Isetan Mitsukoshi Holdings Ltd. announced Jan. 29 its special offers and hospitality services for foreigners shopping at the Mitsukoshi Ginza Store during the Chinese New Year's spring festival period from Feb. 19, featuring special limited cosmetic sets, free gifts with purchases and a "jewelry bazaar."

Located in the center of Ginza, an area in Tokyo where many foreign visitors enjoy shopping, the Mitsukoshi Ginza Store has been expanding its merchandise and services for foreigners visiting Japan.

Hospitality Services:

- Double the number of staff members for the well-used foreign language attendant service during the spring festival period.

- Make floor maps written in Chinese (traditional and simplified).

- Set up dialogue charts (understandable by just pointing at them) on tablet computers on a trial basis on some floors that many foreigners visit (about 10 units, Japanese and Chinese).

- Offer the Mitsukoshi Ginza Store's original handkerchiefs to the first 10,000 customers who receive tax exemption refunds for their purchases.

Special Offers:

- Cosmetics: "Welcome to Japan Campaign"

-- From Feb. 18 (Wed.), offer services on the cosmetics floor on the first basement level, such as a special limited cosmetic set from each brand and a free gift with purchases.

- Jewelry: "Inbound Jewelry Bazaar"

-- Make available a range of jewelry products such as Akoya pearls of the highest quality, as well as jade and coral, and also offer products that can be purchased as gifts at reasonable prices of around 100,000 to 200,000 yen.

Period: Feb. 15 (Sun.) to 22 (Sun.)

Location: 8th floor event area

- Children's Goods: "Made in Japan Project -- Japanese-made Wooden Toy Fair"

-- Offer a variety of toys that are "made in Japan," including traditional playthings and products aimed at intellectual training, all in one site.

Period: Feb. 11 (Wed.) to 22 (Sun.)

Location: 10th floor toy area

-Men's Apparel: "TOKYO SHOP"

-- Hold the "TOKYO SHOP" event which mainly gathers items featuring designs and skills that are characteristically Japanese. As part of this event, the store will analyze the tastes and habits of Chinese people and propose its original business suits tailored using Japan's advanced techniques.

Period: Feb. 11 (Wed.) to 15 (Sun.)

Location: 7th floor men's apparel special event area

In addition, the Ginza Mitsukoshi Store will offer numerous products that are very popular among foreign customers, particularly visitors from China, such as the Nambu Tekki ironware, kitchen knives and wooden mosaic work on the household goods floor and health foods on the food product floor.

Details of these special offers and hospitality services were introduced to Japan-based correspondents of foreign media organizations on Jan. 29 at the Mitsukoshi Ginza Store during a briefing session of the company's inbound/outbound strategy, where some actual products were also displayed.

Representatives of more than 10 media organizations from places including Europe, North America, China and other parts of Asia gathered for the briefing session where the department store group explained its inbound and outbound strategies under the theme of "Isetan Mitsukoshi Group's Inbound Strategy" and building the "Cool Japan Model," a new store model for overseas business.

Source: Isetan Mitsukoshi Holdings Ltd.