JAPAN RETAIL NEWS - Inside consuming Japan: Japan retail, Japan market, Japan economy, Japan trends, Japanese people, Japan brands, Japan tech
 
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As the retailing landscape in Japan becomes increasingly competitive, U.S. clothing retailer Gap Inc. is gearing up to launch its long-awaited e-commerce site there and plans to bring its lower-priced Old Navy chain to the market, according to a company executive. The moves come as the U.S. apparel giant ramps up its presence in Asia, its next frontier for growth.
 
 
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Method Man might have helped make gold fronts famous, but it looks like Japanese schoolgirls could be the driving force behind a new era of fashionable accessories for your teeth. Instead of gold, however, these "fronts" contain bright multicolored glowing LED lights. The new fashion accessories were originally created as an experiment by two Japanese designers and are now being used in a commercial advertising a winter sale at a Japanese clothing store, Laforet Harajuku.
 
 
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More male consumers this winter are buying clothes and food that help them stay warm. While women in general are considered more vulnerable to cold weather, many men have become less tolerant, pundits say, leading to increased sales of such items as "haramaki," or belly warmers, and food products that use ginger and chili pepper.
 
 
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Something is happening to Japan's young men. Compared with the generation that came before, they are less optimistic, less ambitious and less willing to take risks. They are less likely to own a car, want a car, or drive fast if they get a car. They are less likely to pursue sex on the first date - or the third. They are, in general, less likely to spend money. They are more likely to spend money on cosmetics.
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Summer in Japan is hot and humid. Newspapers wilt. Mold flourishes. Even non-electrically heated toilet seats feel pre-warmed. Subways set the air conditioning to arctic or just blast the fans to stir the muggy air around. The Japanese government’s Cool Biz initiative launched in the summer of 2005 by then-Prime Minister Koizumi encourages workers to cope by taking off their ties and ditching their jackets.
 
 
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Recent years have seen a big boom in cell-phone shopping sites that cater to time-poor women by allowing them to purchase fashionable items while on the go. If you’re a woman with a full-time job in Japan, chances are, you don’t have much time to go shopping and once you get home, you’re often too tired to browse the web, so shopping with your cell phone really makes sense.
 
 
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Once upon a time in America, men traded their felt winter hats for boaters on National Straw Hat Day every May and thus marked the unofficial start of summer. This year, in the coldest April in recent Tokyo history, the boaters are a season early, and it’s the women who are wearing them.
 
 
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Undeterred by the ongoing economic gloom and increasing competition in Japan's clothing sector, two foreign-owned chains are expanding their presence here by opening their first stores in western Japan this weekend.
 
 
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When it comes to men and fashion, well up to about two decades ago, most men would wear anything given to them. But the 2000s brought along a stronger consciousness for men, no matter what age, about what t wear. It is more important today to look good. Today, comfort is important, but more important is fashion and style.
 
 
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Toyota Prius
Most business magazines try to look forward while Nikkei Trendy, one of the most popular monthly business magazines in Japan, just released their backwards-looking top 30 products of 2009. The selection is based on 4 major categories, sales, ingenuity, market-creation and influence, and is a good barometer for some of the major trends seen in Japan throughout the year. See the illustrated top 10 below.