Reporting and analysis on retail, e-commerce, and consumer trends in Japan, updated continuously by our newsroom.
A 400-year-old department store in Nagoya has closed. Maruei Department Store, which opened as Juichiya kimono shop in 1615 and was renamed in 1943 when it merged with another retailer, was once the largest stores of its kind in Western Japan. It was hit by…
Uniqlo has been working hard on expanding its presence across Europe, and will arrive in Sweden and the Netherlands in fall 2018. The next new market for the casualwear label will be Denmark, where a new store is expected to open Strøget, one of Europe’s…
Japan’s Muji hotel & store has just opened in Beijing in a key location overlooking Tiananmen Square. The hotel’s first basement-level retail store sells travel essentials and everyday items, many of which feature in the guest room amenities. Designed as an…
Shareholders of Lotte’s Japanese holding company voted to retain imprisoned Lotte Group Chairman Shin Dong-bin as director, dashing his estranged older brother Shin Dong-joo’s hopes to take over the position. At the meeting held at Lotte Holdings’…
A Nielsen report shows Korean products have usurped the popularity of Japanese products among young Hong Kong consumers. The report traces the local market’s perception of Japanese and Korean trends to assess which is perceived as being more popular. It shows…
Japanese franchise Go! Go! Curry plans to open in Houston this August. The restaurant’s new Chinatown location will serve traditional Japanese curries under the operation of franchisee Daxin. Originally from Japan’s Kanazawa, the franchise first opened in the…
A Japanese Twitter user has sparked an online debate over video footage of a fully-automated Chinese restaurant. The coverage of the unnamed (and apparently unstaffed) venue in Chinese Shenzhen showed a diner choosing a noodle dish from a touch-screen menu,…
Foreign investors invested a total of over 20 billion USD in 1,366 new projects and 507 existing ones as well as in contributing capital and buying shares in domestic company in the reviewed period. With 5.06 billion USD, the Republic of Korea was Vietnam’s…
Uniqlo Philippines has set the opening date for what will be the Japanese brand’s largest store in Southeast Asia. The new store will open on October 5 in Glorietta 5 at Makati City, in Metro Manila. Uniqlo says the store will have a sales area of 4000sqm and…
The ICT ministers of South Korea, Japan and China have jointly agreed to collaborate on the standardization of 5G technology. Korean minister for science and ICT Yoo Young-min, Chinese minister for industry and information technology Miao Wei and Japanese…
Hong Kong jewellery retailer Tse Sui Luen (TSL) plans to open 100 stores in China over the next two years after solid growth in its existing store network. It currently has 380 stores on the mainland, including 193 self-operated stores and 187 franchised…
Japanese makeup brand ‘LB’, known as Japan’s No. 1 eyeliner brand, entered Korean Market. LB was launched in the health and beauty store ‘LOHB’s’ in March 2018 and became immediately popular among Koreans. LB is sold in 14 countries including Japan, Taiwan,…
Insurance Australia Group (IAG) said on Tuesday it will sell its Thai and Indonesian operations to Japanese insurer Tokio Marine Holdings or A$525 million ($390 million). The Japanese company’s unit, Tokio Marine & Nichido Fire Insurance, will buy IAG’s 98.6…
Most Southeast Asian stock markets declined on Tuesday, in line with broader Asia, as U.S. President Donald Trump threatened new tariffs on Chinese goods in an escalating trade war between the world’s top two economies. Trump warned on Monday that Washington…
Japanese eyewear retailer Jins has opened its first store in the Philippines. Located at SM Aura Premier in Taguig, the Jins Philippines store will offer up to 1000 styles of frames and match them with lenses within about 30 minutes. Jins has about 350 stores…
Costco Japan says it plans to launch an online store next year. The wholesale club-style retailer is still finalising plans for the site, in particular the exact launch date and the product range it will offer online. But it says it is committed to the…
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