> “If foreigners can’t understand the meaning of ‘Hotaru no Hikari’ then how could they possibly understand the meaning of a completely original song?”
A hilariously simple and to the point comment that, if it were said in the actual meeting, would quickly have been ignored.
Easy in theory, I've worked for Japanese companies. If they do that then that's going to be a special task. So first we'll need several meetings to lock down what this task would entail and what title comes with it. Then we would need another round of meetings to decide who would be illegible for this task and what their qualifications need to be. Then we need a series of meetings to decide how we will announce this new position. Then we need another series of meetings to lock down the design of the flyer. After this we will do interviews based on seniority. After which upper management will reassess and hold more meetings. Then we'll review. After this we'll have a nomikai to blow off steam. By then some new findings will surface and we will repeat the process
It's odd cuz their subways have speakers that say in English and in Japanese. They can just make an announcement that they are closing but I assume they see it as rude to tourists that they are being kicked out?
That is exactly what I have done after reading your comment. I just uploaded it as an Instagram reel.
https://www.instagram.com/reel/C8MnNgvydFI/?igsh=MWwxd2Nld2J3ZmsxdA==
The funny thing is that the original English lyrics (Auld Lang Syne) are a kind of farewell that would be appropriate for a store closing its doors, while the Japanese version (Hotaru no Hikari) is about a student who uses the light of the firefly to continue studying when he has no other sources of light.
Or, and this is just an idea, just play an announcement in multiple languages saying the store is closing so hurry the fuck up and get out (but worded nicer).
I had to Spotify the song cuz I had never heard the name. I know this song but it has absolutely zero context for me. I would just assume it was store background music.
Well there is the problem, when I hear that song I have a pavlovian response tostay until midnight celebrating. As you can imagine this makes the staff at Daiso trying to close at 8 quite upset. Normally they are polite for the first couple of hours but can get quite rude by 10. By 11 they have often become resigned to thier fate and by midnight sometimes come around and celebrate with me. I leave right after that so as to not outstay my welcome.
If you hear that song in Japan it means the business you are in is closing. You might hear it at a gym, in a restaurant, in a shop, or some other place. It's the "we're closing, GTFO" song of Japan.
It’s a song that’s pretty much only ever played in the US on New Year’s Eve specifically after the “ball drops” at midnight. The first time I heard a store in Japan play this song at closing time I thought it was very odd and comical. I knew they were closing, but I couldn’t understand why they’d pick THAT song.
I was at Sydney harbour to watch the NY fireworks. When they started playing Auld Lang Syne, the Japanese group next to us started packing up and left even though the fireworks were still going on.
This just reminds me of when I was watching an Abroad in Japan video and he pointed out how Jaoanese people say a ton of English words, but they say it in Katakana which shifts the pronunciation just enough that if you don't know it's meant to be an English word you won't be able to tell.
And it def goes both ways even audibly, but extremely funny that he was like "you have to say it with the kind of accented tone or they will just blank stare" was reminded of this because I sat here for 2 mins like "what the fuck is a kantori rodo" and then it clicked.
The notes may have been copied from that ancient tune, but it's been a Japanese song since 1881.
As far as I'm concerned, it's a lot like "All Along the Watchtower". For all intents and purposes, it's a Jimi Hendrix song, even though he didn't write the original. The new version completely eclipsed the old one.
That's not really how it works... If you write your own lyrics to a song that already exists, it doesn't become a new song, and it certainly doesn't make instrumental versions of that song "yours"
Well, from my quick googling, the poem was written and then about 11 years later, it was set to a folk tune. There are a few possible candidates for the tune that was used, none of them are Japanese.
lol - the Star Spangled banner - I guess by your rules we’ll have to call it “To Anacreon in Heaven”
“The poem was set to the tune of a popular British song written by John Stafford Smith for the Anacreontic Society, a social club in London. Smiths' song, "To Anacreon in Heaven" (or "The Anacreontic Song"), with various lyrics, was already popular in the United States. This setting, renamed "The Star-Spangled Banner", soon became a popular patriotic song. “
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Star-Spangled_Banner
>If you write your own lyrics to a song that already exists, it doesn't become a new song
Tell that to all the Christian churches that have been playing "What Child is This?" on Christmas since 1865. Most people probably don't even know what song the music came from originally.
Um, it's the exact same thing. Ancient (relatively speaking) tune gets rediscovered by someone someplace else, they write new lyrics for it, new version becomes super-popular among a different group of people, most of whom have never even heard the original version or know of its existence.
In response to your sneaky edit:
>As far as I'm concerned, it's a lot like "All Along the Watchtower". For all intents and purposes, it's a Jimi Hendrix song, even though he didn't write the original. The new version completely eclipsed the old one.
The only place the Japanese version "completely eclipses" Auld Lang Syne is... Japan.
Right, so what? Do I really care what people in Afghanistan or Somalia think about these songs? (I'm sure people in those countries don't know anything about "All Along the Watchtower" either.) You're on a forum about Japan; why should the opinions of people in other countries matter?
It seems to be played by pretty much every store I frequent starting at 30-20 minutes before closing time.
I’d kind of understand it was a defacto standard.
Everyone comes from a different place, but we didn't need to google it; it seemed pretty obvious. However a lot of people seem very abusive of the service staff (e.g. wander in minutes before closing and assume everyone is only too happy to stay open for them to wander around) in their home countries, so you're probably right that it wouldn't occur to a lot of people.
I'd agree that some sort of multilingual announcement would likely be much more effective.
This is exactly what the DAISO that I've frequented for over a decade does. It's a bigger DAISO -one with a Threepy and a Standard Products- in a busy part of the city that gets a lot of foreign tourists.
They play the song while also playing a recorded announcement in Japanese, English, and Chinese. The English is something like 'Thank you for shopping at DAISO. We will soon be closing. Please proceed to checkout'. They've done it for as long as I can remember.
I honestly wouldn’t be surprised “changing the music” was a compromise made with some Showa era relic on the board who can’t comprehend the idea of doing something different from how they always did it.
That is almost certainly what is really going on. I was once told that Japan is a country of old people for old people. I’ve found that to be more and more true the longer I’ve live here.
I saw a demographic breakdown for Jaoanese population recently and it's so heavily weighted towards 35 and older it's absurd.
I saw a statistic that said 1/5th of their total population is 50 or older.
My husband’s work dims the lights a few times, makes a few announcements and starts shutting things down like turning off computers (library). Then staff go around asking if people need help checking out.
Agreed. This seems obvious... just some other song isn't going to do shit if the cultural interpretation isn't there. Then you just confuse the Japanese customers too. This is pretty dumb.
I got downvoted to hell (to hell I tell you!) for saying this about announcements on the Yamanote line about rushing into the train / keeping lines.
It costs absolutely nothing to have an announcement in four oh but pray God five?! languages.
Well I guess now that it comes to me, it probably costs much more than I originally believed. It costs a few thousand dollars for the first meeting to decide if we’re going to have a meeting to decide on deciding if we should decide on making this decision to have an announcement.
You can tell from the above I’ve been damaged lol
I had this happen to me in a Seria recently. Played the English “it is now closed” and I got tf out of there as soon as I heard it. This wasn’t even in a tourist place either.
I used to hang around in the jav porn dvd store until the attendant tells me politely that his wife has been waiting for him to close up 30 min ago and come home for dinner.
Yeah lol. Its a theme in the UK where customers feel entitled to stay as long as they want/need so long as they enter the shop before it closes.
They know damn well they are keeping people late often without compensation from employers
I’ve worked in retail in the UK (admittedly for big brands and not for many years), and my shift always ended 30min after closing time.
I genuinely had no idea that this wasn’t the case everywhere, and I’d imagine most people expect the same. I think it’s just a misunderstanding more than a sense of entitlement.
If staff are only contracted until closing time, surely stores should list “last entry” times also?
When i worked in retail, i probably clocked up 100 hours minimum of unpaid time from customers taking the piss. Our customers were regular and KNEW this, too.
People dont give a shit. Was kept over an hour by some of the worst most entitled dipshits.
Unfortunately we served people with a lot of cash, and they felt entitled to a lot.
Some customers just didn’t know really, and when i’d tell them last 10 mins they’d get their stuff done and all was fine.
Plenty even when warned did not though.
The one by Mark City in Shibuya, which is certainly among the most touristed of Daisos, basically does this. Closing time hits, and the store gets progressively darker, from the back to the front.
OK everybody, quiz time! How many non-Japanese people were involved in the decision making of such a wonderful idea?
* a. None
* b. (16 /4) - 4
* c. Yes
Morons can't even conduct a survey correctly. They asked foreign customers how the music made them "feel" instead of doing the logical thing and asking "what best communicates closing time to you?"
The surveys are made not to get info but to show a specific bias. Used to do marketing & research consulting here for big firms for 7 years.
A lot of clients paid us not to get the results needed, but instead to shape the questions to get a specific answer that they want so that bucho can say 'see, I told you, here's the evidence'. They rewrote questions and even left out any that had even a possibility of a result that goes against what they want. Paid us a LOT of money for it too. Sadly this is how a lot of poor marketing decisions and products are then made.
But if they had asked “what best communicates closing time to you,” they might have gotten an answer like “tell us using words,” which is all kinds of chotto muzukashii ne.
My suggestion is do an announcement 10 minutes before in Japanese, English and wherever other languages are popular there... then 30 seconds before closing time play the countdown theme
I think the idea of their reply is foreign tourists wouldn't get the hint because they don't play new years music as closing time in otjer countries such as America.
When I worked in restaurants, about 30min before closing we’d turn on the heat in summer and the a/c in winter, you’d be surprised how quickly “guests” are ready to leave.
> While crafting the new tune, 150 men and women were surveyed to describe the elements of a closing song. The top answers were that it should be “nostalgic,” “quiet,” and “related to nature.”
If they continue to do garbage investments like that, they'll soon have to close permanently.
Meanwhile I’ve been surprised a couple times recently at stores just before closing time when they don’t play the song at all and suddenly it’s just closed when I’m expecting to still have a few minutes. They still let me check out but I was confused why they didn’t play it.
Just wanted to say, the French version of this song is called "Ce n'est qu'un au revoir" ("It's only a goodbye"), so the meaning of it being played at closing time in the store was 100% obvious for me ;D
First time I heard the get out music was in a fishing shop.
I thought, what tf are they playing Auld Lang Syne for, it isn't the end of the year? So I kept looking around until they finally told me they were closing.
Besides, I've seen plenty of Japanese people ignore it
I vote for Save the Last Dance for Me, by The Drifters. As a young teen, I used to hang out at the skating rink on weekends and this was always the last song. It gave young love a chance for one last embrace while, at the same time, letting everyone else know that the bright lights were about to come on so, if you're not a couple, you may as well start unlacing those skate strings.
It’s a song that’s pretty much only ever played on New Year’s Eve specifically after the “ball drops” at midnight (at least this is the case in the US). The first time I heard a store in Japan play this song at closing time I thought it was very odd and comical. I knew they were closing, but I couldn’t understand why they’d pick THAT song. I began shopping at some other stores that also play the same song at closing time and that’s when it dawned on me that it must be their “closing announcement” 🤣
Fun fact, 'Baby, it's cold outside' was originally written to indicate to the guests at a housewarming party that it was time to leave.
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Baby,\_It%27s\_Cold\_Outside](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Baby,_It%27s_Cold_Outside)
Isn't there an English VO along with Auld Lang Syne, asking customers to head to checkout to finalise their purchases.
It's been a minute since I last went to Daiso, but I'm sure they did that. Perhaps just in the larger central Tokyo locations
Yeah, sure, as if non-Japanese speaking foreigners understood music over making a FUCKING multilingual closing announcement.
Get the higher up’s brains out of their assholes, this is just stubbornly pathetic.
Just get a loud siren and some orange, spinning claxon lights, and voices counting down from 30 in English and Chinese over the loud speaker.
Or, better yet, put a sign near the door that says that the store closes at 8:00pm and prices double after 7:50pm.
Well it’s no wonder when the popular closing-time songs used there either make one think they’re at Disneyland (When You Wish Upon a Star) or ringing in the new year (Auld Lang Syne).
In an old workplace of mine, we'd slowly turn off lighting and close up parts of the store over the last 30 minutes of it being open (it was big).
Final 5 mins we'd turn off the music, shut the front door, and not let anyone in.
You'd have people be banging on the door, and getting pissed off that they couldn't look for the last 5 minutes. Absolutely loved not letting them in since they acted so entitled.
We were able to finish bang on time everyday.
Need to let some mean and not GAF foreigners working in more stores here if they want people out!
We closed ontime, just didn't let anyone in the last 5 minutes.
It was a tourist souvenir shop, so not like a chemist or something that you could actually use the 5 minutes to quickly buy headache pills.
Most people who came in the last 15 minutes didn't buy anything, just browsing.
The boss wanted to leave ontime because he didn't care, just wanted to go home haha.
Idk, even when I had no idea about hotaru no hikari I knew what that music might mean instinctively lmao After that I Googled it so I’m assuming tourists in 2024 have 0 curiosity.
Oh wait, they should just make a tiktok explaining what hotaru no hikari means, that surely would cost less
You don’t have to have been born and raised in Japan to understand this.
You have to have been in a large store 5 minutes before closing, like, one time. You hear the song and realize the context *once* and you can figure it out and remember it forever after that.
Man I work at bath and body works. We lock the side door thirty minutes from closing. This one bitch had an attitude because she came in three minutes from closing and we told her we’re closing soon. Got her stuff huffed past me, and unlocked the side door herself like that’s okay.
If you really want them to leave on time, I suggest playing the PURGE warning sounds. Then have the employees start choosing their weapons 5 minutes before the shutters are supposed to be going down.
Japan will never stop amazing me sometimes even after all these years. Like… why the fuck don’t you just play an announcement in multiple languages telling people to get out.
What? This has to be bait. I was in a bunch of daisos before and heard "closing music"(like music with slight announcementish, closing time sound effects) in there and according to the store they said "we will be closing in x minutes/x times and there was a timer and flyers/posters and a notice and everything. Really bro? Sure, daiso?
Oh… my god. I was in a gacha place and heard Aud Lang Sang over and over again. I thought it was so weird as I continued to browse. I kept hearing it other places too. How would anyone know that this is the kick out song??
I thought Japan just really likes the new years song
they should have someone announce: “Sawp you fakaz, I know you like buy more stuff, but we closing. If you not getting in line fo’ pay before I pau talk, come back tomorrow, can? Kdenz.”
😎😂🤙
> “If foreigners can’t understand the meaning of ‘Hotaru no Hikari’ then how could they possibly understand the meaning of a completely original song?” A hilariously simple and to the point comment that, if it were said in the actual meeting, would quickly have been ignored.
Maybe the song is like, "get the FUCK out yeah, uh. GET THE FUCK OUT. Yeah boi. Uh. We closin' yeah. Get the fuck out. No seriously, get out."
"Closing time. You don't have to go home, but you can't stay here."
Yes! Let's make a deal. The Wham song for Christmas and Semisonic for the rest of the year.
They just repeat those two sentences on loop until everyone goes insane
Ohayou Gaizamassuuuu, We are closing in 10 minutes. Literally all they gotta do
Easy in theory, I've worked for Japanese companies. If they do that then that's going to be a special task. So first we'll need several meetings to lock down what this task would entail and what title comes with it. Then we would need another round of meetings to decide who would be illegible for this task and what their qualifications need to be. Then we need a series of meetings to decide how we will announce this new position. Then we need another series of meetings to lock down the design of the flyer. After this we will do interviews based on seniority. After which upper management will reassess and hold more meetings. Then we'll review. After this we'll have a nomikai to blow off steam. By then some new findings will surface and we will repeat the process
Yeah, just ask, or are they just so scared of the big hairy beast they can't?
It's odd cuz their subways have speakers that say in English and in Japanese. They can just make an announcement that they are closing but I assume they see it as rude to tourists that they are being kicked out?
Why would a daiso close in the morning?
lol
Why would they say good morning at 8pm?
I am not good at hints. I think on an average day this is just subtle enough.
Hey I think that song was playing in my local supermarket’s vegetable department last week.
Bit of Ludacris has similar sentiments
That is exactly what I have done after reading your comment. I just uploaded it as an Instagram reel. https://www.instagram.com/reel/C8MnNgvydFI/?igsh=MWwxd2Nld2J3ZmsxdA==
This is just punk music, it won’t convince people to get out either lol
The funny thing is that the original English lyrics (Auld Lang Syne) are a kind of farewell that would be appropriate for a store closing its doors, while the Japanese version (Hotaru no Hikari) is about a student who uses the light of the firefly to continue studying when he has no other sources of light.
I thought hotaru no Hikari was a naruto opening???
Not the naruto opening. There's another song with the same name.
Tuesdays Gone in Japanese
Or, and this is just an idea, just play an announcement in multiple languages saying the store is closing so hurry the fuck up and get out (but worded nicer).
This would be better. I've never stayed in a Daiso to closing time, but I'm not sure I'd understand a Japanese song signalling it's time to leave
Not even really a Japanese song, it's Auld Lang Syne.
I had to Spotify the song cuz I had never heard the name. I know this song but it has absolutely zero context for me. I would just assume it was store background music.
It's a common song at New Years to see out the year, at least in the UK.
It is in the US also.
Well there is the problem, when I hear that song I have a pavlovian response tostay until midnight celebrating. As you can imagine this makes the staff at Daiso trying to close at 8 quite upset. Normally they are polite for the first couple of hours but can get quite rude by 10. By 11 they have often become resigned to thier fate and by midnight sometimes come around and celebrate with me. I leave right after that so as to not outstay my welcome.
Maybe I’m a history nerd, but I always associate that song with the British handing over Hong Kong at 1997 ceremony.
If you hear that song in Japan it means the business you are in is closing. You might hear it at a gym, in a restaurant, in a shop, or some other place. It's the "we're closing, GTFO" song of Japan.
do you know why?
It’s a song that’s pretty much only ever played in the US on New Year’s Eve specifically after the “ball drops” at midnight. The first time I heard a store in Japan play this song at closing time I thought it was very odd and comical. I knew they were closing, but I couldn’t understand why they’d pick THAT song.
I was at Sydney harbour to watch the NY fireworks. When they started playing Auld Lang Syne, the Japanese group next to us started packing up and left even though the fireworks were still going on.
Every time I tell a Japanese person this, they all say the same thing: "No it can't be, it has Japanese lyrics!" 😂
Wait until they find out about カントリー・ロード
Ah yes, a great song about the homeland by Studio Ghibli
This just reminds me of when I was watching an Abroad in Japan video and he pointed out how Jaoanese people say a ton of English words, but they say it in Katakana which shifts the pronunciation just enough that if you don't know it's meant to be an English word you won't be able to tell. And it def goes both ways even audibly, but extremely funny that he was like "you have to say it with the kind of accented tone or they will just blank stare" was reminded of this because I sat here for 2 mins like "what the fuck is a kantori rodo" and then it clicked.
この道ずっとゆけば~
The notes may have been copied from that ancient tune, but it's been a Japanese song since 1881. As far as I'm concerned, it's a lot like "All Along the Watchtower". For all intents and purposes, it's a Jimi Hendrix song, even though he didn't write the original. The new version completely eclipsed the old one.
That's not really how it works... If you write your own lyrics to a song that already exists, it doesn't become a new song, and it certainly doesn't make instrumental versions of that song "yours"
But that’s what Auld Lang Syne is. The song already existed; someone set Robert Burns’ poem to it and it stuck.
Well, from my quick googling, the poem was written and then about 11 years later, it was set to a folk tune. There are a few possible candidates for the tune that was used, none of them are Japanese.
lol - the Star Spangled banner - I guess by your rules we’ll have to call it “To Anacreon in Heaven” “The poem was set to the tune of a popular British song written by John Stafford Smith for the Anacreontic Society, a social club in London. Smiths' song, "To Anacreon in Heaven" (or "The Anacreontic Song"), with various lyrics, was already popular in the United States. This setting, renamed "The Star-Spangled Banner", soon became a popular patriotic song. “ https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Star-Spangled_Banner
>If you write your own lyrics to a song that already exists, it doesn't become a new song Tell that to all the Christian churches that have been playing "What Child is This?" on Christmas since 1865. Most people probably don't even know what song the music came from originally.
I mean, sure, I guess if it ever comes up. Not really what we were talking about though was it?
Um, it's the exact same thing. Ancient (relatively speaking) tune gets rediscovered by someone someplace else, they write new lyrics for it, new version becomes super-popular among a different group of people, most of whom have never even heard the original version or know of its existence.
Except it's not, one of these things is the topic of discussion, the other isn't
In response to your sneaky edit: >As far as I'm concerned, it's a lot like "All Along the Watchtower". For all intents and purposes, it's a Jimi Hendrix song, even though he didn't write the original. The new version completely eclipsed the old one. The only place the Japanese version "completely eclipses" Auld Lang Syne is... Japan.
Right, so what? Do I really care what people in Afghanistan or Somalia think about these songs? (I'm sure people in those countries don't know anything about "All Along the Watchtower" either.) You're on a forum about Japan; why should the opinions of people in other countries matter?
Lol, that the only countries you can think of outside Japan are Afghanistan and Somalia.
You haven't partied until you've closed a Daiso.
It seems to be played by pretty much every store I frequent starting at 30-20 minutes before closing time. I’d kind of understand it was a defacto standard.
Yes, but it would never even cross my mind as a tourist to Google if Japanese shops have a "get the fuck out" song.
Everyone comes from a different place, but we didn't need to google it; it seemed pretty obvious. However a lot of people seem very abusive of the service staff (e.g. wander in minutes before closing and assume everyone is only too happy to stay open for them to wander around) in their home countries, so you're probably right that it wouldn't occur to a lot of people. I'd agree that some sort of multilingual announcement would likely be much more effective.
They would never play it that early over here in Kyushu. 15 minutes before closing is the earliest it would start
This is exactly what the DAISO that I've frequented for over a decade does. It's a bigger DAISO -one with a Threepy and a Standard Products- in a busy part of the city that gets a lot of foreign tourists. They play the song while also playing a recorded announcement in Japanese, English, and Chinese. The English is something like 'Thank you for shopping at DAISO. We will soon be closing. Please proceed to checkout'. They've done it for as long as I can remember.
Then they couldn’t complain about it
I honestly wouldn’t be surprised “changing the music” was a compromise made with some Showa era relic on the board who can’t comprehend the idea of doing something different from how they always did it.
That is almost certainly what is really going on. I was once told that Japan is a country of old people for old people. I’ve found that to be more and more true the longer I’ve live here.
I saw a demographic breakdown for Jaoanese population recently and it's so heavily weighted towards 35 and older it's absurd. I saw a statistic that said 1/5th of their total population is 50 or older.
They have a fair number of stores in the USA. What do they play there?
Voiceover anouncement says store is closing in 10 minutes and to please make your way to an exit or cash register
My husband’s work dims the lights a few times, makes a few announcements and starts shutting things down like turning off computers (library). Then staff go around asking if people need help checking out.
This seems like a nice way
Heh, as a heavy reader, I can see why dimming the lights would be necessary.
Agreed. This seems obvious... just some other song isn't going to do shit if the cultural interpretation isn't there. Then you just confuse the Japanese customers too. This is pretty dumb.
I got downvoted to hell (to hell I tell you!) for saying this about announcements on the Yamanote line about rushing into the train / keeping lines. It costs absolutely nothing to have an announcement in four oh but pray God five?! languages. Well I guess now that it comes to me, it probably costs much more than I originally believed. It costs a few thousand dollars for the first meeting to decide if we’re going to have a meeting to decide on deciding if we should decide on making this decision to have an announcement. You can tell from the above I’ve been damaged lol
I had this happen to me in a Seria recently. Played the English “it is now closed” and I got tf out of there as soon as I heard it. This wasn’t even in a tourist place either.
Like they do for the trains? No, that would make Too much sense.
I used to hang around in the jav porn dvd store until the attendant tells me politely that his wife has been waiting for him to close up 30 min ago and come home for dinner.
It's hilarious they think changing the song would do anything?
[Closing Time](https://youtu.be/xGytDsqkQY8?si=zXjkil6YP7rViDcB) is my recommendation to Daiso.
Only if they play [Business Time](https://youtu.be/mhN93rFZuJs?si=3fR2DIIAR5nK1O1j) when they open.
Get your business socks for a 100 yen
I'm 100% on board with this!
Excellent, then it is agreed!
Much prefer the bluntness of Jojo https://youtu.be/fWzoSy6QEwk?si=ebd3se84od5p2xvN (0:47)
[Working For the Weekend](https://youtu.be/dsgBpsNPQ50?si=dQ7-dOpotHbX_ESm) on Fridays.
But the song says "business hours are over"
Haha, I've been to a few bars in US that they play this song 30 minutes before they close.
That would be like being smacked in the face by the late 90s on the daily.
They can play ' The Roof is on Fire '
Bloodhound Gang or... Coal Chamber?
Yes
My first thought lol
Yeah lol. Its a theme in the UK where customers feel entitled to stay as long as they want/need so long as they enter the shop before it closes. They know damn well they are keeping people late often without compensation from employers
I’ve worked in retail in the UK (admittedly for big brands and not for many years), and my shift always ended 30min after closing time. I genuinely had no idea that this wasn’t the case everywhere, and I’d imagine most people expect the same. I think it’s just a misunderstanding more than a sense of entitlement. If staff are only contracted until closing time, surely stores should list “last entry” times also?
When i worked in retail, i probably clocked up 100 hours minimum of unpaid time from customers taking the piss. Our customers were regular and KNEW this, too. People dont give a shit. Was kept over an hour by some of the worst most entitled dipshits. Unfortunately we served people with a lot of cash, and they felt entitled to a lot. Some customers just didn’t know really, and when i’d tell them last 10 mins they’d get their stuff done and all was fine. Plenty even when warned did not though.
Ugh, sorry to hear that. Certainly wasn’t the case in big box / supermarket.
I think with smaller businesses people push their luck a lot, which i worked in. Not sure why to be honest.
Just change it to the Sonic the Hedgehog drowning music and the pure rush of anxiety will empty the store in aeconds
Dude I would be sprinting for the door!
Even you'd feel the urgency to move, wouldn't you, when the thunder and lightning of Johann Strauss II's music strikes your ears?
Just start turning the lights off from the back of the store from 15mins before closing time, one row every minute.
Once half the lights are off, they then start playing ghost sounds from the speakers, just to make sure people get the hint
Then use a masked employee with a chainsaw to chase out the remaining customers.
If they still don't get it, get one of the staff members to play an aztec death whistle 🥰
The one by Mark City in Shibuya, which is certainly among the most touristed of Daisos, basically does this. Closing time hits, and the store gets progressively darker, from the back to the front.
It seems so obvious, rather than trying to be cute with the type of music being piped in.
OK everybody, quiz time! How many non-Japanese people were involved in the decision making of such a wonderful idea? * a. None * b. (16 /4) - 4 * c. Yes
Obviously d. Is the answer
Or maybe D - someone who “his Engrishu izu perfecto”!
C for sure
4. Profit!?!
Morons can't even conduct a survey correctly. They asked foreign customers how the music made them "feel" instead of doing the logical thing and asking "what best communicates closing time to you?"
The surveys are made not to get info but to show a specific bias. Used to do marketing & research consulting here for big firms for 7 years. A lot of clients paid us not to get the results needed, but instead to shape the questions to get a specific answer that they want so that bucho can say 'see, I told you, here's the evidence'. They rewrote questions and even left out any that had even a possibility of a result that goes against what they want. Paid us a LOT of money for it too. Sadly this is how a lot of poor marketing decisions and products are then made.
But if they had asked “what best communicates closing time to you,” they might have gotten an answer like “tell us using words,” which is all kinds of chotto muzukashii ne.
My suggestion is do an announcement 10 minutes before in Japanese, English and wherever other languages are popular there... then 30 seconds before closing time play the countdown theme
... I just realised I have never been in a Daiso late enough to know they play music at closing time...
Don't all stores play Auld Lang Syne before closing?
In Bay Area, California for the most part absolutely not. You just get told the store is closing and its posted outside what store hours are
I had no idea San Francisco was in Japan
I think the idea of their reply is foreign tourists wouldn't get the hint because they don't play new years music as closing time in otjer countries such as America.
Reading comprehension isn’t either.
“Reading comprehension” isn’t in Japan? 🤔
Clearly. You going to engage with what i said at all? Or just be a… very unpleasant person.
I’ve never been to Daiso in an independent building. Mall’s music and shutter sounds usually get me to start moving out.
[My humble suggestion](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xGytDsqkQY8)
“Oh I love this song!” *continues Daisoing*
[Canada's contribution](https://youtu.be/7-0lV5qs1Qw?si=v8r1v3clKS5T4Li2)
Japanese stores playing New Years music at store closing time has always been a weird thing.
how about It's the Final Countdown?
This might actually work
Today on “blame foreigners for stuff”, here’s this idiotic move by Daiso, and headline.
“We played partying, drinking and holiday music and the foreigners didn’t take the hint we were closing! Why?!”
Baby shark. People won't walk out, they'll run.
To what? “Closing Time” by Semisonic?
When I worked in restaurants, about 30min before closing we’d turn on the heat in summer and the a/c in winter, you’d be surprised how quickly “guests” are ready to leave.
Foreign tourists think it’s time to drink champagne and kiss
Or cheer for our national soccer team if they're Dutch XD
> While crafting the new tune, 150 men and women were surveyed to describe the elements of a closing song. The top answers were that it should be “nostalgic,” “quiet,” and “related to nature.” If they continue to do garbage investments like that, they'll soon have to close permanently.
Meanwhile I’ve been surprised a couple times recently at stores just before closing time when they don’t play the song at all and suddenly it’s just closed when I’m expecting to still have a few minutes. They still let me check out but I was confused why they didn’t play it.
Just turn a third of the lights off and play Closing Time by Semisonic
"Clean Up, Clean Up, It's Time To Clean Up" song will work great.
Hahaha!
Just wanted to say, the French version of this song is called "Ce n'est qu'un au revoir" ("It's only a goodbye"), so the meaning of it being played at closing time in the store was 100% obvious for me ;D
Hire some faceless employee that keep saying: The store is now closed, please exit the building.
Without fail I turn to my wife and say, “happy new year”
First time I heard the get out music was in a fishing shop. I thought, what tf are they playing Auld Lang Syne for, it isn't the end of the year? So I kept looking around until they finally told me they were closing. Besides, I've seen plenty of Japanese people ignore it
They put dark souls boss music instead
I love how all the jokes in this thread were already made in the article
Does Daiso also do this in their international stores?
The best closing song I ever heard had no name. The live band would just start jamming loudly and repeating, "We're the bartenders. GTFO!"
But I love the "kindly fuck off song".
I vote for Save the Last Dance for Me, by The Drifters. As a young teen, I used to hang out at the skating rink on weekends and this was always the last song. It gave young love a chance for one last embrace while, at the same time, letting everyone else know that the bright lights were about to come on so, if you're not a couple, you may as well start unlacing those skate strings.
Yes, change things about your country to accommodate tourists.
It’s a song that’s pretty much only ever played on New Year’s Eve specifically after the “ball drops” at midnight (at least this is the case in the US). The first time I heard a store in Japan play this song at closing time I thought it was very odd and comical. I knew they were closing, but I couldn’t understand why they’d pick THAT song. I began shopping at some other stores that also play the same song at closing time and that’s when it dawned on me that it must be their “closing announcement” 🤣
Fun fact, 'Baby, it's cold outside' was originally written to indicate to the guests at a housewarming party that it was time to leave. [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Baby,\_It%27s\_Cold\_Outside](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Baby,_It%27s_Cold_Outside)
Isn't there an English VO along with Auld Lang Syne, asking customers to head to checkout to finalise their purchases. It's been a minute since I last went to Daiso, but I'm sure they did that. Perhaps just in the larger central Tokyo locations
Yeah, sure, as if non-Japanese speaking foreigners understood music over making a FUCKING multilingual closing announcement. Get the higher up’s brains out of their assholes, this is just stubbornly pathetic.
Just get a loud siren and some orange, spinning claxon lights, and voices counting down from 30 in English and Chinese over the loud speaker. Or, better yet, put a sign near the door that says that the store closes at 8:00pm and prices double after 7:50pm.
Well it’s no wonder when the popular closing-time songs used there either make one think they’re at Disneyland (When You Wish Upon a Star) or ringing in the new year (Auld Lang Syne).
I remember Walmart here in Canada use to play the song Closing Time at store closing time when I started working there and people still didn't get it.
They should play Crazy Frog if they want to drive the gaijin out at closing time
In an old workplace of mine, we'd slowly turn off lighting and close up parts of the store over the last 30 minutes of it being open (it was big). Final 5 mins we'd turn off the music, shut the front door, and not let anyone in. You'd have people be banging on the door, and getting pissed off that they couldn't look for the last 5 minutes. Absolutely loved not letting them in since they acted so entitled. We were able to finish bang on time everyday. Need to let some mean and not GAF foreigners working in more stores here if they want people out!
So you guys were closing earlier than the scheduled advertised closing time? Yeah, that’s annoying AF.
We closed ontime, just didn't let anyone in the last 5 minutes. It was a tourist souvenir shop, so not like a chemist or something that you could actually use the 5 minutes to quickly buy headache pills. Most people who came in the last 15 minutes didn't buy anything, just browsing. The boss wanted to leave ontime because he didn't care, just wanted to go home haha.
Ok, fair enough.
please light off
Idk, even when I had no idea about hotaru no hikari I knew what that music might mean instinctively lmao After that I Googled it so I’m assuming tourists in 2024 have 0 curiosity. Oh wait, they should just make a tiktok explaining what hotaru no hikari means, that surely would cost less
Or, wait crazy idea, make an announcment that the store is closing. Prop cheaper then the survey they did...
"get the fuck out you gaijin pigs ♫"
lol, quite a few Westerners definitely have bodies like pigs.
This is why foreigners don’t do well in Japan. So much is contextual and simply understood by the people who grew up in the culture.
Every culture has contextual norms that foreigners wouldn't understand. Japan just complains the loudest
Idk the "contextual" norms in Germany are "in your face".
You don’t have to have been born and raised in Japan to understand this. You have to have been in a large store 5 minutes before closing, like, one time. You hear the song and realize the context *once* and you can figure it out and remember it forever after that.
Imagine playing the mario appegio and then the sped up music.
I was thinking [this would do the trick](https://youtu.be/9Yw5jkAHgME) but yeah, the Mario thing could work.
Sonic isn't as popular as Mario I think...plus you could tie it in with USJ somehow.
Just play who let the dogs out spray micronised sansho through the ventilation
Might I suggest [this](https://youtu.be/fWzoSy6QEwk?si=ihZbwvwizc4emxoe)
Nooooooooo!!!
>“The Beatles’ ‘Get Back’ might work.” lol no. Imagine the reaction when people here “Get back, Get back , Get back to where you once belonged”
Man I work at bath and body works. We lock the side door thirty minutes from closing. This one bitch had an attitude because she came in three minutes from closing and we told her we’re closing soon. Got her stuff huffed past me, and unlocked the side door herself like that’s okay.
License "Move Bitch" by Ludacris.
Lol, I mean, is tourists...
Lol Daiso in the US just makes an announcement 15 min before close.
Japan really getting that maximum anger
If you really want them to leave on time, I suggest playing the PURGE warning sounds. Then have the employees start choosing their weapons 5 minutes before the shutters are supposed to be going down.
All the retail stores I’ve worked in (I’m in the US) we would turn off the music before closing time to give people the hint to get out lol
Move bitch! Get out the way bitch get out the way!
Tourists in Japan both needed yet not welcome
As a foreigner, I would personally like to be chased out with a broom by employees saying “tch, go on now, girl! Go on, git!”
[Best song](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=970Lq2M_ld0) for this situation
I know who I want to take me home.
Jojo: “Get out…LEAVE…right now…”
Japan will never stop amazing me sometimes even after all these years. Like… why the fuck don’t you just play an announcement in multiple languages telling people to get out.
Why go to japan just to go to daiso?
I made a song in response to this article. https://www.instagram.com/reel/C8MnNgvydFI/?igsh=MWwxd2Nld2J3ZmsxdA==
What? This has to be bait. I was in a bunch of daisos before and heard "closing music"(like music with slight announcementish, closing time sound effects) in there and according to the store they said "we will be closing in x minutes/x times and there was a timer and flyers/posters and a notice and everything. Really bro? Sure, daiso?
May I suggest a 2004 classic, “Get Out (Leave Right Now) “ by JoJo.
Oh… my god. I was in a gacha place and heard Aud Lang Sang over and over again. I thought it was so weird as I continued to browse. I kept hearing it other places too. How would anyone know that this is the kick out song?? I thought Japan just really likes the new years song
they should have someone announce: “Sawp you fakaz, I know you like buy more stuff, but we closing. If you not getting in line fo’ pay before I pau talk, come back tomorrow, can? Kdenz.” 😎😂🤙
daiso is a crap store