Cletus' First Collegiate Dictionary of Japanese Chin Music
irasshaimase
Welcome. You’ll often hear this greeting, or the shortened irasshai, as you enter a store, restaurant or bar in Japan. Sometimes the whole staff seems to be yelling it, which can take a newcomer aback. One of the worst inventions of all time is a machine that repeats a high-pitched “irasshaimase” as a person enters a store and an “arigato gozaimashita” (thank you very much) as he or she leaves.
There is a liquor store in the Yoga neighborhood of Tokyo that has one of these – the elderly couple who run the shop are evidently too busy to say the greetings themselves. But of course, the machine gets mixed up and says “irasshaimase” as you leave at least half the time. The shop is small, and the cash register is near the door, so when you pay for your beer or sake, you can stand close to the door and set the machine off in a wild frenzy of “irrashaimase” and “arigato gozaimashita.” No matter how long you do this, the shopkeepers will show no sign whatsoever that anything is wrong.