Live from Japan!

. . . pay for plane tickets.

I must say that this is the very first time in my life that I have bought two airline tickets at a convenience store.

First I booked the flight online and once I had booked the flight it gave me a confirmation number and instructions to go to a Lawsons (convenience store chain) within three days to pay in full. If I didn’t show up at Lawsons within the allotted time my flight would be canceled.

Once I arrived at Lawsons, I made sure to chain up my dog, take off my helmet and put out my cigarette before going inside. Thank goodness the sign was translated otherwise I might have had a lot of trouble. In the corner of the store there was a little kiosk where I was able to access my JAL invoice and get a payment number.

Once I had the payment number I went to the convenience store checkout just like any of the other customers, except I was paying for $400 worth of flights and they were buying $1 rice balls. Anyways the clerk, without much hesitation, accepted my payment and waited for a receipt to print. Once printed she added signatures and stamps and soon I was on my way.

Now I just have to make sure that I don’t lose that handy dandy little receipt, otherwise we may be in trouble. Trouble in this case would be being stuck in Hokkaido. We are taking the ferry to Hokkaido and then returning to Nagoya with our one-way tickets. Should be an interesting trip.

Side note – I always remember seeing signs at gas stations and convenience stores around the States that said the store never had more than $100 worth of cash in the drawer. Sort of like saying, hey, we don’t have much money, no reason to try to steal here. I never knew if this was actually true, or just a clever way to try to reason with potential robbers (although I am not sure that reason is a very efficient tact). Anyways, if convenience stores in the States started allowing people to pay for airline tickets, amazon.com bills, computers, and all manner of other high-ticket items, their signs would surely be false and the deterrent effect would be gone. Although, perhaps the signs are already false with the rapidly rising gas prices back home??