Since time immemorial company’s interaction with its customers plays a vital role in co-creation of values and shared lifestyle. Similarly, for Japanese department stores passing through the declining stage of the life cycle, strategy based on maintaining relationships is important for renovating their business models. This study examines the importance of “Retail Brand Community” for Japanese department stores, considering from the perspective of Brand community and Social Identity Theory.

This study considers the process of regional Re-Birth against the depopulation of Teshima, located in the Seto Inland Sea (Tonosho-town, Shodo-district, Kagawa Prefecture). The island was the subject of a scandal with largest illegal industrial waste since the 1970s. Now, the industrial waste issue on the island is mainly removed the ART SETOUCHI, art festival, attracted 150,000 visitors in 2016, and is held once every three years. The study focuses on the effects of ART SETOUCHI (Contemporary art festival) and the regional characteristics (especially focusing on local foods). Based on these two key characteristics, the structure model of Re-Birth aimed CSV, that is, balancing economic value and social value by Value Co-Creation among various actors centered on Local residents and New residents. In this study, Value Co-Creation defines value recognition by Local residents and New residents, based on the concept of value co-creation (4C's approach) by Muramatsu (2015) , S-D-Logic by Vargo and Lush (2004) and S-Logic by Grönroos (2006). This study explores not only the structure model of Re-Birth, but also how to adapt the model even in such harsh environmental areas, like Fukushima, suffering with depopulation, aging, and reputational damage. We see that, Regional Re-Birth means, the story that Local residents and New residents aim to establish the self-government system to have initiatives against the negative state refined as polluted land. At such time, independent, self-reliance, and self-consideration are important factors as condition of Value Co-Creation.

According to this tendency, Japanese fashion consumption was characterized as conventional and normative. From a historical point of view, the norms on which the Japanese based their fashion choices were mainly imported from American and European countries or the fashions of movie stars and fashion magazines. However, lifestyles and fashion consumption in Japan has increasingly become diversified and personality-driven, leading Japanese consumers to enjoy fashion based on their individual lifestyles. This has resulted in individuals considering various clothing norms and keeping away from fashion magazines depicting the latest fashion trends in Japan. This currently poses a serious threat to the fashion business, as magazines are the main marketing tools in this industry. Therefore, in addition to a rise in Internet media and decreasing incomes, the sales of many fashion magazines, with the exception of a few, continue to drop. However, some magazines have managed to increase their sales circulation slightly. Through interviews with directors of fashion magazines, I found that the key to increasing sales is focusing on non-celebrity endorsers. Existing studies (mainly advertising studies) declined that celebrity endorsers (e.g., actors, models, and spokespersons) lead to consumption (e.g., Atkin & Block, 1983; Baker & Churechill, 1977; Callcott & Phillips, 1996; Debevec & Kernan, 1984; Friedman & Friedman, 1979, Kahle & Homer, 1985; Langmetyer & Walker, 1991; McCracken, 1989; Pornpitakapan, 2003). This study observes the importance of non-celebrity effects on fashion consumption. I conducted internet research on the declining relationship between fashion consumption and non-celebrity effects. In addition, I compared celebrity and non-celebrity effects for readers of fashion magazines (n=613). As a result of ANOVA (comparing readers committing to foreign celebrity, foreign non-celebrity, national celebrity, and national non-celebrity), significant differences were confirmed in all items of consumer’s evaluation of endorsers

Consumption of Japanese fashion goods has become increasingly polarized, with greater demand for fast-fashion products. Despite the increasing polarization of fashion in Japan, there is little to no research exploring consumers and their preferences in this new environment. In addition, few studies have inspected how consumer decision making in the new fashion environment has contributed to this polarization. To redress this gap in the literature, I examine the factors that have contributed to the polarization of fashion consumption trends in Japan. Specifically, I focus on the jeans market, which is characterized by substantial price polarization. Through our analyses, I identify which factors drive the purchasing of jeans. These factors include involvement, purchasing intention, the consumer’s satisfaction with his/her own figure, and the overall purchasing experience.

Of late, the diversification and the individualization of fashion have resulted in the decline in the readership of fashion magazines in Japan. One reason for this trend is the transformation in clothing norms. This study explores the relationship between clothing consciousness and clothing norms among Japanese people.

Most Japanese Researchers and Business Practitioners recognize that Japanese department stores are in a period of decline. In spite of this decline, department stores in Japan still represent a six trillion yen market. Although department stores comprise a significant sector of the Japanese economy, there remain few studies dedicated to research on department stores. In contrast to the extant research, the current study relates to consumer behavior as it relates to the decline in department store sales. This focus is poorly represented in the literature. Specifically, the current study addresses two key problems. First, there exists a lack of discussion related to the category under which department stores can be classified. Second (and as alluded to above), there is a lack of unified research on department stores in the fields of commercial science, business administration, and marketing. To redress these shortcomings, the current study seeks to elucidate the factor of internal and external competitive superiority about the business category of Japanese department store. First, however, it is necessary to verify whether consumers recognize differences between department stores and other retail categories. Further, it is necessary to explain the nature of that difference. Using a sample of 246 Japanese respondents with internet research, I explore the degree to which consumers recognize department stores and Shopping Centers. Respondents were generated using service provided by Macromill.inc. The sample for this study consisted of internet users from randomly selected in Hyogo, Osaka, and Kyoto prefectures, in which the competition between department stores and Shopping Centers is keenest. And, this study adhere fundamentally to the scales of store images developed by Sakai (2012). The scales consisted of 28 items were measured on 7-point Likert-type opinion statements ranging from strongly agree (7) to strongly degree (1). I then performed t-test and a confirmatory factor analysis on participants’ responses. Results of this analysis served to identify differences in participants’ recognition of department stores and Shopping Centers. Result of t-test analysis demonstrated that 18 of 24 items are significantly different between them. Results of the factor analysis further demonstrated that department stores are characterized by Reliability of goods and services and Popular. Shopping Centers are also characterized by Reliability of goods and services and Popular, but are also perceived to have Convenient locations or institutions.