Depachika: Japanese for Department Store Food Halls

What a depachika is and how the floor is laid out

Most large department stores in Japan give their basement floor, or two, to food. It is not a supermarket and not a food court. It is a hall of small branded counters, each with its own staff, its own glass case and its own till: Japanese sweets in one zone, Western cakes in another, then prepared dishes, bento, bread, tea and sake. Stores built over railway stations connect the hall almost directly to the ticket gates, so commuters shop for dinner on the way home.

Almost everything is sold to take away, o-mochikaeri (お持ち帰り), and you pay at each counter separately. These are the words on the signs.

Sōzai and bento: buying by the piece

Sōzai (惣菜), usually said o-sōzai, are ready-made dishes: salads, fried chicken, croquettes, grilled fish, simmered vegetables, dumplings. Many are sold by the piece or the pack, and you simply point and give a number. The clerk finishes with a set question, and a set answer closes the order.

Hakari-uri: ordering by weight

Hakari-uri (量り売り) means selling by measuring. Dishes sit in large trays, the price card shows the price for 100 grams, written 100g, and you say how many grams you want. One hundred grams of a salad is a small side for one person; two hundred is a comfortable portion. The clerk scoops, weighs, and often lands a little over, then asks whether that is all right.

Shishoku: accepting or declining a sample

Shishoku (試食) is a tasting sample, offered on a toothpick or a small spoon, most often at sweets, pickle and tea counters. Taking one creates no duty to buy. Take one piece, step aside to eat it, and either buy or thank the clerk and move on.

Time sales and discount stickers

Fresh dishes cannot be sold the next day, so towards closing time staff begin marking them down. A taimu sēru (タイムセール) is a limited-time sale, often announced by a clerk calling out across the floor. On the packs themselves, look for stickers.

Waribiki (割引) is a discount counted in tenths: niwaribiki (2割引) is two tenths off, 20 per cent, and sanwaribiki (3割引) is 30 per cent. Hangaku (半額) is half price. Some stickers use a percentage instead, followed by biki (引き), off.

At the till: gifts, carrying time and ice packs

Paying at a sweets or cake counter brings a run of polite questions that visitors rarely expect. They come in a fairly fixed order: is it for you or a gift, how long will you carry it, and do you need extra bags.

Jitaku-yō (自宅用), for home use, gets you simple packing. Say it is a gift and the clerk will wrap it, and may offer a spare bag so that you can hand the gift over in a clean one. The carrying-time question decides how many horeizai (保冷剤), ice packs, go in with a cake; answer with a number and jikan, hours, or fun, minutes.

Temiyage: the gift you bring when you visit

Many depachika sweets are bought as temiyage (手土産), the small gift you carry when you visit someone's home or office. It differs from omiyage (お土産), a souvenir brought back from a trip. A good temiyage is individually wrapped, easy to share, and comes in a count that suits the household or the team. Ask how many pieces are in the box and how long it keeps.