Sunday, January 27, 2008

My Bag

Yesterday I went grocery shopping and had my camera so... The other shoppers must have thought I was crazy! Look at the cute little shopping carts we get to push around. And in my basket I have 1 liter of milk. That's as big as the containers come! Also check out those eggs. They are sold by tens not the dozen in Japan.


One thing that has always seemed like a necessity to me in Japan is the bag boy system. No such thing here in the land of the rising sun. The shopper goes to the check out line and places her basket full of groceries on the table (no conveyer belts). The cashier will scan each item taking it out of the basket and placing it in another basket and the shopper will pay, take the receiving basket to another table and bag the groceries herself. The conscientious cashier will have put the potatoes and canned goods at the bottom of the basket so in order to get them into the bag first, the shopper has to take the lighter groceries out of the basket first and place them on the table to repack the heavier items in the plastic bag first. To me this seemed like just an extra step that could have been avoided if there had just been a bag boy around.

When Takumi was in jr. high I suggested to him that he go to the local supermarket, tell them about U.S. bag boys and offer his services. He could bag groceries, carry them out to the car for the customers, bring the shopping carts back to the store (in Japan you can't leave your cart in the parking lot. Shoppers have to take the carts back to the store entrance.) Pretty soon, shoppers would be flocking to the supermarket and then Takumi could get his friends involved and he could become an bag boy entrepreneur. I recall that he just rolled his eyes at me and alas, there are still no bag boys in Japan.

But, someone started a global warming campaign in Japan and now many people carry around their own "My Bag". I know, this is normal in Europe but not in America and the idea is just catching on in Japan. I have a nifty little compact My Bag that unfolds and unzips and can fit right in the receiving basket at the check out counter. The cashier places all my items in my bag carefully arranging the heavy things in there first and after paying I pull the draw strings, slip my arm through the handles and toodle off to my car. No stop at the bagging table, no carts to push back to the store (it's a pretty sturdy bag) and no plastic bags once I get home!

Another plus is that each supermarket will give you a little card and every time you use your My Bag, they will stamp it and when the shopper has collected 15 to 20 stamps (depending on the store) the card can be turned in for a discount as a reward for helping save the environment. I have quite a collection of cards that I have to riffle through before I can find the right one to be stamped but I'm trying to do my part in reducing plastic production by using My Bag.

I need to go buy bread and tofu today so I'm off again with My Bag!

8 comments:

Quilt Pixie said...

sounds like a great system you've developed! Not only helping the environment but saving yourself work and hassel too :-)

Katie said...

I have a whole bunch of shopping bags now in each car. Invariably we forget to take them into the store and have to run back out to get them!

anne bebbington said...

Here in the UK people are very slowly waking up to the concept of taking your own shopping bags instead of using supermarket plastic carriers - in Ireland, for some time, they have a system of charging for plastic bags and using the revenue to help clear the discarded ones from the countryside - paper biodegradable bags are free though I think

The Quilter said...

Tanya,
I read your comment on my blog. Please don't apologize. I was so sorry to read about Lemi's troubles, and glad to know that she's stable. It's so very hard. When I commented I wanted to let you know that there are a lot of us out here that have gone through it and we care thinking of you both.

Now onto lighter stuff--- I LOVE the small grocery cart, it's kind of a like the sports car of grocery carts! My store has both little and big carts and I feel like you can zip around with the little cart in half the time; it's great.

Shelina said...

We are so behind the times - I keep seeing all these people using reusable bags, and I don't even know where to buy any! I found a pattern though, and I guess I could start the trend here.

Marilyn R said...

I like the little shopping cart! 10 eggs in the carton instead of 12 - interesting!

Amy said...

In college I studied in Italy and then after college I lived in Germany for nearly 5 years. Trips to the grocery store were always fun. Finding the familiar things like peanut butter was like winning the lottery and walking through the meat area could prove challenging to 1)figure out just what type of meat it was and 2.) not to be too grossed out. All in all I always tried to enjoy. Thanks for sharing.

Amy said...

In college I studied in Italy and then after college I lived in Germany for nearly 5 years. Trips to the grocery store were always fun. Finding the familiar things like peanut butter was like winning the lottery and walking through the meat area could prove challenging to 1)figure out just what type of meat it was and 2.) not to be too grossed out. All in all I always tried to enjoy. Thanks for sharing.