Dogs and Starbucks in Japan

All over the world dog lovers hang out with dog lovers, and cat lovers hang out with cat lovers. I hope you enjoy these pictures. They don't say a lot about Japanese culture, but I will say this. When people here take up a hobby/passion/interest/etc they often go all out with it. We used to hang out in Minami Machida, where they had a high end retail shop devoted to dog lovers. You could always find a horde of dogs and owners congregating outside with many of the best dressed dogs in Japan (nicely groomed with little $50 sweaters and $25 bandannas, etc.). In the back of the store, by the way, they have a dog therapy room. For 1000 yen (about $10) a person can spend 30 minutes playing with a super cute little puppy. We thought about sending our 3 year old daughter in their, but they were backed up 2 or 3 time slots.

Enough about dogs. I wondered recently if Starbucks was not giving full refills for coffee anymore. The first time this happened, an employee explained that their "policy" is to give a short refill no matter what size was ordered originally. I figured that store's manager must be mistaken, but then it happened again in my local store. When I asked why, the worker explained this is indeed a policy. I didn't catch everything she said, so I nodded and said something like, "Hai, hai, ah...wakarimashita." I settled down with my short refill and studied Japanese for awhile, but just when I was about to leave, the girl came to my table with a full cup of coffee and a page from the employee manual. It was Section 8, the "Refill Policy," which says that coffee should be refilled fully to the size of the cup. So if you ever get "shorted" at Starbucks, and if you can speak some Japanese, and if you want to risk looking like a fool, remember: Section 8. By the way, refills are only available if you order coffee and cost 100 yen.