You know what? It's all true and I have seen it. I have the good fortune to live and work in the Shibuya/Roppongi area of Tokyo, which is nothing if not the home of understated, but nevertheless quite visible, consumption.
I have been to the Ritz-Carlton bar on the 45th floor of the Midtown complex, and I've seen the "Diamonds are Forever" martini on the menu. I have personally been to a department store show, where a salesman offered me a $140,000 dollar diamond Piaget watch for a mere $100,000 and was all ready to put on my credit card (it was a beautiful watch!). I don't know about the Bentleys, but Maybach cars of over $750,000 a pop graced the parking area where I used to live, and more than one!
As for the less affluent? Well they are certainly not hurting. This part of Tokyo is home to perhaps the best-dressed, best-groomed, best-mannered populace on the face of the planet. As I've said before comparing Japan to China, this place has cash. Japan has over 1.5 million people with liquid assets of more than $1 million. That's over $1.5 trillion dollars cash in the hands of Japan's elite. That's more than all of China (including Taiwan and Hong Kong). And that's part of the over $12 trillion in investable assets held by all Japanese households, half of which is cash sitting in low-interest time deposits (and by low I mean less than 1% per year).
For some people, money really is no object. Furthermore, I don't envy them one bit. I hope to be one of them some day soon! Not sure that I'll spend my money exactly the ways listed in the Reuters artcile, but I'm sure I'll think of something!
And is there a lesson here for the US? The story of the Grasshopper and the Ant comes to mind. . .guess which one is Japan and which is the US!
