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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
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2010 Hits Japanese Products

2010 Hits Japanese Products - test me
 -- consumers' say these products were the most  useful in 2010 in their everyday life

Despite still being in the midst of a slow-down in overall consumption in Japan, the second half of 2010 saw a slight improvement in the outlook for consumption.  This was aided by small but steadying month-on-month increases in  incomes.  (Japanese government data for income documents the progress -- income is the blue line in the chart )  To see if consumers' attitudes had changed due to this, JMR asked over 1,000 Japanese consumers about there efforts to economize on daily spending.  We conducted the surveys in the last month of 2009 and asked the same questions again toward the end of 2010 (Nov.) -- in effect asking consumers if they had stuck to 2009 year-end resolutions for 2010 to curb spending.

Ten percent decline in commitment to a tight home budget
The two pie graphs below indicate that by November 2010, the Japanese consumer had indeed softened her stance against spending and she was  less interested in taking economizing efforts in  spending.



Top 10 products that caught consumers attention.
At the end of 2010 JMR asked the same group of consumers what products they considered the best in 2010. From over 1,000 responses, there were 690 valid responses in which respondents supplied 10 items or more.  For their top selections consumer commonly sited the reason that the product was useful in their daily "real" lives.



The top item was spicy sesame oil for cooking and salads ("raayu" in Japanese).   The number 7 entry "home bakery Gopan" is for a kitchen counter top device, resembling a rice-cooker,  that uses rice to produce bakery fresh, fluffy loaves of rice bread.  Entry 8 is for a platoon of girls forming a pop music group featuring "Shibu-Hara" type girls that currently holds the teen and lower 20's youth segment  in thrall.       
Yoshiko Ooba / RM    12.2010