Smart Gift Giving — How to Be Perceived As Generous While Spending Less

Or why you shouldn’t shop for value when it comes to gifts

Image by the author (CC BY-SA 4.0)

How do you give someone a good gift? It’s not easy, is it?

Well, let’s consider how the Japanese do it. Maybe we can learn something from them.

Japanese sticker shock

If you enter the Sembikiya fruit parlor in Tokyo, Japan, you’ll probably immediately turn around thinking you’ve entered a jewelry shop instead of a grocery store. And if you don’t turn around right away, you’ll surely do once you look at the prices:

• $21 for an apple,
• $64 for a small box of grapes,
• $164 for a box of cherries,
• $212 for a single watermelon.

Yep, sticker shock isn’t unique to wedding garments and the latest tech gadgets. And the above items aren’t even extreme considering how much you can spend on fruit in Japan. For instance, in 2019 two cantaloup melons were auctioned off for a jaw-dropping $45,000 or $22,500 each.

Image by the author. Based on a photo by Kenny Timmer on Unsplash.