GTrusted

Faced with a couple decades of stagnation in the Japanese economy, Japan's retailers could no longer depend on Japanese consumers to grow.  In order to survive, Japanese retailers looked around and saw that consumers in other countries in Asia were becoming wealthier and enjoyed visiting Japan for its rich culture, historical sites, and artistic cuisine.

Japanese products also have an extremely high reputation for product quality and creativity, making them very desirable by visitors from China, Korea, Taiwan, and Thailand.  If fact, you can often hear Chinese, Korean, and Thai language advertising being announced at the retail stores to attract customers.  Even Japanese airlines such as JAL promote electronics retailer discounts and promotions on flights to Japan.

In most of the electronics stores, there are a lot of reminders that foreigners can avoid paying the local consumption tax.  Make sure you bring your passport when shopping in Japan!

You also don't have to worry about credit cards.  Retail stores take most major credit cards from around the world including Union Pay which is popular in China.  The is very unlike the experience tourists get when trying to buy products in China.

Here are some examples of what you can expect to see at places like Bic Camera, a large electronics retail store in Japan.  These pictures were taken in their Shin Yokohama store which is convenient since the Shinkansen bullet train stops here.

There are a ton of smartphone and fitness tracker products from both popular brands like Fitbit and Jawbone's Up but also local players like Epson and the Sony Smartband 2 which are harder to find outside of Japan.

       

There is also a broad range of 4K cameras and TV's being promoted.  TV brands like Toshiba which is harder to find outside of Japan.

  

There are misleading products like being 4K Mastered Blu-ray disks. Since Blu-Ray players right now only supports 1080p, this is misleading to consumers that someone buying these disks will somehow magically get them 4K resolutions.

There is also a high resolution audio area where you can check out the latest Hi-Res Audio players like the Sony Walkman A Series.

Even Chinese brands like Huawei is flexing their muscle in Japan with phones like the Huawei P8.

Given the large number of tourists that come to purchase products, it's not surprising to see Bic Camera selling suitcases and even Japanese spirits that tourists can take back with them.

Shopping for tourists in Japan has been made easy and straightforward.  With a weak Yen, Japanese retailers should see even more shoppers from other countries reach its shores ready to open their wallets and purses.