" 'Tis the season," and while many a crabby gaijin points out that Japan's decidedly commercial spin on Christmas excludes its religious meaning, shopping makes a lot of people happy, so why knock it?
Still, happy is as happy does. Though I ran into sidewalk-clogging crowds in Ginza last weekend, according to the media, all those folks were apparently "just looking" since consumption remains sluggish and isn't expected to pick up anytime soon.
Gucci may be enjoying record sales in Japan, but the Japanese public no longer seems willing to pay premium prices for good stuff. As it does annually, Nikkei Trendy magazine recently listed the year's top 30 products, services and commercial phenomena. At the top of the list was Uniqlo, a discount clothing retailer that has convinced Japanese shoppers that a cheap price doesn't have to mean cheap quality.