Blame for the consumer spending slump is usually pinned on widespread anxiety over an uncertain future. But another reason, one that isn't discussed as much, is that most citizens already have everything they want.

If you need proof, just walk into the average person's home. Likely, all their possessions will be in full view, because Japanese housing is famous for its lack of storage space. In Japan, the rich man is not the man with the Armani suit. The rich man is the man who has a closet in which he can hang the Armani suit.

Ever since the advent of the nuclear-family lifestyle, one measure of a Japanese housewife's homemaking expertise has been the way she uses the space that's available to her. Eventually, this sub-discipline of home economics gave birth to professional shuno (literally, "receiving") experts and "interior coordinators."