For decades Japan's prestigious department stores were not simply retailers but arbiters of culture, holding art exhibitions and setting the standards of worldly sophistication.
Now, however, consumers themselves have grown more sophisticated, provided with a wealth of information and new buying options via the Internet. As a result, they are increasingly comfortable setting their own style
Nowhere is this change more evident than in the ritzy Ginza section of Tokyo, whose ongoing transformation was dramatically illustrated in December by the closing of the Seibu department store in Yurakucho.