In this booster
Under every big Japanese department store lies a depachika — the basement food hall: a glittering city of prepared dishes, hand-made sweets, bento, and gift boxes, staffed by people who take food more seriously than most restaurants do. It’s a distinctly Japanese retail culture most travelers have never encountered, and it runs on customs of its own: samples offered on trays, food sold by the hundred grams, and gift-wrapping elevated to a craft. This pack is those customs, plus the words on the price signs.
No new grammar — every sentence here is a frame you already own, wearing new nouns. Lesson 7’s permission frame asks for the sample and the half-portion, Lesson 3’s numbers order by weight, and Lesson 1’s onegaishimasu summons the wrapping. Boosters assume the finished core (Lessons 1–9); take them in any order. (The tax-free counter from the Tax-Free booster is upstairs in the same building — the two packs share an address.)
As always: tap each sentence and listen first, repeat it aloud, then check yourself against the text and meaning that appear. Tap again to listen as often as you like.
Finding the basement
depachika — depaato (department store) + chika (basement), fused into one of Japan’s favorite words. Ask anyone in the building; the answer is always “down.”
Chika desu ka.
chika — basement, underground. The same word lives inside Lesson 6’s chikatetsu (the underground railway) — your ear already knew half of it.
Wagashi no uriba wa doko desu ka.
uriba — the sales floor or section, useful in every store in Japan — and wagashi — traditional sweets: seasonal, sculptural, and the depachika’s crown jewels. Lesson 2’s no glues them; swap any noun in front to find any counter.
The counters
shishoku — the sample. Usually you won’t even need to ask — trays with toothpicks appear in front of you — but at a counter with no tray out, Lesson 7’s permission frame plus a hopeful look often produces one. Etiquette in the behavior notes.
Kono souzai wa nan desu ka.
souzai — prepared dishes, the deli side of the depachika: salads, simmered things, fried things, all gorgeous and unlabeled in any language you read. Lesson 2’s harvester question, eating well since day two.
Bentou o hitotsu kudasai.
bentou — the boxed meal, finally a taught word (you’ve been carrying konbini ones up mountains since the Outdoors booster). Depachika bento are the species’ luxury tier — and the star of the evening discount below.
Hanbun, ii desu ka.
hanbun — half. Whole salads and roasts often split on request — the permission frame turns a too-big beautiful thing into dinner for one.
Hangaku desu ka.
hangaku — half price: hanbun’s cousin, wearing a red sticker. From early evening the stickers bloom across the hall — the depachika’s famous sundown economy (behavior notes). This question confirms what the sticker promises.
Set piece
guramu — the gram, and the depachika’s native unit: every deli sign prices per 100g (百g). Point, say this, and the staff weigh, pack, and tuck an ice pack in beside it. Swap Lesson 3’s numbers freely — nihyaku guramu doubles it. This one sentence is the whole sold-by-weight system; memorize it and the entire deli floor opens.
The gift counter
noshi — the formal paper band that turns a purchase into a proper Japanese gift, printed for the occasion and inscribed at the counter. Sweets boxes with noshi are the standard offering for hosts, colleagues, and anyone who has helped you — see the behavior notes for how the counter handles the details you can’t say.
Hako, onegaishimasu.
The Tax-Free booster’s hako, back on duty — loose sweets become a gift box on request, and the wrapping that follows is free and flawless.
Dialog
Down the escalator and along the counters: a sample, two hundred grams of something glorious, and a gift box. Listen to the whole dialog cold first.
Shishoku, douzo. Arigatou gozaimasu. Oishii desu ne! Kore o hyaku guramu, onegaishimasu. Hai! Kono souzai wa nan desu ka. Wagashi desu yo. Douzo. Kore o mittsu kudasai. Noshi, onegaishimasu. Hai, douzo. Arigatou gozaimasu.A sample accepted with thanks, the by-weight set piece, the harvester question converting a mystery into three sweets, and a noshi to finish — the whole floor navigated on frames from the course’s first week.
What they’ll say to you
Two counter lines, at native speed. You never say these — one is a gift, one is a question your numbers already answer.
Shishoku, douzo. Dono kurai ni shimashou ka.The second is the deli counter’s standing question — and every answer it wants is already in your kit: a Lesson 3 number plus guramu, or plain hitotsu, futatsu, mittsu.
Repair drill
Ask a price and get the full pitch — per-100g rate, today’s evening discount, the works. You are not expected to parse it.
Kore wa ikura desu ka. Kochira wa hyaku guramu go-hyaku en de, honjitsu wa yuugata kara hangaku ni natte orimasu. Sumimasen. Kaite kudasai. Hyaku guramu, go-hyaku en desu.But did you catch hangaku flying past in the fast version? Half price, from this evening. Sometimes the un-parseable sentence contains the best news in the building — one more reason the pack’s words earn their keep as listening keys too.
How to behave: the hall’s customs
- Samples are gifts, not contracts. A tray with toothpicks is an open invitation: take one, arigatou gozaimasu, move along — buying is welcome, never implied. The one sin is grazing: circling back for seconds turns a courtesy into a buffet, and everyone notices.
- The sign says ¥X per 100g — order in grams. Kore o hyaku guramu, onegaishimasu is the entire transaction; the scale does the rest, and an ice pack rides along free because the depachika assumes you’re carrying dinner somewhere. Two hundred grams of anything is a generous portion for one.
- The evening bloom is real. From around six or seven, hangaku stickers spread across the bento and souzai cases as the hall clears its perishables — the famous sundown economy. A luxury bento at half price, eaten in a hotel room, is one of Japan’s great quiet pleasures.
- Noshi turns shopping into gift-giving. Say Noshi, onegaishimasu and the counter takes over: the formal paper band, the immaculate wrap, the right ribbonwork — free. Formal occasions have specific noshi styles; if the clerk asks questions you can’t parse, purezento desu (the Tax-Free booster’s move) steers them to the safe casual default.
Vocabulary reference
| # | Romaji | English | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | depachika | department-store food hall | always “down” |
| 2 | chika | basement / underground | the chika in chikatetsu |
| 3 | uriba | section / sales floor | X no uriba wa doko desu ka. |
| 4 | shishoku | (food) sample | take one, thank, move along |
| 5 | souzai | prepared dishes / deli food | the case of mysteries |
| 6 | bentou | boxed meal | the evening discount’s star |
| 7 | wagashi | Japanese sweets | seasonal, sculptural |
| 8 | guramu | gram | signs price per 100g |
| 9 | hanbun | half | Hanbun, ii desu ka. |
| 10 | hangaku | half price | the red evening sticker |
| 11 | noshi | formal gift paper | Noshi, onegaishimasu. |
| 12 | hako | box | Hako wa arimasu ka. |
Recognize only — never say these. The counter’s lines:
| Script line | It means | You do |
|---|---|---|
| Shishoku, douzo. | have a sample | take one + arigatou gozaimasu |
| Dono kurai ni shimashou ka. | how much would you like? | a number + guramu, or hitotsu |
Anki deck
Drill this booster’s audio anywhere: download the Depachika Anki deck. Sentence cards are the course; vocab cards are backup — suspend them unless a word won’t stick.