Japan household spending falls for third straight month in November
Japanese households cut spending for the third straight month in November as unseasonably warm weather reduced the need for heating and winter clothing. Spending by households with two or more people fell 0.6 percent in real terms from a year earlier to ¥281,041, according to ...
It pays to listen to the the real needs of women consumers in Japan
The country's male-dominated businesses are starting to ditch long-held views about what kinds of products women want as female consumers flex their growing spending muscle. While the result — more goods that emphasize the practical rather than the pretty — is the way it's long ...
Tokyo inflation holds steady, offering little cheer for Bank of Japan
Tokyo's core consumer price inflation was unchanged in October from the previous month, government data showed Friday, offering little encouragement for Japan's central bank as it struggles to reach its ambitious 2 percent inflation target. The data comes ahead of the Bank of Japan's rate ...
Popular Japanese cosmetic portal @cosme gaining foothold in Asia
The operator of the popular beauty and cosmetic products portal site @cosme is rapidly gaining a foothold in Asia thanks to brisk demand for high-quality Japanese cosmetic brands. The cosmetics retailer, Istyle Inc., opened its second brick-and-mortar @cosme store in Hong Kong earlier this month ...
Lagging inflation and indecisiveness could delay Bank of Japan's exit from easing
The Bank of Japan's preferred inflation gauge fell for the second straight month in April, dropping from 0.9 percent in the previous month to 0.7 percent, as consumer prices refuse to cooperate with the BOJ's 2 percent inflation target, according to government data released ...
Roughly 1 in 3 Indonesians in major cities has recently purchased products from Japanese brands such as Sony and Uniqlo, according to a Japan External Trade Organization survey. The survey, conducted via smartphone on 720 individuals in Jakarta, Surabaya and six other cities in Southeast ...
Cabinet OKs bill that would lower minimum age for consumer contracts to 18
The Cabinet on Friday approved a bill that would lower the minimum age required for individuals to enter into consumer contracts to 18 from 20, in line with the expected lowering of the age of adulthood in the Civil Code. The revised bill on consumer ...
Aeon Mall to open sprawling new facility at former Space World site in Kitakyushu as early as 2021
Shopping mall developer Aeon Mall Co. will open a commercial complex, by 2021 at the earliest, at a lot in Kitakyushu where amusement park Space World once stood, according to local government officials. The landowner, Nippon Steel & Sumitomo Metal Corp., and the unit of ...
Seven & I Holdings, the country's largest convenience store chain operator through subsidiary Seven-Eleven Japan Co. Ltd., will start selling onigiri (rice balls) and other prepared foods with labels carrying product names in both Japanese and English from the new year. Seven-Eleven Japan President Kazuki ...
The AirBnb of luxury luggage: Laxus lets users rent high-end handbags for a monthly fee
Japan has long been one of the world's most reliable markets for luxury brand Louis Vuitton, with only New York matching Tokyo in number of stores. But smartphone apps have caused an evolution in the industry, with many consumers increasingly inclined to borrow luxury items. ...
Osaka's ¥1 sales energize shoppers but not good for BOJ's inflation quest
Osaka is famed for it's cheap prices, with ¥1 supermarket sales, ¥10 drinks and discount train tickets sold right next to the station. That attracts thrifty consumers and tourists, but may be undercutting the central bank's efforts to generate sustained price rises. "If it's not ...
