Due largely to sluggish consumption and the graying of society, door-to-door vendors are staging a nationwide comeback.

"This is such a small town that we might have gone under had we not maintained close relations with customers," said Kenichi Okano, who runs a cosmetics and fashion-goods shop in Onishi, Gunma Prefecture, a town of about 7,000 people.

The town used to be prosperous, turning out garden stones and timber before the collapse of the bubble economy.