Environmentally friendly "eco-bags," which many consumers are opting to use in lieu of wasteful plastic shopping bags, are becoming fashionable with the help of brand-name goods manufacturers, with one such bag breaking the 1 million sales mark.

Outside a department store in Osaka in July, there was a long line of young women and men waiting to buy eco-bags from Anya Hindmarch of Britain.

The trend has been similar elsewhere in Japan. At a Tokyo branch of the company that launched the bag, scuffles broke out between shoppers and sales staff.