The news in Japan is dominated by headlines of economic malaise and political incompetence. Spending money frivolously is definitely not in fashion. SAVVY SPENDING is in. As such, the other two key elements in The Hunting! concept are “young women empowering themselves” and, less high-minded, “tracking down those must-have items at TGC!”  Must-haves this season will feature masculine images such as armor to promote “strong women”, according to a press release.

The event is organized by mobile fashion site GIRLSWALKER.COM and, as in previous years, the clothes worn by models in the show will be available for purchase immediately via the site. TGC released data from its own research that says Japanese in their late teens and early 20s it surveyed currently spend almost 100 minutes a day using the mobile Internet, 10 minutes more than a year ago. About 65% shopped online using their mobiles over the last year.

New this season is TOKYO GIRLS PARADE, a website where users can pull a fashion slot machine to create Nintendo Mii-like avatars dressed in random fashion looks from Tokyo. (The website is currently avaialable only in Japanese.)

Here’s a clip from last season’s TGC:

For women, the only color worse on a man than pink is yellow

What color is it going to be today? More men are making colorful clothes choices at work and at play, but their choices may be misguided, according to the opposite sex.

Black remains the top-selling color for men across all categories, but colors previously seen as feminine, such as pink and violet, have gained popularity since 2004 as color becomes genderless, says the R25 freepaper.

For decades, men’s fashion in Japan changed little beyond some sort of combination of black, white and brown. In the 1960s, a decade characterized by national pride, the Olympics and an economic upturn, the preference was for the bold contrast of black and white. During the unease of the ’70s and the oil shock, a more muted brown was the go-to color. In the Bubbly ’80s, it was back to black and white. It wasn’t until the new millenium that men embraced color.

The color of the moment for men is… pink. A color long loved by women, pink is also the color of choice for guys. An R25 survey found men think women like them to wear pink. However, when women were asked what color they dislike on a man, pink came second, only just beaten out by yellow by the slimest of margins.

Colors men think women like them to wear: 1) pink 31.8%, 2) black 20.2%, 3) blue 18.6%, 4) gray 9.1%, 5) green 7%.

Colors women dislike men to wear: 1) yellow 31.3%, 2) pink 30.3%, 3) red 18.9%, 4) brown 7%, 5) green 6%.

Students at the ABC Cooking School in Marunouchi.

As we previously reported, the fact that men are behaving more like women makes them an increasingly attractive target for product developers and marketers, and some multinational corporations are responding accordingly. This shift is happening around the world, but especially in Japan, as well as South Korea and Greater China.

Here are some more examples of the shift in action in Japan, offering inspiration for other markets:

ABC Cooking Schools, with locations around Japan, is training an army of amateur chefs. Until two years ago, they only accepted female students. As the Baby Boomer generation began retiring, the competition began offering men-only classes for retirees. ABC took the step of starting co-ed classes at locations with a high density of corporate workers, such as Ginza and Marunouchi. The number of male students has quickly risen to around 600 at the schools.

Another service associated with women that has begun to patronized by men can be found at the 48 nail salons throughout Japan operated by Nail Quick. The number of male customers has risen to the level that the salons now offer a “men’s course” costing 2,940 JPY, and including disinfecting the hands, removing cuticles, and applying clear or colored polish.

One of more surprising hit products comes from underwear maker Wishroom, which has unveiled a men’s bra, which quickly became a top seller on the online shopping site Rakuten. The Wishroom store on the site claims the bra can give men a “calm, relaxed feeling”.

Click here for more insights on shifts in male behavior or ask for a sample report.

Your message here? (AP Photo via The Daily Beast)

Without wanting to minimize the seriousness of the health issues at hand, the reality is that people around the world are considering how to protect themselves. The prospect of having to wear a face mask if Swine Flu continues to spread may be no big deal in Japan and Asian countries that experienced SARS in 2003. However, for consumers elsewhere unused to such things, the face mask poses a serious fashion dilemma.

The result is the mask becoming a canvas for personal expression. Individuals in affected areas who want to be victims of neither health nor fashion have begun to get creative and decorate their masks, as this photo gallery from The Daily Beast shows.

Mint Designs' cheeky chimp face mask

Some manufacturers like Kimberly Clark already put out limited numbers of colorful masks decorated with Disney cartoon characters for children. Japanese brand Mint Designs has fashioned a cheeky monkey-style mask, and artist Yoriko Yoshida was recently inspired to create a set of beautiful, witty and sometimes faintly morbid face mask illustrations.

Mt. Fuji face mask by Yoriko Yoshida

What’s next? The face mask covers the most important area of the body for communication, and the natural target of the eyes of others. So if face masks do become de rigueur in some places for a while (and it’s far too early to say that they will), the blank white space will become a unique marketing opportunity for the right brand with the right design and the right message.

Contact us to find out more.

Time to reward yourself with that new 24-inch iMac?

Recession fatigue is starting to show in the United States, where consumers are rewarding themselves by “trading up” items that play an important role in their daily lives, according to Boston Consulting Group (reported by WWD). In fact, marketers interested in this trend need only look to Japan to see how an extended downturn can actually boost sales of high-quality daily necessities.

The top ten list of “trade-up” items for the U.S. is dominated by what most people would consider 21st Century home necessities. No. 1 is the personal computer, and household electronics like home entertainment (5), kitchen appliances (8) and washers and dryers (9) also feature. At No. 2 is fresh fruits and vegetables, reflecting wellness trends as well as the basic importance of food, with other entries being meat (4), sit-down restaurants (7) and fish and seafood (10). The other entries are bedding (3) and automobiles (6). With the exception of restaurants, the list clearly shows the items consumers will start spending on first will be things that improve their daily lives and personal space.

A prolongued period of low growth in Japan bred innovation in small-ticket items, as consumers recalibrated their spending patterns

The changes in spending by Japanese a decade ago reflected their different priorities, with more emphasis on fashion (which doesn’t make Boston’s U.S. Top 10) and personal computers (mobile phones were always more useful here). However, the shifts in demand were similarly focused on improving consumers’ daily lives and, in the process, contributed to world-leading innovation in everything from functional home electronics and B2C mobile commerce to beverage flavors and cigarette packaging.

Contact us for details of ethnographic research and innovation programs to help your business anticipate consumers’ changing priorities.

If imitation is any sign of success, Tokyo Girls Collection, the live fashion show-cum mobile commerce event created by Branding Inc., should be flattered.

A Japanese printing company, Toppan, has announced that it will diversify into fashion and launch a series of catwalk shows in Tokyo in September, according to WWD and Nikkei.

In a concept almost identical to TGC, Toppan will sell clothing and accessories worn by models in the shows via a mobile website. It will also sell magazines and DVDs related to the event. Toppan hopes to attract 10,000 girls in their teens and 20s paying at least ¥3,000 (US$30) for a ticket. It expects annual sales of ¥3 billion (US$30) by 2011, and plans to export the shows to other cities in Asia.

Branding Inc. (formerly Xavel) held the first TGC in 2005. Attendees can instantly buy clothes they see from an affiliated mobile website, fashionwalker.com. Versions of TGC took place in Beijing in 2007 and 2008. The most recent event was held in Tokyo in early March and featured brandsincluding Alba Rosa, BEAMS, Jill Stuart and Milkfed.

Following the trend started by Isetan Girl in Tokyo last autumn, department store operator Marui has remodeled it’s Shinjuku location to create “Marui Curren,” which opened on February 27.

Marui Curren features ten floors of fashion boutiques and interior shops targeting young women in their late teens-early twenties. In a move away from luxury designer brands, the focus is on cute and casual clothing that is stylish but also affordable. Uniqlo, which is rebranding itself as an affordable fashion line rather than a casual wear brand, has a large shop in the new store.

Zero Gravity is a shop selling fashionable, colorful men's underwear in Harajuku, Tokyo.

Jeans Mate is a discount retailer of jeans and other casual apparel, with 108 locations around Japan, included 36 which operate 24 hours a day. A typical Jeans Mate shop has a tight floor plan, with products overflowing to displays on the sidewalk.

A Jeans Mate location in Shinjuku, Tokyo.

Faced with falling sales in 2008, Jeans Mate took a step in a new direction, opening a new shop rebranded as “Zero Gravity” in the youth fashion center of Harajuku in central Tokyo. The small boutique offers colorful boxer shorts and briefs, retro rock T-shirts, and other casual items. Customers are men in their teens and 20s, as well as young women shopping for gifts for their boyfriends.

Meanwhile, discount retailer Uniqlo has sponsored Tokyo Girls Collection mobile-commerce fashion shows to up its cool quotient.

Cariru offers rental services for brand bags and other high-end items.

Amid the drop in spending on luxury fashion symbolized by Louis Vuitton cancelling its plans for another flagship store in Tokyo, the website Cariru.jp (which means “rent” in Japanese) provides an innovative solution for frugal consumers with a rental service for designer bags and other high-end fashion items. Users need to register at the site, and then can select a bag from a wide selection of designer brands. Their item of choice is then shipped to the user’s home. A weekly rental of a Gucci or Louis Vuitton bag starts at 6,000 yen (around $60). After the rental term, users can return the item, rent
it for a longer term, or choose to buy it.