This shop in Japan has no doors or shopkeepers; only honest customers

TOKYO:  Kanagawa is a beautiful coastal prefecture just south of Tokyo with traditional, landscaped Sankei-en Garden, Landmark Tower skyscraper with its rooftop garden, and food stalls and restaurants.

But what makes Kanagawa more beautiful is the people here. They are hardworking, honest and genuine that even if you offer them something for almost free, they won’t take it.

One such instance manifesting the culture here is the small vegetable and fruits shop outside the house of Yamada family that it has been running for the last three years here.

On display are fresh vegetables, fruits, and nuts with their price tags. One calculator is also placed to help customers to make them calculate the amount to be paid. Also, a small wooden money-box to drop the money and carry bags to take the items home.

But what is missing at this shop here is the door and shopkeeper.

And this is not the only exception in Japan as there are many such shops here in this country of the Rising Sun. There are plenty on the outskirts of Tokyo as well as in farm villages.

Yamada, who lives just behind the shop has farms where he spends his time growing onion, potatoes, KAKI (Japanese seasonal fruit), ladyfinger, brinjal and many other vegetables and fruits including strawberries.

“I started this shop three years back. The idea was to make items available for the customers even at the time when I am is not around. I also supply fruits and vegetables to other stores but run this small shop for nearby residents,” said Yamada.

When asked about any incident of theft or cheating ever since he started his shop, Yamada was smart enough to reply.

“I don’t think there was any such incident in the last few years but yes sometimes when we calculated the amount received in the money-box at the end of the day and compared it with the item placed on the wooden shelf, we found some mismatch. May be because some people are bad in the calculation,” Yamada quipped.

Yamada took the Asian Community News (ACN) team to his farms where his family was busy in the sweetening process of KAKI, which involved cutting the fruits and hanging them under the sun.

While explaining the process, Yamada said, “We do this sweetening treatment for all those KAKI fruits which are not sweet enough. It’s a traditional way to peel off their outer covering and keep them in sunlight for 2-3 days. It makes them sweet and rich in taste sometimes as sweet as Honey.”

KAKI also carries great medicinal properties and this fruit is being used to treat many ailments including headaches, back pains and foot ache more than 2000 years.

However, back in India, there have been stray examples of shopkeeper-free shops such as in Mizoram, Andhra Pradesh and Kerela where some people have ‘dared’ to open such outlets.