When I went to Japan I noticed that a lot of Japanese women were walking around with Chanel, Dior and even Hermès bags. I wonder if salaries there are mostly very high?
https://www.reddit.com/r/japan/comments/18bkb5a/how_do_japanese_women_manage_to_almost_all_have/
44 comments
I don’t think that’s a good indicator of how rich you are. Also, they may have papakatsus spoiling them 🙂
There’s a stronger cultural desire to have a nice bag.
Salaries are not high. Actually pretty low.
Japanese tend to be savers. Many women will want to save up. Also, it’s more common in university to live at home and tuition is not that expensive, kids tend to work baito for fun money and they can afford some things like this. It doesn’t mean they all have multiple luxury bags, the one you see them with is likely the one they have
Also not uncommon to get a nice bag from the parents as a graduation gift etc.
Using credit cards for credit and paying interest is less common than the US but they obviously exits and people use them. Also stores sometimes offer interest free monthly payments spread out over a few months
Also people are going to get mad at this but all those adult looking establishments you see all over the place? They’re not all necessarily sex, many are hostess clubs and kyabakura where they just basically pour drinks and pretend to like you. A lot of those girls are working there to afford stuff like brand goods and the money can be very good.
No kids = “nice” things.
Some have money, some love fashion and make it a priority, some have fakes, some have gifts, some have second hand stuff.
I absolutely love shopping second hand in Japan, you can pick up so many unwanted gifts or well looked after things as the culture is to give a lot of gifts and to look after what you own. I always look for bags, wallets and sunglasses when I’m over there.
I’m sure I’ve bought a few unwanted gifts to hostesses over the years. 😂
Not everyone’s bag is real 😉 nobody is going around authenticating everyones bags.
I am always a bit curious seeing new European luxury sedans outside of homes in Nerima or wherever whose exteriors haven’t looked like they’ve been touched since 1950. A few? Sure. But I see it enough to question in my head.
If you live with your parents, you can spend 10 man/month on hobbies/fashion.
Some people spend them on Jonneys/K-pop idols, some spend on mobile games, some spend them luxury fashion.
Were you in a big city? Where I lived in the countryside was not like that
It’s considered an essential accessory, unlike in small towns in America where everyone drives. When you are out walking in the street to go everywhere and don’t keep half your life in your car, you show up to dinners and parties and movies with your good bag because everyone will see it.
My friend sells and buys second-hand. Not just bags but also shoes
If you’re single/uni students u get a lot of money from doing part time and paid internships. Its enough to buy you a Celine bag while still saving some money on the side. Also, as most asian cultures, they like saving up money (thats why the interest rate for deposit in japanese banks are low).
Men.
And second hand stores
Lot of women with fake bags the world over
There was a new hire out of college at my company back in the 2000s who immediately bought an expensive sports car on loan because she still lived at home and her salary was going to be slightly larger than the loan payments. She then proceeded to complain about never having any money for the next several years. But she never got behind on the loan payments.
Point being that sometimes even relatively poor people in Japan can figure out a way to be able to afford to blow their salary on high ticket items that they believe are important for whatever reason.
In another example, when a rural couple gets married, part of the expected deal is that the new husband immediately takes out a loan to buy his wife a large expensive family size car to fill with their future children. Getting a used beater they can actually afford until the kids actually come is not considered an option. The only option is to immediately take on massive debt.
So it’s all about priorities, not necessarily income.
“Almost all” 🤣 GFTO
There’s a very big second hand culture
A cheaper Hermes bag can be like ¥200000, that’s expensive but well within the “graduation/significant life event gift” or “biannual splurge purchase” range. Knockoffs and secondhand bags are more like a quarter/half of that price and would be pretty affordable for most people. Having a few luxury fashion items isn’t really ridiculous when you consider how much women already spend on their appearance.
Japanese women love luxury bags, but compared to the past, Japanese people have become less affluent, resulting in a decrease in those carrying high-end bags. When I was a university student, almost everyone had a Louis Vuitton bag. During my student days, working part-time at Isetan, a department store in Shinjuku, I often saw men buying multiple Louis Vuitton bags for young women. According to LVMH data for 2022, the proportion of fashion leather goods in sales in the United States is 37%, while in Japan, it is 62%, the highest in the world. It’s undeniable that Japanese people still love luxury bags.
There are ‘rental’ style shops online. Same with clothes. Pay a subscription fee and you get to ‘rent’ clothes, bags, whatever you want for a certain period.
I come from another Asian country where people are also big on brands, but I noticed the Japanese do it differently. They don’t actually ‘own’ them, or at least don’t plan to forever.
One of the biggest things I’ve noticed is salarymen using Tumi backpacks. They’re apparently very popular in Japan. But none of them have the tag engraving done. It’s not a paid service (iirc), meaning they likely are keeping it blank so they can later sell it off 2nd hand (or they bought it 2nd hand). In my home country, every Tumi bag I saw was engraved straight from purchase, so it was clear it was ‘theirs’.
I thought the same when I was in India. A lot of people had the latest iphone or samsungs. It wasn’t cheaper either.
They use their bonuses for these purchases.
Probably heavily depends on what area you were in. Like in Ginza, Marunouchi etc you’d see a lot of luxury bags but not in say Shimokita. It’s partly a fashion / work culture thing.
Cheap trip to Seoul to get high-quality fakes, “完璧な偽物”
>How do Japanese women manage to almost all have luxury bags?
They don’t.
The ones that do typically live in or around large cities and often buy them used from second-hand stores or online auctions.
パパ活
Papakatsu
They’re not that expensive. Frivolous maybe, but easy enough for even a student to save up for one.
As many people have said, people save their money in different ways for different things here. Salaries are actually lower than many developed western countries.
I don’t know where you’re from, but college, medical expenses, and child rearing aren’t as expensive here compared to the US. Many people live with their parents until they marry, so they could have a full time job but never pay rent, groceries, student loans, etc etc. In big cities people don’t use cars so much so aren’t spending/saving for those.
I was also surprised by how “affluent” my Japanese friends were when I first came, but then slowly started to learn what their lifestyle was like and understood.
Two of my best friends are able to buy designer clothes, makeup, merch, etc and go on trips abroad every year but make the same or a little less than me. They both live at home and never cook, don’t have cars (borrow parents’ if they need it), and are single. I also feel like it’s really common for Japanese parents to pay their kids tuition their whole schooling. (Yeah, it’s hard not to feel a little jealous when I’m pinching pennies just go to back to see my family every two years but I chose to come here and have this life, shrug.)
Also, big thing to consider is where you were when you visited. It seems like you were a tourist, and I’m going to guess you spent most of your time in big cities. I’ve noticed city people tend to have the really expensive clothes and nice stuff. Appearance is very important to Japanese culture, and like anywhere it’s amplified in big cities. If you go to the sticks you’ll see sloppier looking people in sweatpants and crocs out and about.
Also, all the people in this thread saying “sugar daddies” (パパ活) or that men are otherwise buying those bags are making gross generalizations about women. Sure, there are college girls and some older who engage in that kind of thing. It’s definitely not most though. I’m a woman and went to college here and lived here on and off since I was 19, I’ve only known one female acquaintance who had a sugar daddy. She was a flight attendant and that was common in her line of work. All my other friends who have nice stuff buy it themselves, lol. I wonder where these people in this thread meet women or if they only interact with gaijin hunters who see us as rich lmao.
Not only women, grass eating men here also sport the brand name wallets and paraphernalia
If Tokyo, average salaries are above national average. Most of these bags are a couple thousand, so it’s not completely out of reach if you work at a decent company.
Then alot of men gift these bags to their girlfriends/wives.
Also, there is a huge second hand market, so you can buy yourself a used older model for much less than retail price.
Last thing to consider is that most people around Tokyo don’t need a car, so that is one major expense that they don’t have to consider.
Huh?
There is a semi-pressure to have one as a woman in Japan. Save up to pay the 150,000-300,000 for the bag and own 1. Just 1. Use it daily or on special days ~ what you may be seeing is that person’s single expensive bag. Most aren’t having closets full.
A lot of good answers. I remember my hair dresser saying she went to Korea to shop for fake goods. So, there could be that too.
I have one LV bag from my husband. I love it and it stays in great condition. Most women save or get one as a gift and that’s often the only one they have. Doesn’t mean they’re rich, they just save and spend their money on different things like how Americans will drop a lot on a tanning salon or something.
I mean this is something that’s somewhat common across most Asian countries. Realistically I would say it’s a mix of marketing and social pressure.
These brands are usually viewed as far more luxurious and exotic in Asia in comparison to the west. Its probably viewed more like owning your own piece of Italy or France.
On the other side these brands are often owned by famous people and elites without the need for a brand deals.
Then you got social pressure as people in both your close and extended social circles will likely own these items. However the pressure to purchase often falls on husbands / boyfriends, because usually they will get it as a gift.
It’s sort of a double flex you get to show off a nice bag but also brag about your partner.
In fact some women will actually buy nice bags and then claim that it was a gift to pull off this double flex.
In Japan they’d rather have a few nice things than a lot of average things. They love saving as well so they probably save up and buy a bag.
I’m a Japanese woman but I’m not interested in luxuary brand bags😂😂
メルカリ。分割払い。中古屋さん。誰かとシェア。パパに買ってもらう。etc.
The sky is the limit yall.
Some women accept fancy bags for certain services.
All Japanese women = Japanese women in Daikanyama
When you say “I went to Japan” you mean “I stayed in Tokyo”, yeah?
Don’t forget about fake stuff. Not everyone you see with one is legit. Also, a lot of people just have bad priorities financially. Mfs struggling to pay they rent but they gonna have that Louis bag lmao
They don’t almost all have luxury bags
As someone who has several brand bags, Japanese female friends and a Japanese mother-in-law with a bag collection:
1. It’s just seen as more normal here to own one or two or ten brand bags. So it’s not that much of a big deal to buy one and since so many have one you’re not going to seem like you’re showing off.
2. My MIL used to skimp on lunch and other things, so she could afford bags. It was simply a priority for her.
3. Bags and other brand items are often given as presents for others *or yourself*. I have gotten myself a Celine bag for a promotion, my friend has gotten herself a Chanel one after a real stressful two months at work, and my husband and I have gifted my MIL an LV wallet for her 60th birthday and an LV scarf to thank her for taking care of our son so much.
4. Second hand shops. There is so much very well-cared for high brand in the second hand market here and for most brands (excluding Hermes and LV) the prices drop quite a bit.