Will second wave of 'price destruction' finally spur change?

A major wave of what could perhaps be called the second round of "price destruction" is accelerating in Japan.

As corporate bankruptcies rise and companies pursue mergers and integrations, the recent closure of a department store that established a new business model during the Edo Period on the principle of "no overcharging and no sales on credit" proves that this model has become obsolete in today's rapidly changing world.

The first wave of price destruction struck in the 1990s after the cross-border movement of cheap labor and land ownership, facilitated by transfers of goods, money and technology that sped up after the end of the Cold War, boosted manufacturing outside the industrialized powers.