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One Point Rich
19/SEP/2009 on air

We may not be able to buy as many things as in the time of robust economy, and that’s why we like to spend good money focusing on one point only now…

Aoki-san’s one point is Kimono, while Naoko-san’s is western tableware.
Team Ashiya opens one point rich party from time to time. The members work very hard to save money to buy something luxurious. Murakami-san is a member of team Ashiya who works as a dokumo to a fashion magazine and also owns her fashion brand. Her one-point to which she spends money is bag. She has been collecting bags since high school days.

Nowadays even our economy is not good, people tend to spend much money focusing on one point that they like, while they try to save by not spending for other things. In fact, in spite of weak economy today in Japan, things at high prices as followings were sold in 2009.
-26 million yen for a watch,
-190,000 yen for a set of skin care products,
-80,000 yen for a pair of jeans made of partial platinum strings,
-15,000 yen of a bottle of water.
Yucasee is a membership site that targets customers who care for one point rich. To be a member of the site, you must have assets over 100 million yen!

When income of family reaches over 20 million yen, they are considered the wealthy in Japan. Those people tend to spend 40,000 yen in average per a pair of shoes, 190,000 yen in average for a suit, and 970,000 yen in average for a watch. Watch is still considered to be a “one point rich” to the wealthy.

Gyaru-kei brands also started to target one-point-rich customers of over 20s working women. They call it “petit rich”. Elegance plus trends creates upgraded fashion image to the brand. Sales assistants must produce the right brand image at service and with their physical appearances.

It was about 3 years ago that sweets accessories from Q-pot became an instant hit in Harajuku. Then Q-pot expanded its market to jewelry and they even produced choco bar imaged eyeglasses. Q-pot has increased its branch stores inside and outside Japan. When they opened a branch store in Hong Kong, over 300 people including Japanese fan gathered at the opening. They plan to open 2 more stores in Hong Kong.

Ginza, Tokyo is one of the fashion brands districts in the world.
Motoyama-san is the one who first brought western fashion brands to Japan.
He started to negotiate with famous European brands in 1955, when he was completely ignored just because he was Japanese. They often asked him where Japan was located in a world map. 7 years later he met Gucci and exchanged pens when they signed to the contract. He’s kept the pen since then for over 40 years. “It’s important to know what looks good on you. That’s the basics of fashion.” according to him.

While many people like to spend money for materials, there are people who want to spend money to enhance their mental wealth. These women lean how to walk beautifully, table manners, how to makeup, and even how to smile to the camera at a manner school. The owner of this school learned international table manners and etc. in Swiss. She checks if Mr. Ikki and Beni-chan’s manners are OK. She says when we have a toast, we should not make a sound from contacting wine glasses. We should not hold the wine glass with both hands, unlike when we drink green tea. She says, “I just want to tell you that good manners will allow you to have leeway in your mind.”

Kirin’s opinion:
If I pick out one-point to which I spend money, that’ll be travelling. I don’t want to stop travelling!
I’m not interested in high fashion brands at all! I don’t have Chanel, Gucci, Louis Vuitton, Hermes, or anything very popular among most of Japanese girls.
I wish I had a chance to learn basic manners before I turn to be adult.
I don’t know walking manners, table manners in depth, how to wear Kimono, and etc.
What is your one-point if you are to choose it?

***There are archives of episodes listed under the page titled “Tokyo Kawaii TV” that is just located under the title banner of this blog.