Goodbye to the good life

First, read the text, and then answer the questions on the next page.

It seems the Japanese are no longer interested in luxury. Since 1996, Japanese sales of expensive brand-name products such as Prada handbags, Rolex watches and Armani clothes have fallen by a third. This is bad news for the industry; around 40 per cent of the world’s luxury products are bought in the land of the rising sun. “I don’t feel I need to buy a $500 bag because everyone else has one,” Natsuko Namba, a 30-year-old office worker, told The New York Times.

Unmarried working women such as Namba have been Japan’s biggest buyers of luxury products. They often live with their parents and have lots of money to spend on the latest fashions. However, because of Japan’s economic problems and ageing population, fewer people are now able or willing to buy expensive goods.

“Some brands are really having a difficult time,” says Mari Kaneko, marketing director for Bally in Japan. “They are just like elegant swans on the surface while actually they are paddling hard under the water.”