wanderlust7
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Mar 10, 2015
Went to Shibuya on the 2nd and it was bustling! First stop was the Nintendo Store at the Shibuya Parco. We needed a ticket for a return time later, so good thing we went there first. Was happy to find a Pokemon Center on the same floor. They weren’t controlling entry and it was PACKED. We went a bit crazy there. While in line to pay, I saw there were some racks I didn’t even see due to too many people. Didn’t want to get out of line, so oh well lol.
They have a gashapon machine with exact replicas of the Pikachu and Eevee plates at the Pokemon Cafe. We got lucky and got those exact 2. So cute! We would go on to eat those same plates at the Pokemon Cafe in Osaka lol.
Next day was more shopping at Tokyo Station at Character Street and Gashapon Street (not as big as I thought it would be). There was another Pokemon store here. Then on to Akihabara, where the kids had fun in the arcades and shopping in the many anime stores (some selling secondhand figurines). Wandered into a yakiniku place (grill your own meat) for dinner and it was good. Menu had pictures, so ordering wasn’t too hard.
I tried out the tax-free shopping for the first time at the Pokemon Center in Shibuya. That store processes them at the time of purchase. I just had to give them my passport and the tax was taken off the total. Your total needs to be over 5000 or 5500 yen depending on if the store prices are tax inclusive. Very easy! Wish I had done it for our purchases the day before.
At Tokyo Station, they have a counter where they process it. You need to go there first to get a slip that you show to the stores that participate in tax-free shopping. They then scan that slip and attach the receipt to the brochure (you still need to pay the tax). You then take those receipts at the end to the same counter to get your tax refund. This needs to be done the same day. More hassle, but the nice thing is you can combine receipts across stores to get to the over 5000 total. Unfortunately, we forgot to do this as we left for Akihabara and missed out.
Consumables (food, cosmetics, medicine) are only tax-free if they’re not consumed in Japan, and they need to meet the minimum separately. It’s supposed to be packaged differently to make sure you don’t consume it, but I don’t know what that looks like since we didn’t do it. You’re supposed to keep your receipts and even the items with you at the airport, but all I had to do was scan my passport at a machine and the agent waved us through.
They have a gashapon machine with exact replicas of the Pikachu and Eevee plates at the Pokemon Cafe. We got lucky and got those exact 2. So cute! We would go on to eat those same plates at the Pokemon Cafe in Osaka lol.
Next day was more shopping at Tokyo Station at Character Street and Gashapon Street (not as big as I thought it would be). There was another Pokemon store here. Then on to Akihabara, where the kids had fun in the arcades and shopping in the many anime stores (some selling secondhand figurines). Wandered into a yakiniku place (grill your own meat) for dinner and it was good. Menu had pictures, so ordering wasn’t too hard.
I tried out the tax-free shopping for the first time at the Pokemon Center in Shibuya. That store processes them at the time of purchase. I just had to give them my passport and the tax was taken off the total. Your total needs to be over 5000 or 5500 yen depending on if the store prices are tax inclusive. Very easy! Wish I had done it for our purchases the day before.
At Tokyo Station, they have a counter where they process it. You need to go there first to get a slip that you show to the stores that participate in tax-free shopping. They then scan that slip and attach the receipt to the brochure (you still need to pay the tax). You then take those receipts at the end to the same counter to get your tax refund. This needs to be done the same day. More hassle, but the nice thing is you can combine receipts across stores to get to the over 5000 total. Unfortunately, we forgot to do this as we left for Akihabara and missed out.
Consumables (food, cosmetics, medicine) are only tax-free if they’re not consumed in Japan, and they need to meet the minimum separately. It’s supposed to be packaged differently to make sure you don’t consume it, but I don’t know what that looks like since we didn’t do it. You’re supposed to keep your receipts and even the items with you at the airport, but all I had to do was scan my passport at a machine and the agent waved us through.
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