Isetan Mitsukoshi opens 1st Philippine store to promote Japanese lifestyle

An Isetan Mitsukoshi official expressed hope that the mall will contribute to urban development, saying, "We want to propose a new lifestyle that merges Japanese and Filipino culture."

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Well,the obvious link between the countries is poverty.

The Philippines ascending out of it and Japan descending into it…

... the Japanese stores are losing money in Japan due to the fact that the Chinese are not here as much as they use to be so seeking overseas markets is a must.

When Japan was strong in its heydays of the bubble, Japanese corporations didn't use their wealth to outcompete American/European retailers in the hunt for profitable markets in the West. Japan couldn't compete against the likeliness of Walmart or Macy's, so it retreated back to Japan for a flat trend of profitability for decades.

Now, the Yen is weakened as Japan's economy has permanently declined. Japan is seeking profitability in the ASEAN states, where Japanese people used to despise and dehumanize. Of course, native retailers in ASEAN states are way more powerful than Japanese ones, so it's unlikely that Japanese retailers can stay for long.

The Philippines ascending out of it and Japan descending into it…

Wealthy Chinese and Southeast Asians are already buying Japanese assets. The competent Japanese workers have already emigrated to China in mass.

It's merely a matter of time before we will a massive trend of Japanese trainees or foreign workers in ASEAN. It will be ironic to witness it!

Looks like an interesting experiment, and according to some friends that know well the location this has a very good chance being successful, people with the means and the interest on the stores in the complex are apparently present, lets see how this is working a few years in the future.

I see this as just more misallocation of capital. Online is king, the writing is on the wall. In store is now reserved for luxury brands that offers look and feel and take orders. I would have thought Rakuten, Amazon, even your average mom n pop lifestyle side gigs, are enough evidence to convince retail conglomerates to look at a new model to make money.

The "100 Yen store" franchise would do better in the Philippines, and elsewhere at present rather than Isetan.