Jewelry Étranger

**Jewelry Étranger** (ジュエリー・エトランジェ, *Juuerii Etoranje*?) is a jewelry store located on the second floor of a seven-story multi-tenant building in a Ginza neighborhood, owned by Richard Ranasinghe de Vulpian.

It opens at 11 am in the morning, and closes around 5 pm in the evening. A hardcover book titled the "Illustrated Book of Jewels" in Japanese is placed out for customers.

## History

Jewelry Étranger was formerly a coffee shop owned by the Hamadas, which Masahiro Onodera used to frequent. The Hamadas met Richard when he was doing business in Hong Kong and eventually they closed the coffee shop in December before the story begins. Richard moved to Japan in spring and opened Jewelry Étranger in April to serve as a "base camp" in Japan after hiring Seigi Nakata as a part-timer.

## Description

### Purpose

Richard leased the space so that it can serve as his base camp in Japan. It is not a store to display jewelry, but a place where he can have talks with customers. He plans to use it on weekends for the time being.

### Location

It is located near Ginza's 7-chome neighborhood. One can pass Chuo-dori Street and head past an old public bath. The store is located on the street with retro buildings.

### Surroundings

There is a general store on the left of the building, and a sushi restaurant on the right. There is an office on the first floor. The neighborhood is almost all office complexes, and the restaurants scattered here and there all opened at noon. The nearest coffee shop is also a bit too far away.

### Customers

Customers come to the store by taxi. Perhaps they ride the Narita Express to Tokyo Station, then arrive by car. They call Richard's cell phone in advance for when they will come to the store. Some customers made prompt purchases on the spot. Others would drink tea, and then say goodbye as though it was just small talk between friends.

## Layout

The entrance can be found when heading up the stairs. There is an intercom located outside, and the door has an electronic lock. The entrance is a normal door, there is no viewing windows that allows you to see inside the store. There are no showcases that would make one want to look inside.

The place has the ambience of a coffee shop without tables, even though the fluorescent lights were bright white like an office. The room is only about 12 tatami (Around 19 Square Meters) big. Near the window on the left, there are four single red sofas that look comfortable to sit in. Between them, there is a low glass table with an attaché case placed on top. A bookcase with Western books stands against the wall. There is a kitchen, a washroom, and a personal workspace for the vault owner in the back.

Richard is opposed to adding much decor to the space, but there is a small pomegranate tree they received as a gift in Volume 2 in the space, as well as a table, chairs, and a bookcase with books on mineralogy.

## Services

### Appraisal

An appraisal usually takes a week at the earliest, and a month at the latest.

If it is an appraisal in an institution within Japan, it will cost around 3000 yen to 5000 yen at maximum. It will only cost ten of thousands of yen if you place an order with a specialized institution in the US, and get a letter of identification.

To get an appraisal, the client must fill in some papers, notably with their signature and address. There is the name of the company doing the identification printed on the papers. Several pictures of the jewel being appraised are also taken using a digital camera. Even if the client already has photos, Richard still wants to make sure.

Richard states that the entire process is a tradition from a long time ago. The history of jewelry is one of fraud and thievery, thus "safety first" became a tradition since ancient times to protect both the consumer and the dealer.

## Employment

* Seigi Nakata (Only Part-Timer)

Richard wanted to hire for part-timer positions, a quota of one employee. Their duties would consist of miscellaneous chores. It involves mainly cleaning the store, and at most ten times a month. Some other possible duties involve running errands on the stationery store, and posting mail. There is no special dress code, except for not dressing too casually. When Seigi was offered the salary number, it blew away what he got paid from his night shift at the TV station. Seigi did have to learn how to brew royal milk tea.

## Trivia

* The store has a website. However, it only supports the English and Chinese languages.
* It doesn't do any online orders.

## Images

Richard looking into the well-stocked cupboard of Jewelery Etranger.
## References

1. ↑ Volume 1, Case 4
2. ↑ Volume 1, Case 1