From: nibber@nevada.edu (KEIKO SHIMMYO)
Subject: Re: Japanese markets -- (Re: Info wanted on Akihabara (Tokyo))
Keywords: dumping, gimmicks, middle ages,
Organization: University of Nevada System Computing Services
Date: Wed, 22 Jul 1992 00:38:39 GMT

In article <1992Jul21.175710.1455@physics.ucla.edu> aoki@physics.ucla.edu (ken aoki) writes:
>In article <OKAZAKI.92Jul21072932@HPP.Stanford.EDU> okazaki@HPP.Stanford.EDU (Shin'ichiro Okazaki) writes:
>>In article <1992Jul14.175213.9734@lsil.com> mitch@lsil.com (Mitch Sako) writes:
>>
>> > From all of my experience and everything that I've read, you will be very
>> > hard-pressed to find any bargains in Japan on electronics.  The principal
>> > reason for this is that Japanese electronics is dumped overseas.  Although
>> > you are in Canada, I think you can find better bargains in the US than you
>> > can in Japan.
>>
>>I have seen a lot of issues about dumping of Japanese products.  I cannot
>>help saying a word.  I don't think they are dumped now.
>
>Thanks for the nice article; I was going to raise
>the same two points, but with a little different emphases, as follows:
>(I do think that the Japanese co.'s are making profit over exporting
>the products, too.)
>
>>
>>1.Please note that most Japanese prefer to electronics products which
>>have many functions rather than simple ones.  When I came to US I found
>
>an example about TV's delted. 
>
>I agree that most Japanese models sold in Japan have more features.
>I disagree in that it is not the Japanese public who want 
>more gimmicks for a higher price, but it is the big companies
>who say that it is so and try to sell more gimmicks by
>making the stripped down "export" versions hard to obtain in Japan.
>(to rake in more profit, of course.)
>Do you seriously believe that all the Japanese housewives
>are happy to pay hundreds of more dollars to have 'fuzzy logic'
>in their washing machines and their vacuum cleaners?
>I don't think so.
>But then again, I might be too out of touch.
>
>>
>>2.Suggested retail price and actual price
>>I know the flow system of the products (sorry, I did not recall the
>>appropriate English words) is one of the problems in Japan.  Since several
>>wholesale may deal with products until the products are sold in stores
>
>some detail deleted.
>
>Archaic distribution system, I think, indeed is responsible
>for ripping off the Japanese consumers. 
>Regulation keeps the distribution system from changing drastically
>--- even though it is changing slowly. As usual, the Japanese beauraucrats
>are planning on a glacial change to avoid people
>getting unemployed, etc, I believe.
>One comment though; I am not so sure that the deregulation
>is always a good thing, when I look at the airlines in the US
>or the supermarkets in LA. The choice seems to be getting less
>with each day.
>
Things could have changed (It was about 15 years ago and the 
exchange rate was quite different.), but I remember a friend 
of mine who bought a nice stereo system and brought it back to 
Japan.  He was a chuzai-in - a young executive sent from headquarter 
in Tokyo - and he could have gotten a huge employee discount since he 
worked for the company related to the manufacturer that made the 
stereo, had he bought it in Japan.  However, it was a lot cheaper in US.
Kay
nibber@nevada.edu