Do your kids believe in Santa? Japanese electronics shop wants to know for a very special reason

A simple Nintendo Switch purchase comes with a surprising question, and amazing customer service.

Christmas Eve may be the biggest date night of the year in Japan, but little kids getting Christmas presents is part of the celebration here too. With Nintendo’s family-friendly reputation, the company’s Switch console is at the top of many Japanese children’s wish lists, which led to a surprising conversation for Twitter user Lina Kojika (@lina_kojika) on a recent shopping trip to electronics store Yodobashi Camera’s branch in the city of Utsunomiya.

As Kojika was paying for the Switch, she was asked “Does the person you’re giving this to believe in Santa?” At first, this might sound like some casual holiday chitchat, but it turns out the clerk earnestly wanted to know, and for a heartwarming reason.

See, when you buy a video game system at an electronics store in Japan, the employee stamps the box with the date and store’s name (it’s the part circled in yellow in the photo below).

They do this to show proof of purchase and the start of the warranty period, but this creates a bit of a problem at Christmas, because when was the last time you saw Santa standing in line to buy something at an electronics retailer? Sure, in the modern era no kids really think Santa is personally making all the toys he gives in a workshop at the North Pole, but there’s still a bit of magical mystery regarding where exactly he sources his presents from. Seeing the stamp of the local electronics shop is going to kill that sense of wonder, so the clerk told Kojika that if the recipient does believe in Santa, Yodobashi will be happy to leave the box unstamped, and provide separate paperwork for proof of sale/warranty purposes.

▼ Kojika’s unstamped Switch box

クリスマス用にヨドバシでNintendo Switchを買ったら、「贈る方はサンタを信じてますか？信じてませんか？」という質問があり、「信じておられるお子様の場合、箱の保証書に当店のスタンプを押さない保証方法をご提案しております。… twitter.com/i/web/status/1…

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仔鹿リナ 八百森のエリー①配信開始 (@lina_kojika) December 18, 2019

“Divine customer service,” tweeted Kojika, who’s also the manga creator of Happyakumori no Eri, and others were also quick to applaud Yodobashi’s holiday spirit.

“God-level service.”
“When I was a kid, my first inkling that Santa might not be real was when I got a present with wrapping paper that had the logo of our local toy shop on it.”
“Yodobashi knows exactly what kids are going to notice.”
“Whoa, hold, up…you’re telling me Santa’s not real?!?”

To that last pure-hearted commenter, we say it’s not our job to shatter anyone’s Christmas dreams, and that seems to be Yodobashi’s stance too.

Source: Twitter/@lina_kojika via Hachima Kiko
Top image: Pakutaso
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