| Japan's Zen-Like Consumer Steady-state economy & Japan's reluctant consumers |
| Japan's Seasonal Factors Seasonal income flow & impact on consumer spending |
| Arbitrage & Consumers Law of "One Price" in consumer product markets |
| Japan Viewed from the Outside "Gai-jin," outsiders, views of Japan uncover new insights |
| Mobile phone usage habits -- Japan, China, U.S. JMR study finds culturally influenced patterns |
| Richard May -- interview on iTV Video clip -- marketing research trends in Japan now |
| Software-as-a-Service SaaS changes how you acquire software |
| 1. Japan's Non-consuming Consumers |
| 2. Economic Weather Chart of 47 Prefectures |
| 3. JMR on Economics of Marketing |
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Title: Chart 1, Japan Consumer Index, 2003 - 2008 |
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Title: Chart 2, Monthly trend by store type |
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Title: Chart 3, Yearly changes in consumption by store type Yearly changes in spending for the past 3 years shown annual declines in apparel sales at chain stores, fast food sales overall (but see the later charts here for burger and rice-bowl specialty shop data which fared better) and family restaurant sales. |
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Title: Chart 4, Spending vs. disposable income trend Annual declines of greater than 5 percentage points dominant the chart (shown in pink). The spikes in disposal income shown June and December are the norm for Japan due to the bonus system which pays out extra months of salary in those months. |
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Title: Chart 5, Ten largest consumption categories For the 12-month period ending Nov., 2008, overall consumption was up 1.8% YoY. Due to increase energy prices, rather than usage increase, the transportation area shows an increase. Families apparently cut back on education and other miscellaneous expenses when faced with the tougher economic situation. |
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Title: Chart 6, Consumption - Best and Worst 5 Spending on dining out and entertainment showed modest gains in the year to Nov. 2008, while miscellaneous household allowances and education payments were cut to balance home budgets. |
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Title: Chart 7, Fast food chain monthly sales trends The chart shows month sales trend for the past 3 years. The spending on dining out parallels the bonus and holiday seasons in Japan. |
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Title: Chart 8, Fast food sales by food type Blue zones mark periods of sales gains of 5% YoY. While total dining visitors were slightly lower in November 2008, the amount spent rose. |
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Title: Chart 9, Fast food chain store sales - new & existing stores Japan's largest fast food chains -- Mcdonald's, Moss Burger and Kentucky Fried Chicken -- all saw stronger demand beginning in October, 2008. |
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Title: Chart 10, Rice bowl type food chain sales The Japanese adaptation of the burger shop -- selling rice bowl topped with beef, shrimp and other food items -- maintained steady sales throughout last year with the Yoshinoya chain outperformed peers Sukiya and Matsuya in the latter part of the year. |
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Title: Chart 11, Leading fast food chain in Japan - new & existing store sales Overall hamburger based menus outsold the Japanese rice-bowl competition chain shops. |
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