Megane Shopping

My previous pair of glasses, which I got maybe 4 years ago, were getting well beyond old and the coating on the lens had begun to peel off. So two days ago I decided to head out to get some glasses after work. I didn't know what to expect seeing that this will be my 4th pair of glasses. I first starting wearing them my senior year of high school. A quick google search brought up this blog which recommended the Japanese retailer Muji, a brand that I like. Free eye check, only an hour, only about $100, I was amazed.

I headed to the Umeda Loft Muji store because I had seen another eyeglass store near by. Getting there I found another store making a total of 3, including Muji, in a short distance from eachother. (Map Here) Prices seemed to start around 6000 yen for a test, frame and lenses. Speical order or uncommon lenses will cost more, and of course some of the more expensive frames were around $200. Still very cheap.

I was able to find some classes fairly easily. I ended up buying a pair at Muji for ¥10,500 out the door. The test didn't take a long time and was done very professionally. These glasses are much better than my older pair, although they took a few hours to get use to. The lenses I got are smaller than my older pair, but the frame was big enough to get around my melon of a head. The hardest part was chooseing the right frame and color. I was helped by a very sweet lady that kept asking me if I was sure if I wanted black or blue. I suck at choosing things like this. She said the blue made me look more 明るい (bright), so I went with blue. It took them 1 hour to fit the lenses then a few minutes to adjust the frame.

<-- My new glasses.

A note for those who go: if you don't speak Japanese at all it might be best to bring a Japanese speaker, but basic Japanese can get you through. During the test there will be lots of compairative questions like "which one is clearer" and commands like "read the second row from the left" which wasn't hard at all for me. Also remember the reading test is in hiragana.