Reporting and analysis on retail, e-commerce, and consumer trends in Japan, updated continuously by our newsroom.
Hublot Japan has opened a shop in Kyoto’s Gion district, its third directly run outlet. The Swiss luxury watchmaker has a store in Tokyo’s Ginza district and another in Osaka. The latest location is in Kyoto’s second Daimaru department store, which has just…
Established in Tokyo in 1993, street-fashion brand A Bathing Ape has launched a global online store. Also known as Bape, the brand is known for its graphics, patterns and characters such as “Ape Head”, “Bape Camo”, “Bape Sta”, “Shark Hoodie” and “Baby Milo”.…
Canadian winter-clothing brand Canada Goose, which listed last year, has already opened a store in Japan with plans also for a flagship. Its maiden store is for men only, opened in Tokyo’s Hankyu Department Store in Yurakucho, Chiyoda-ku, last week. The…
This week, founder/designer Ronnie Fieg opened the doors to Tokyo’s very first Kith Treats located in the world-famous shopping district of Shibuya. Fieg teased the newest location on Instagram earlier this month by sharing a sketch of the shop’s exterior…
Japan will make the medals for the 2020 Olympic Games using recycled consumer electronic devices such as cellphones and home appliances. “Japan is undertaking an interesting project,” Nakagawa Masaharu, Japan’s environment minister, said during an…
Belstaff Japan has opened its fifth store, in Hankyu Men’s Tokyo, 18 months after the British fashion brand’s arrival in the nation. As well as the men’s AW 17 collection, the new outlet features a limited-edition leather jacket, and from next month will…
Department-store sales in Japan fell 1.4 per cent last month on a same-store basis because of weak clothing and food sales, reports the Japan Department Stores Association. Sales at 229 stores run by 80 companies totalled ¥547 billion (US$5 billion), says the…
Japan’s Beard Papa’s chain of cream-puff shops is expanding with a target of 150 outlets before year’s end in Asia beyond its home market. Run by Muginoho Holdings, the brand is known for adding fillings to its freshly baked choux pastries in front of…
Hansa Heavy Lift has transported six rubber tyred gantry (RTG) cranes, each weighing 135 metric tonnes and measuring 28.9 by 11.3 by 26.6 m, from Japan to Turkey. All units were loaded onto the vessel HHL Kobe at the port of Saiki in southern Japan, with two…
Economy expansion was driven by robust domestic demand and capital spending. Japan’s economy grew 1.0 percent in the April-June period, notching up its sixth straight quarter of growth and its longest economic expansion in over a decade, government data…
Usually, the handwritten message of the day at Starbucks cafes are light-hearted, but to mark the anniversary of Japan’s surrender that ended World War II, a Nagasaki Starbucks outlet decided to take a more serious tone. Nagasaki was one of two Japanese…
In a redesign, housewares company Muji Japan has added groceries and even a miniature house to its global flagship store in Tokyo. It draws its inspiration from the core necessities of survival: food, shelter, clothing and food, reports Curbed.com. “Among the…
Japanese lifestyle brand Miniso Philippines has opened two more outlets in Manila, with four to follow soon. Its first store in the Philippines, at Robinsons Place Manila, opened in June, with the latest stores in SM City San Lazaro and SM City Manila. Miniso…
SoftBank has just announced its biggest investment in India: a whopping US$2.5 billion in Indian ecommerce company Flipkart. With this latest funding round, Flipkart boasts of over US$4 billion in cash on its balance sheet and SoftBank has become its largest…
Japan’s SoftBank is developing a new Twin Access mobile network service for enterprises using equipment from NEC. The Twin Access service provides two simultaneous mobile network connections to maintain a state of constant, active connectivity between NEC…
Motorcycle sales volume grew in India and Vietnam. Japanese vehicle maker Honda on Tuesday said net profit for the second quarter rose by double digits boosted by strong motorcycle sales, revising up its full-year forecast. The Tokyo-based company said “solid…
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