Comments on: Japanese Women | From Luxury to Yuru-Nachu

By: farah butt

farah butt — Mon, 01 Mar 2010 09:59:13 +0000

I have a seen ur work its realy appreciated.its very beneficial for me.its full of filled with information.

By: W. David Marx

W. David Marx — Fri, 01 Aug 2008 02:31:51 +0000

One additional point: Japan’s economy is not doing noticeably worse than anywhere else. And yet, most of the luxury brands are only seeing revenue declines in Japan. This suggests to me that we could be looking at a big change in attitudes towards luxury purchases rather than customers just being bound by economic constraints.

By: Anjo

Anjo — Thu, 31 Jul 2008 23:28:13 +0000

Wow, very interesting. Thanks for that explanation.

By: W. David Marx

W. David Marx — Wed, 30 Jul 2008 01:41:33 +0000

While there are very strong cultural factors that explain why trend adoption is so “orderly” in Japan, another big difference is in the structure of the market. Magazines in Japan take it upon themselves to explain and sell the industry’s trends to readers without any semblance of critical independence. So you get this very clean, pointed message going from the industry to magazines (”Tartan check,” for example), which then explain that message in the language and style in each individual consumer segment. (The main fashion magazines are also around 40% advertorial.) Then readers use these magazines as bibles, perfectly copying those styles without too much personal tweaking. Last autumn, color tights showed up everywhere, on everybody, right on cue. This spring it was yuru-nachu. This fall expect to see “Folklore” lambswool vests or tartan check. South Korea and Japan have similar societies putting pressure on “properly following social rules,” but South Korea has always been much more class stratified than Japan, meaning that only the small sliver at the top could buy luxury. Japan has always been a luxury giant because of the middle class participation in buying Western import goods.

By: Anjo

Anjo — Tue, 29 Jul 2008 22:40:51 +0000

It’s interesting that the Japanese market can be described as moving with such cohesion- from O-nee-kei to Yuru Nachu, seemingly en masse. I don’t mean to make some cliche argument that Japanese consumers “just want to fit in”, but I think it’s interesting that you can describe these transitions as being so definite. South Korea has a similar kind of conformist consumer culture, and though it isn’t so large as Japan I wonder why we don’t hear more about Western luxury businesses pursuing that market.