“Japan’s domestic apparel industry is on the decline. It shrank 1.3 percent, to 4.37 trillion yen ($48 billion), in 2008, and is expected to post a steeper decline for 2009…In 2008, Japan’s clothing and apparel-related exports came to a mere $416 million, dwarfed by the $3.68 billion exported by American apparel companies, and a tiny fraction of China’s $113 billion.”


Source: In that business model, there is little financial gain for Japan.
Paris, Milan, Tokyo. Tokyo?
By HIROKO TABUCHI
January 2, 2010
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/01/02/business/global/02cool.html?ref=asia&pagewanted=print