませ (irasshaimase).

Have you wondered the meaning of these words?

These are welcome greeting words normally used by Japanese shop assistants which mean "Hello (Welcome), may I help you?"

When you have ordered something in a restaurant, you will probably hear the waiter or waitress says: おまたせしました (omatase shimashita) or おまちどおさまでした (omachidoo samadeshita) when he or she served your order.

Both of the phrases mean: "I'm sorry to have kept you waiting" or "Thank you for waiting".

All these greeting words used by the Japanese shop assistants are 敬語 or けいご (keigo) which are honorific words used when talking to customers, people superior than you (like your boss), and the elderly people, etc in order to show their respect.

I will go through keigo in future which is another topic. Right now let's explore the word list of different Japanese shops and stores.

The above are some of the common names of Japanese shop and store. I will continue to add to the list when I have collected more words related to Japanese shop and store.

Meanwhile if you are looking for some common phrases to use like for example saying exchanges, refunds and complaints in Japanese during shopping, make sure you check out this page with 15 common phrases used during shopping.

By the way, this link above is an affiliate link, which means that I would earn a commission if you do end up purchasing the related learning course. It's at no extra cost to you, and please if you have any questions related to this learning course, please let me know and I would be happy to answer them for you.

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