Foreign Sampling : Shoppers-- Japan’s New Defense Line

It was a pleasantly warm day for a family shopping spree last Sunday, the only day in the week that most Japanese get off.

Many of the broad avenues in the main downtown shopping area called the Ginza--literally “the golden way”--were closed to traffic, as usual, for the afternoon. Couples, many with small children, strolled leisurely in mid-street and then joined what a Westerner would consider Christmas-type crowds in department stores.

It would have been frantic in the sometimes jammed aisles of the elegant Takashimaya department store--except that the children, closely watched by their parents, were well-behaved and sales people were everywhere. As one young clerk tended to her customer at a cosmetics counter, three others stood close by waiting to help.

Eager Buyers

For a nation under fire for dominating so many markets around the world with its exports, this army of shoppers is the latest line of defense.

Encouraged to become freer spenders by a government that used to preach thrift, undaunted even by a relative lack of that American necessity, the credit card, Japanese consumers give every indication of being ready to sop up more of the nation’s abundant goods right at home.

The government wants them to go further--not only to spend, but to go against the very nature of things in this insular land and buy goods made somewhere else.

Prime Minister Yasuhiro Nakasone, in a much publicized shopping visit of his own to Takashimaya, snapped up a French sports coat, an Italian necktie, a short Italian coat and a British dart board (for his grandson)--for a total of $284--as part of his campaign to persuade each Japanese to spend $100 on imports.

A Disciplined People

To a U.S. audience, it might have seemed a hollow gesture, particularly since he came away with nothing American. But in a disciplined society such as this one, where children don’t even whine in protest at spending hours in the stores, it could have a profound long-term impact.

“You must remember, for years we were expected to save, save, save and let exports build up to help our international payments problem,” observed Shunji Kato, who runs the Japanese Diners Club credit card system. That problem ended two decades ago, however.

“It’s taken a while to get used to having a permanent trade surplus,” he conceded.

It’s unrealistic to expect the government’s campaign to have much more than a psychological effect on the heated U.S.-Japanese trade controversy in the short run, although Takashimaya’s sales of goods from the United States have doubled since the push began. (The firm also sells its merchandise in the United States, through a popular New York subsidiary store of the same name.)

To examine the effort more closely, we paid our own visit to Takashimaya, accompanied by Elinor Lawrence, the wife of John Lawrence. We were armed with the government’s widely disseminated list of foreign articles Japanese citizens are being exhorted to purchase and with a healthy skepticism that we would find much foreign to buy.

After a full shopping day, we came away astounded at the selection, at the service and especially at the willingness of the local citizens, whose family incomes average about two-thirds of the typical American’s, to pay top prices--in cash. (We used American Express.)

Unlike in U.S. stores, where imports are often more than price competitive, imports here clearly mean luxury. Shopping for a sport shirt, we found a $160 number from Italy but settled for a $32 Japanese product.

U.S. whiskey, an item on the government’s suggested shopping list, is a leading seller among the store’s American goods. But a bottle of Jack Daniel’s goes for $34, thanks largely to government tariffs that more than double the price.

The government also recommended buying an imported whistling tea kettle, but $92 for the only one offered (Italian with a three-tone whistle) seemed a bit much.

Elinor selected a $12 Shiseido lipstick, eschewing the American brand Elizabeth Arden, which was $2 more here and at least $4 more than she pays at home. A Monet brooch cost $30, twice the price at home. The store has been selling U.S. jewelry for 10 years, although it’s not advertised at all, the clerk told us. Nonetheless, since the prime minister’s visit, sales have picked up smartly.

There were few California wines available among the huge selection of imports, and those that were offered were second-rate. The store said, however, that California wines are among the best-selling American products it handles.

Despairing of finding anything American we wanted, we finally stumbled across a display of fine-quality California dates and dried apricots and paid $6.90 a pound for some. We could help ease the state’s almond glut only by buying a Japanese cookie with some on top.

Not Up to Standard

Definitely not in evidence were lower-cost goods from places like Taiwan, South Korea and Hong Kong. The store doesn’t stock them, believing that they are not up to Japanese standards for high-quality merchandise. Cheaper goods are handled exclusively in Japan by supermarkets and discount stores, places that do not sell more expensive merchandise. Prestigious department stores like Takashimaya have no bargain basements.

Still, the service in the store is grand and price seems secondary. Smartly uniformed and white-gloved elevator operators recite each floor’s principal merchandise as they bear shoppers between floors, a largely lost practice in the United States. Doormen dressed as French gendarmes open taxicabs and cars used by arriving and departing customers.

Nowhere are there any clever devices to prevent shoplifting.

“If we treated our customers that way, they would be extremely offended,” a store official said later. “They would complain we were treating them like thieves.” Losses are so minor that the store doesn’t keep statistics.

In the stationery department, with its selection of Japanese and foreign pens, including Sheaffer from the United States, Elinor handed a clerk the Japanese fountain pen she bought here five years ago, pointing out that it no longer writes well. Without hesitation, the clerk brought out a small tool box, took the pen apart, cleaned and returned it in good order--and at no cost--inside 10 minutes.

In every department, the breadth of selection far surpassed the most massive of U.S. stores.

Most Items Located

At the end of a long afternoon, we had found most of the 20 items on the government’s recommended list. These included neckties--some from New York at prices 50% over those in New York, as well as cheese and chocolate, including Godiva at about half the Belgian price. There was also a U.S.-made oven thermometer at $4.25, compared to the $12 listed by the government.

The next day, store spokesman Kiyoshi Inagaki told us that 18% of the Takashimaya chain’s sales are imports, one-fourth of those American, just below France’s share. Wine, bourbon, fruit, beef, jewelry and golf clubs head the American list.

For all the activity in the store, however, Japan’s consumer economy is far less developed than its American counterpart. There is little incentive to borrow, and even Takashimaya has had its own credit card for barely six years. All credit card sales account for just 20% of the volume at its 18 stores.

Most Japanese cards extend credit only for the month, and consumers pay by having the sums they owe automatically deducted from their bank accounts. Credit cards that allow installment payments charge 27% interest, half again as much as many U.S. cards.

(That’s nothing. A personal loan from a finance company in Japan generally bears interest at a rate exceeding 70%. Most people pay cash even for automobiles).

Government campaign or no, that’s not going to change rapidly, but Takashimaya officials and other business leaders in this country insist that the effort to consume more from abroad is a serious one.