Welcome to my world

“Take off your shoes! TAKE OFF YOUR SHOES!”

As a foreigner in Tokyo, sometimes it takes me a few days to commit a faux pas. Other times, like this time, it only took seconds.

It was my first time stepping into a Tokyo store. My first step was clearly a misstep.

“Irashaimase! IRASHAIMASE!” the saleswoman cried out to me.

“Ira what?” I stammered. “I’m sorry. I don’t understand. Is it the shoes? Do I need to take off my shoes?” Just a few days earlier, at my sensei’s home, I mistakenly wore outdoor shoes indoors. I didn’t know that I needed to change into house slippers. Then, I mistakenly wore the house slippers into the toilet room. I didn’t know I needed to change into toilet slippers. I was not going to experience another slipper slip up. I took off my shoes.

“Irashaimase!” the kind saleswoman said again.
“Thanks for telling me,” I replied. “I got it now: no shoes.”
“Irashaimase,” another saleswoman said to me.
“Yes,” I said to her. “I’m taking my shoes off. I got the message.”
“Irashaimase,” another saleswoman said to me from across the floor.
“Wow. You too? From way over there?” I said as I held up my footwear for all to see. “All set now, ladies. No need to tell me again. My shoes are off. Now I know: irashaimase means no shoes.”

Irashaimase, however, does not mean “no shoes.” I learned that on the second floor when two salespeople approached me at the top of the escalator.
“IRASHAIMASE!” they said together in a very, cheerful sing-song way.
“IRASHAIMASE!” more salespeople on the floor repeated.

What is going on? Did I walk in on a department store musical? I am definitely missing something. Everybody is telling me the same message and I don’t know what it is.

What could irashaimase possibly mean?

Irashaimase! IRASHAIMASE! Your zipper is down! YOUR ZIPPER IS DOWN!
Irashaimase! IRASHAIMASE! You don’t wear white after Labor Day! NO WHITE CLOTHES AFTER LABOR DAY!
Irashaimase! IRASHAIMASE! Don’t look now, but Brad Pitt is behind you! BRAD PITT IS BEHIND YOU!
Irashaimase! IRASHAIMASE! You have spinach in your teeth. SPINACH IN YOUR TEETH!

“Irashaimase means ‘welcome’,” my sensei patiently explained me at my next language class. “They are welcoming you into the store. It has nothing to do with shoes or Brad Pitt or spinach.”

Irashaimase. Love it. Live it. It’s everywhere.
“Irashaimase,” I enthusiastically said to my husband when he came home from work.
“Irashaimase,” the clerk said to me at the coffee shop.
“Irashaimase,” the security guard said to us when we walked by the construction site (welcome to my secure area?)
“Irashaimase,” the crossing guard said to our friend. (welcome to the pedestrian walkway?)

So, now when I’m greeted with irashaimase, I know exactly what to do. I offer a polite bow of thanks and then walk around confidently with my head high, my teeth clean and my shoes on. While living in Tokyo, I may be clueless, but I certainly will not be clueless and shoeless.