Matt Zeitlin: Impetuous Young Whippersnapper

Whenever I see large groups of Japanese tourists – in Hawaii, San Francisco Airport, Squaw Valley – they’re always universally decked out in branded luxury goods – Louis Vuitton Bags, Burberry shirts, scarves, pants, sunglasses with Nova Check everywhere. The kids, the parents, everyone. While an obvious explanation would be that those Japanese taking group tours to tropical islands and ski resorts are clearly the upper crust of Japanese society and thus would obviously be more likely to wear expensive clothing, comparably wealthy Americans very rarely so conspicuously adorn themselves in designer schwag. Were my continual observations of traveling, wealthy Japanese then just confirmation bias, prejudices, or stereotypes? No! According to Tyler Cowen, Japanese buy one half of the world’s luxury goods.

Analysts estimate that 20 percent of all luxury goods are sold in Japan and another 30 percent to Japanese traveling abroad — meaning Japanese buy half of all luxury goods. Today, approximately 40 percent of all Japanese own a Vuitton product