Reiko Shibata, a 48-year-old housewife in Musashino, western Tokyo, occasionally visits Gaikoku Kaden, a neighborhood shop specializing in imported home appliances ranging from General Electric refrigerators and Dyson vacuum cleaners to La Pavoni espresso makers and Cuisinart blenders.
"It's easy to use foreign appliances because their functions are simple but work well," said Shibata, a company employee whose home is equipped with an electric oven and oil heaters made by Italian firm De'Longhi SPA.
She said Japanese manufacturers add multiple functions to one product and it ends up being full of odds and ends that are unsophisticated.