Americana of 1950s and 1960s Going for Big Bucks in Tokyo

It may not do wonders for solving the trade imbalance, but the Japanese have finally found U.S. products for which they are willing to pay big bucks--secondhand goods.

A U.S.-style thrift store in southern Tokyo called Panic Melon Studio Beverly Hills has three floors crammed with bits and pieces of postwar Americana that look as though they belong in a forgotten attic corner.

But in Japan, they sell for eye-popping prices.

A gallon 1957 Coca-Cola bottle sells for $285, a worn-out but working General Electric refrigerator from the 1960s for $1,880, a 1975 Mattel talking Pink Panther for $210.

An old-fashioned Hoover vacuum cleaner goes for $285, a faded, chipped dresser for $620 and a diner counter stool for $285. Even empty egg cartons are available at $3.60 each.

“This is an aesthetic of the passe, dirtiness and ruin,” Panic Melon supervisor Bonjour Watanabe says with a wave of his hand.

“We spend a lot of effort trying to present unfashionable American things as fashionable for the Japanese.”

There is indeed a fashion move toward ‘50s and ‘60s Americana, says Hiromi Egawa, an editor at a monthly magazine for young middle-class women.

“Jackie Kennedy is very popular now,” she says.

Watanabe, 33, says the store rakes in about $45,000 a month on sales and rental of goods that he and his staff collect from thrift stores, flea markets and individual collectors in Los Angeles.

A number of other stores in Tokyo also sell used American goods from stone-washed denim to bird-shaped decoys.

“Sometimes an American customer will wander into the store and pick up an item with an old American price tag of $3 still stuck on it,” Watanabe said. “When we tell them the actual price, say $210, the American usually gets very angry, and we almost get into a fight.”

Then Watanabe explains to the visitor that a sizable investment went into obtaining the wares because of air fare, lodging and gasoline in the United States, as well as shipment and duty costs.

“But most of the time the American won’t buy it,” Watanabe says with a smile.