Firms itching to cash in on athlete's foot sufferers
The phrase "I wouldn't want to be in your shoes" threatens to take on a whole new meaning as summer kicks in, with an estimated one in five Japanese suffering from athlete's foot. Drug makers are marketing athlete's foot medication at unprecedented levels, pumping money ...
Big screens on grand scale win back new generation of film fans
The magic of Harry Potter and "The Lord of the Rings" may not be the only reason that people are returning to movie theaters. Nonexistent in Japan just a decade ago, cinema complexes now account for more than half of the nation's screens and are ...
Lingerie firms hustling to open outlets as lights go out on major retailers
Major domestic underwear firms are aggressively expanding their direct retail operations, opening lingerie boutiques with French names, as well as bra kiosks at train stations. Wacoal Corp., the largest domestic company in the sector with annual lingerie sales of 110 billion yen, has been opening ...
Department stores gear up for yearend gift season
Department stores nationwide go into full swing this weekend for the all-important yearend gift-shopping season, hoping to finish on a high note a year marked by battered sales. "Oseibo," literally meaning yearend, has historically been the big gift-giving occasion along with the summer gift season. ...
'Oden' is secret weapon in 24-hour stores' war for customers
For many modern urban residents, the typical harbinger of winter is the smell of "oden" steaming on the convenience store counter. Traditional oden -- vegetables, fish dumplings and other types of food simmered slowly in a soup -- has not only become the top showcase ...
Demographic shift prompts toy makers to reach out to adults
Faced with an ever declining number of children, Japan's toy makers have started courting their parents, alluring them with frothy beer dispensers and matchbox luxury sedans. As the industry goes into high gear ahead of the all-important Christmas season, Takara Co. hopes to rise above ...
Steep costs seen stifling market for Internet ice boxes
Imagine the convenience of a microwave oven that can download 1,000 recipes and automatically set the optimal cooking temperature for each dish, or a refrigerator whose contents you check via your cell phone. These are just some of the benefits you can enjoy by going ...
Photo processors bet livelihoods on digital age
For photo shops, the increasing use of digital cameras among consumers means fewer people dropping off rolls of film to be developed and printed. But in a bid to snatch back patrons who have defected to digital cameras and home printing devices, processing shops are ...
New diet for sports club chains: yen supplements
Japan's major sports club chains have been flexing their muscle in recent years, expanding their businesses through aggressive mergers and acquisitions as well as by opening new outlets. Konami Sports Corp., by far the largest sports club chain with an 830,000-strong membership and 233 outlets ...
'Happoshu' price war seen taking toll on brewers
It was just a regular Friday, but lovers of beerlike beverages found an excuse for another round as the country's major breweries marked down their versions of "happoshu." In back-to-back moves June 21, four major breweries cut the price of their flagship low malt brews ...
Japan train stations no longer a sea of black hair
Although not as flashy as the red and golden heads of the Japanese squad in the World Cup, ordinary citizens are sporting brighter hair colors these days, boosting domestic sales of hair dyes. Riding the wave, dye manufacturers seek to cultivate the relatively untapped market ...
