When a Japanese Shop Starts Playing This Song, You Are Being Asked to Leave.

Why this phrase

Train the ear on the sound every visitor to Japan has heard and none has decoded: the slow waltz that drifts out of department stores, supermarkets and arcades near closing. Most people call it 「蛍の光」, though what actually plays is usually the waltz arrangement 「別れのワルツ」, and Western viewers will recognise the melody instantly as Auld Lang Syne. It is not a farewell song, it is a polite eviction notice: the music typically starts in the last ten to fifteen minutes, while big stores often run a spoken announcement about half an hour out. Play it, freeze, ask what it means, then reveal and attach the word 「閉店」, which they will also see printed on the door.