Umbrellas

So we were looking for a new purse for Laura today, and because it's the New Year, there are sales everywhere (New Year is like Christmas for Japanese - all the sales happen for New Year). She found some that she liked, and while she was humming and hawing, I saw umbrellas for 50-60% off. We bought two. A pink and polka dot one for Laura, and a blue and heart print one for me (I discovered when we got home... looked polka dot unopened in the store - oh well, it's Japan). The really funny thing is that when we were at the register, they bring out this gigantic bag for Laura's purse's (she found two - like I said, major sales), and then proceeded to put the umbrellas in THEIR OWN PLASTIC BAGS!!! The bags were long, narrow, and clearly meant specifically for umbrellas. They then taped the excess plastic to the bag (like you would wrap up your umbrella when finished with it) so they were nice and snug in their very own wrapping, and placed them in the one big bag. Japan is the land of extra packaging at a retail level. It's considered a sign of respect for the customer, as it's all about the details. It'd truly be funny if there wasn't so much waste involved. I'm almost surprised they didn't individually bag the bags. Anyway, I'm off to go birth a hamster. Nite.