ABSTRACT
From among the many cliches concerning the spectacular development of the Japanese economy, one says that even though Japan belongs to the group of highly industrialized countries Japanese people live and consume on a much lower level. Japanese consumption patterns have followed international trends, i.e. while per capita incomes grew, the share of expenditures on food, clothing and footwear, furniture and household equipment decreased, whereas money spent on various services like rent, fuel and power costs, transport and communication, medical care and health expenses increased. The relationship between the motorization process and the increasing popularity of dining out in Japan was first pointed out by Kikuo Yamaguchi, the director of the Life Behaviour Research Institute. As a result of Japanese consumers’ attachment to foreign products, imported goods are sold at usually much higher prices. Consumer movements normally get going when consumption reaches a level high enough to care about its qualitative as opposed to its quantitative aspects.
