Tag - shopping

 
 

SHOPPING

Japan Times
BUSINESS
Mar 20, 2015
Chinese flee H.K. to shop in Japan and South Korea
Chinese tourists are rapidly deserting Hong Kong, leaving retailers who built businesses around once insatiable demand from mainland neighbors with bigger but emptier stores and squeezing the whole city’s visitor-dependent economy.
Japan Times
BUSINESS / Economy
Mar 4, 2015
Chinese desire for fancy toilet seats spurs 1,400% rally in Laox shares
Thousand-dollar rice cookers and toilet seats that know when you enter the room.
JAPAN
Feb 18, 2015
Discount chain Don Quijote to accept payment in foreign currencies
The service represents the retailer’s latest attempt to cater to foreign tourists, which it says are becoming an increasingly important part of its customer base.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Jan 6, 2015
Staying up all night to get lucky (bags)
New Year’s in Japan means fukubukuro (literally, ‘lucky bags’). In a tradition kickstarted by the Matsuya Department Store almost 100 years ago, retail outlets offer mystery grab bags to the shoppers who are willing to buy blindly in hopes of scoring a bargain.
COMMUNITY / Voices / OVERHEARD
Dec 27, 2014
Pack mentality
Good morning! That’s a massive backpack. Are you going hiking?
WORLD
Dec 18, 2014
Cuba detente a smokin’ deal? Close, but no cigar
American cigar smokers anxiously flicked their lacquered lighters this morning when news broke that President Barack Obama would be easing the decades-old restrictions on Cuban travel and goods. Since 1962, Cuba’s legendary cigars have been banned from the shelves of American tobacconists and many travelers...
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Issues / THE FOREIGN ELEMENT
Dec 1, 2014
What to buy, where to go: 40 steps to maximum merriment this Christmas in Japan
From meeting Pikachu in Fukushima to a laughter ritual in Osaka, here are dozens of ways to make sure you make the most of the festive season.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Nov 19, 2014
Tokyo department stores to target foreign tourists with lucky bags this New Year
Are you feeling lucky?
JAPAN
Oct 8, 2014
Mobile truck stores filling void in shrinking suburbs
As the population shrinks in Tokyo’s outskirts and stores close down, some businesses are spotting a niche for mobile stores operating from the back of delivery trucks.
Japan Times
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
Oct 5, 2014
Hit to Hong Kong’s economy spurs opposition to Occupy Central protests
A week into Hong Kong demonstrations notable for their order and endurance, protesters came under an attack highlighting the fault lines of a city torn between commercial interests and a desire for greater democracy.
BUSINESS / Companies
Sep 18, 2014
Line says shopping app to eclipse sales of stickers, games
Line Corp., operator of the nation’s largest mobile messaging service, says its shopping mall application could become its biggest source of revenue, eclipsing sales from games and character stickers.
Japan Times
WORLD
Sep 4, 2014
Scottish independence would mean harsh consequences for U.K., economist says
A Scottish vote for independence from the United Kingdom this month could have serious consequences for the Scottish and U.K. economies, Goldman Sachs said in a research note on Wednesday.
Japan Times
WORLD
Aug 7, 2014
Synthetics strike fear in the heart of world diamond industry
Diamonds are a girl’s best friend — but only if they are natural.
COMMUNITY / Voices / OVERHEARD
Jun 7, 2014
Shop till we drop
Woman 1: Is your mother well?
Japan Times
WORLD / Crime & Legal
May 4, 2014
Food labs fight organized crime
At first glance the sprawling campus amid glorious countryside looks an unlikely base from which to wage war against Italy’s most feared crime organization, the ‘ndrangheta.
Japan Times
LIFE / Lifestyle
Apr 4, 2014
Baby facilities take the tantrums out of shopping
“Toddler” and “shopping” are two words that are likely to instill instant fear into the heart of all but the most unflappable of parents.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / TELLING LIVES
Feb 14, 2014
Storied family-run toy shop ‘sells dreams’ to Tokyo tourists
‘Continuing a small toy shop for five generations is a kind of miracle,” says Masaki Terao, 58, proprietor and purse-string holder at Toys Terao, which his family has been running on Nakamise-dori in front of Asakusa’s Sensoji Temple for nearly 130 years.
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / WHEN EAST MARRIES WEST
Feb 14, 2014
Time to nip this growing plastic tumor in the bud
I find myself swamped with cards. And not just the e-money variety. Member cards, discount cards, hospital registration cards — my wallet has so many damned cards, it’s like a plastic tumor bulging from my back pocket.
Japan Times
BUSINESS
Dec 29, 2013
Britain’s charity shops go after the label-conscious but risk alienating the bargain-seekers
In the U.K., charity wardrobe chic is pushing prices up and putting charity shops out of the reach of poorer people, a reversal of the original goal of the stores.
COMMUNITY / Voices / COMMUNITY CHEST
Dec 27, 2013
From charity to chocolate, the best ways to blow ¥500
The Japan Times asked readers to email or tweet their suggestions of the best ways to use a single ¥500 coin, for a chance to win edible prizes. Here are some of the entries.

Longform

The Terasaka Rice Terraces are seen with Mount Buko in the background.
What Yokoze can teach Japan about rural revival