This literally drives me insane. For the first few months of living here I was singing and dancing to it as a joke but now I just feel like ‘FFS!!! Why this song over and over again’. Have you heard anyone who was born and raised around this repetitive music complain about it? Or am I only complaining because I was raised around good music? Lol!
Tip for anyone else who feels like they’re gonna go insane: buy Apples new AirPods Pro 2 the noise cancelling is insane for in-ears.
32 comments
HEEEIWADOOOOOOO…………….
why is this a big problem for you that you’re provoked to post? lol
i kinda enjoy it. its funny haha. also in denki-ya.
in my local supermarket though sometimes they play aimyon songs which i like 😀
My husband doesn’t seem to pay any attention at all. It’s the restaurants that play screechy J-Pop while I’m eating that annoys me, like our local Hama Zushi. We went to a nice hamburger steak restaurant once and were in the middle of our meal when loud, profanity-laced gangster rap suddenly started blaring. I asked them to switch back to the mellow music they were playing before that because I couldn’t eat while listening to the vulgar, violent song lyrics. The Japanese customers couldn’t understand what they were singing but I could.
I feel sorry for the staff who have to grind through 10 hours of a shit jingle on repeat. It’s a form of abuse.
DOO DOO DOO DOOT, DADADA, DOO DOO DOO DOOT
man I fucking love Hobby Off
Is this an ad?
Yes. One of my Japanese friends really dislikes the sakana (fish) song. She even walks out of the supermarket if she hears it.
And my local laundromat plays obnoxiously loud heavy metal music, I suspect to discourage loitering. It seems to work.
As long as it’s not baby shark..
DONKI DONKIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII
I much prefer it to the soundscape in UK supermarkets. Because of its highly repetitive nature, I can tune it out. It is also mostly (with some regrettable exceptions) intended to be upbeat and cheerful, however annoying it might be hearing a song about Marunaka for instance.
In my local supermarket, before I moved here, they played “music”, which was mostly miserable 80’s music that I absolutely hated (generally awful, miserable stuff). I have a very low tolerance for having my brain interrupted by sound, and used to have to wear headphones a lot just to survive. Japan is so much better in general – especially at Christmas.
The most obvious exception to this is Starbucks, which I put down to it being American and so culturally jarring anyway. Many Starbucks places that it would be nice to sit in play “music” again. My nearest plays an unending combination of (1) young women singing in miserable and breathy fashion their unhappiness in relationships; (2) elderly men “singing” (growling in some cases) about their unhappy lives, possibly including relationships and general wretchedness.
I have been told this soundscape is designed to make you leave the shop quickly to keep turnover up. It works for me. Compared with that, Japanese supermarkets are great.
Doesn’t really bother me. I’m not spending hours and hours in a supermarket and I’m pretty much occupied by my own thoughts
In Gyomu they often play “Suki suki, oniku suki suki”. Suki in my language means “bitches”. To entertain myself I sing it as “Bitches, bitches, all of you are bitches, bitches”. I hate the song, but at least there is some fun
I used to work in an arcade that blasted the same 10 track music for decades you definitely learn to block it out
Having said that hearing those songs now in some random places do bring back some sort of twisted ptsd 😂
The 7-11 near me has that Under the Sea song from Little Mermaid on repeat everyday. I do not get how the staff is not all homicidal by now.
Come on, for sure everybody loves the Yodobashi Camera jingle on endless loop 😉
It has never bothered me, honestly I don’t even notice it, and I like one or two of them.
Yes, my wife does. Mainly because I sing them at her whenever I hear them (cursed catchy tunes).
Related: my small local supermarket plays guitar-shredding rock (think Satriani or Vai). It’s awesome!
Having kids gets you used to these kinds of things…
“ABC……kids TV!!”
“Shoes, shoes, it’s time to clean your shoes. No no no I don’t wanna clean my shoes”
Edit: those who know, know
Your mind gets used to it. I’m more confused by the contrast of the jingles supposed to be cheerful, and the soullessness of Japanese supermarkets. 80’s decorations with fading colours and so low tech.
BRUHHH
It’s something so passively in the background that you just ignore it. I worked retail (not in Japan) but it was the same thing.
I don’t care about that.
It’s the sensor-triggered high-speed passive-aggressive いらっしゃいませ that plays when I step too close to the expensive stuff in Seiyu that grinds my personal gears.
There are certain jingles and promotions that play repeatedly that can be annoying, but the general music played in any supermarkets I’ve been to always seems to change. Usually a MIDI track. I felt I was truly experiencing Japan when one supermarket was playing the vocal Eyes on Me from FF8…
There is a restaurant in Kichijoji not far from the station that sells colossal portions of super cheap pasta. For literally years all day every day they played that song DOOP on a never ending loop. Thankfully they stop playing it just before corona lockdown kicked in.
It wasn’t just infuriating but also completely inexplicable too :/
DON DON DON DONKIIII DONKI HOTAYYYY
Daieshimokitazawaten plays amazing music. First time I went they where playing 50 cent in the club.
I am pretty sure this is the equivalent of the afterlife for cheezy music
Sucks! I can’t imagine listening to the donki on full blast a whole shift. As a customer it’s fine but man… no way.
Where I’m from it’s not even legal to keep blasting your jingle non-stop
I don’t know how the employees deal with it. After long enough maybe you don’t notice it anymore?
I prioritize supermarkets that don’t have it, but this may be hard in the inaka.
Lived here for 1 and 7 months I cant even remember a song played on repeat. Not that I try and pay attention.
Music doesn’t bother me as much as the bright sharp lights piercing my brain through the eyeballs. I feel very tired every time I visit Yodobashi or some supermarkets
You’ve really never worked in retail before, have you?