Reporting and analysis on retail, e-commerce, and consumer trends in Japan, updated continuously by our newsroom.
Maki-san (“Mr/Ms Roll”), a Singaporean fast-food makizushi (rolled sushi) chain with 17 locations in its home country, is set to debut in Japan with an outlet in Osaka’s Shinsaibashi district in July. Maki-san has its own special take on the Japanese…
A two-hour delivery service for smartphone orders is about to be launched by 7-Eleven Japan, the country’s biggest convenience-store chain. “Net Konbini” (using the commonly shortened form of “convenience store” in Japanese) plans to cover 7-Eleven’s entire…
The country’s largest private low-cost carrier, the Lion Air Group, has opened a new charter route from the East Java capital of Surabaya to Haikou, the capital of the Chinese island province of Hainan. Flying once a week, the fleet’s Boeing 737-900 ER…
Japan’s NTT Docomo, parent company NTT and vendor NEC have jointly achieved the first 5G transmission between a 28-GHz base station and a 5G mobile station in a car moving at 305km/hr. The trial also achieved a 1.1Gbps high-speed data transmission to a 5G…
Japan Foods Holding’s fourth-quarter net profit rose 67.8 per cent to S$938,000 (US$699,000) amid better sales from its Menya Musashi ramen restaurants and new brands. For the full year to the end of March, net profit grew 24 per cent to $5.8 million while…
TUMI, purveyors of premium luggage and travel, business and lifestyle essentials, has opened its third London boutique Calling all fans of luxury travel, TUMI has opened a new boutique in London’s Covent Garden. Visit the store to browse the range of high-end…
KDDI is branching out into the emerging world of extended reality (XR) – which includes virtual reality, augmented reality and mixed reality – by forging partnership with US-based Osterhout Design Group (ODG) to jointly plan and develop XR-based smartglasses…
Shiseido Travel Retail has opened a new travel retail counter for its IPSA skincare range at King Power International Group’s Rangnam Complex in downtown Bangkok. This is Shiseido’s first such installation for IPSA outside of Japan, and comes just four months…
A co-branded Fatburger Buffalo’s Express is opening its first Tokyo location tomorrow. Located at the Magnet by Shibuya109 building in Shibuya Crossing, the US fast-food brands’ outlet will feature all-American fare from Buffalo’s Express and Fatburger, as…
Japanese brand Sofina Beaute has arrived in Singapore as part of its rollout in Asean countries. Under the wing of cosmetics group Kao Corporation, the brand’s offshore expansion has already included Taiwan, Hong Kong and Mainland China. Its Singapore…
Harbour City is home to the first international flagship of a Kyoto-founded tea brand that has set its eyes on international expansion. Uji-En is a Japanese green-tea brand with a history dating back nearly 150 years. It decided in the late 1990s to expand…
Japan’s NTT Docomo and Nokia are performing joint 5G technology trials using extremely high frequency 90-GHz millimeter wave (mmWave) spectrum. At the Brooklyn 5G Summit in New York this week, the companies are demonstrating the use of a Nokia Bell…
South Korean cosmetics and household goods maker LG Household & Healthcare says an affiliate will buy a Japanese cosmetics firm for ¥10.5 billion (US$97.6 million). Ginza Stefany Inc, based in Japan, will take a 100 per cent stake of Avon Products, founded in…
Japan’s SoftBank has revealed plans to stop providing personal handphone services (PHS) for general users from mid-2020. SoftBank stopped accepting new contracts for individual PHS services in March and will phase out existing services for general users from…
Japanese personal care company Shiseido has started buying up tech companies as a gambit to cater to a younger generation of buyers. Shiseido last year sold ¥1 trillion (US$9.3 billion) worth of beauty products last year, mostly in traditional stores.…
In a world-first concept, every aspect of the store is modular from the digital façade and displays to the decor. It offers customers immersion in the brand universe with its omni-channel buying experience. A highlight are the iTags, the brand’s connected…
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