Edwards Magazine
Edwards Magazine

 

kwA Canadian Living in Japan
Krista Wakelin

August 6th, 2006

In The Bag

Do you know who Louis Vuitton is? Where Coach bags are made? How much the Hermes Evelyn bag costs this year? Who are Dolce and Gabbanna?

Before I came to Japan, I didn’t know the answers to these questions. And I simply didn't care. I grew up in small town PEI, where the most expensive brand name was Guess, so you can just imagine my surprise when I got to Japan and saw that a lot of the women had a LV handbag. I was even more shocked to find out that they cost about $1000 for a average-sized handbag, with some bags priced at more than $10,000. In my eyes, they spend more on their handbags in Japan than they do on their cars.

The first year I was in Japan, I thought LV was ugly, but I soon started to like it, and on a trip to
Seoul, Korea, I purchased many LV goods, as well as ones by Chanel and Hermes. I can't honestly say when I went from hating to loving these brand-names, but now I confess: I’m obsessed. I stand out in Japan with my big frame and white skin, but one way I do fit in is with the designer labels—I know the names, the prices, the new lines, and the hot items for next season. A branded fever but has hit me and it has yet to ease up. When I see my students walk into class with a new Chanel bag that I don’t have, my heart sinks and I inwardly scream, I want it, damn it I WANT IT I WANT I WANT IT.

brand joyI often go window shopping in my prefecture, stopping in front of the Gucci, LV, Coach, Celine, and Tiffany and Co. boutiques and dreaming about what outfits I would wear with each bag. Every month, I buy Brand Joy and Brand Bazaar, Japanese magazines that feature new and second-hand brand handbags, clothes, and accessories from shops in Tokyo and Osaka. I have
been to Tokyo only twice, but I still check them to see what new brands I can (or more accurately can't) afford, and which I will have to buy second-hand. The fact that a country has popular magazines devoted solely to brand-names screams that this country, and not just me, has an obsession.

Since LV shops first opened in Japan in 1978, they have enjoyed great activity—Japan accounts for 34% of LV's worldwide income (The Sydney Morning Herald, Jan 22, 2005). According to my friends, LV is very popular in the south of Japan, where I live, while Gucci and Chanel are more popular in Tokyo and area.

I'm not exactly sure why Japanese people
are obsessed with brand names. Perhaps it
happened during the bubble economy when everyone seemed to have so much extra money floating around, or perhaps it has to do with high cost being equated with high quality (and the Japanese certainly like high quality). Or maybe it's because the Japanese have a love-hate relationship with their culture. They want to preserve their culture, but many people no longer know the traditions or take any interest in them. They travel to other countries more now than ever, learn more languages, wear western style clothes and make up, listen to western music, and, yes, they have brand name bags from other countries. Or perhaps, like me they just learned to like the feel of real leather with the CC of Chanel or the LV of Louis Vuitton, or the G print of Gucci. After all, shopping is a pastime in Japan. People work long hours, so on their days off they like to treat themselves to new things. Saturday and Sundays are very busy days for salespeople. 

Brand names represent more than just good quality; they represent class, and a
hierarchy within the society. Most Japanese women know the prices of all the LV purses; if you have a pappion purse, everyone knows you paid about $1100 for it, or if you have a LV wallet, you paid $600 for it. The fact that everyone knows the prices of various items feeds the fire. In Canada, many young women in their early 20s save their money for a spring break trip south to the Dominican Republic, as Canadian women start to get older and have more responsibilities, they start to save for a house downpayment or to pay off their student loans, but in
Japan, women seem to spend their money on handbags.

Paying over $1000 for a leather handbag may seem superficial, but there is something empowering about having your own money and leaving a boutique with a new bag. Many of these woman are buying these bags with their own money and no longer depend on their husbands for disposable income like the previous generations. More females in Japan are deciding to marry later (or not all), which leaves them with more disposable income. Do they buy a new car? A new house? No, they buy more brand names, and the brand industry is shifting to meet the shopping needs of women of all ages and marital status. Students, housewives, and the rich alike all carry LV on their arms.

How do young high-school girls who are unable to get a part-time job because of their school rules get a LV bag? Well, there are basically two ways. The first is from their parents because they want her to fit in and, if buying their daughters a $1500 LV bag achieves this goal, then they will
pay for it. The other way isn't so nice and is very disturbing to me. I have seen high-school girls, wearing their school uniforms, on the outskirts of the Red Light district hoping to find a man to pay them for certain favours. They are so desperate to fit in and buy designer bags that they will sell their own bodies and perform sexual acts to fit into society. Japan is a society in which sameness is vital to fitting in. 

I make a decent salary, but with paying rent and other bills, and also credit card and student loan bills, there isn't much left over to splurge on expensive brand-name handbags. So until I either become really rich, or am able to think up a scheme in which Chanel, LV, and Gucci give me free goods, I will stick to taking weekend trips to South Korea and buying some knockoffs—which, by
the way, aren't cheap either.

Other articles by Krista:

Krista welcomes comments and feedback from her readers. You can write her at krista@edwardsmagazine.ca

 

 

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