Market Trends

In Japan, there is a big holiday week called Golden Week (GW) in early May. Since Japanese people can take a long vacation without having to take time off from work or school, with many people go out during this period. This causes traffic jams on the highways around the Tokyo area and crowds of people at tourist spots. This year, for the first time in two years, the restrictions on pandemic have been loosened, and many people may have been encouraged to go out. However, Japanese people tend to take vacations of two or three nights, which is very different from the style of foreigners who take longer vacations of 2 weeks or longer. In addition, Japanese people are very considerate of others, and it is customary to buy souvenirs for those who have taken care of them on a regular basis. Foreigners may find it hard to believe that they have to worry about souvenirs when they have come all the way here on vacation! Foreigners buy souvenirs for themselves, not for others, as a memento of their visit.

The transition from work-life to home-life is relaxing in many aspects but focusing on work has become harder than ever. Unlike in our work environments, there are many distractions ranging from being able to access our phones to having to work in the same place as your spouse, children or flatmates.