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Think before throwing out junk from your home: It may be valuable

12 Comments
By Michael Hoffman
Photo: iStock/Marco_Piunti

Japan sits on buried treasure worth 4.3 trillion yen. Its name is Junk.

Think of the  nation as a six-mat room. It’s a tight squeeze but that’s the nature of microcosm. Living in the room is a certain “Tsutomu Kawasaki,” as Spa (Jan 24-31) pseudonymously calls him. Keeping him company is his collection. Of what? This, that, whatever: 7,000 CDs, 1,000 LPs and DVDs, numerous posters, countless manga – and guitars, at least two. A tight but convivial fit. Harmony reigns.

Kawasaki grows up, enters his prime, marries, moves away, has a child. The family residence is a 3LDK – three rooms plus combined living room-dining room-kitchen. That’s one room for the couple, one for the child, and one for the collection. The child gets older, life expands in other ways, the third room becomes necessary and the relics of vanished adolescence something of a nuisance. At least the wife and child think so. Kawasaki himself feels differently. Call it junk if you like, he says, but he’s attached to it, it’s part of him, trashing it would be like amputating a limb – an irrational but quite human feeling. Attachments irrational in terms of utility offer satisfactions that reason knows nothing of.

He is prevailed upon at last, and a new pastime emerges: flea marketing. What a discovery! You can actually sell this stuff.! Especially with the rise of online flea markets like Japan’s leading one, Mercari. They’ll buy anything, knowing they can sell anything. Prices vary – wildly. What determines value? Demand, obviously; but what determines demand? Age? Rarity? It's a mystery. Old fan magazines featuring 1970s singer-actresses like Momoe Yamaguchi and Junko Sakurada may fetch 5,000 yen each. Others do less well – 10 for 100 yen, say. If you happen to have – as Kawasaki does – an autographed copy of “Brian Wilson Presents Smile,” an LP written originally by Wilson for the Beach Boys in 1967, unreleased until 2004 – well then, that’s 10,000 yen in the bank. It all adds up. Spa doesn’t give us the figure but does mention, in addition to the odds and ends, 800,000 yen for a 1997 Martin guitar, purchased new in 1997 for 1.2 million yen. In short: though his salary is small, his bank balance is currently swollen beyond anything he’d thought possible.

Mercari’s estimate of what all the hoarded junk in Japan is ¥4.3 trillion.  It averages out to 345,000 yen per household. What lies buried in yours?

There’s nothing, it seems, however outwardly useless or unpicturesque, that somebody somewhere wouldn’t give money for: old records, old posters, old trading cards (Pokemon, baseball, hanafuda, kabafuda), old computer games, old computers, old clothes, “junk gadgets” – the list goes on. Trading is easier than ever, flea market smart phone apps paving the way. Antique smart phones are another popular item. More so are the pre-smart phone phones styled “Galapagos,” meaning uniquely Japanese in their features.

We see emerging here a clear division of the human race into two types: those who are excited by this kind of thing, and those who are not. The latter find the former hard to fathom. What’s the attraction? Sometimes it’s purely practical: buying cheap now what you figure you can sell dear later. The old gadgets can be dissected for parts, the records enjoyed as music. That anyone can understand. Clearly, though, there’s more to it than that. It all points back to a basic question: Why do we hoard in the first place? –  books we no longer read, games we no longer play, music we no longer listen to, clothes we wouldn’t dream of wearing again even if they did fit us, which more often than  not they don’t?

It’s all part of the world we build for ourselves over the years. Spa doesn’t say whether Kawasaki felt a pang of loss or regret as he unloaded his past on indifferent but paying customers, or whether he does now that he’s shed it – to march the more boldly into the future, it may be. We wish him luck.

© Japan Today

©2024 GPlusMedia Inc.

12 Comments
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I can appreciate the article's emphasis on keeping potential valuables, but in a nation that has a horrendous hoarding problem with trash overflowing houses, I'm not sure this is a good message...

https://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2023/01/23/national/social-issues/japan-hoarding/

4 ( +5 / -1 )

Many Japanese also buy quality goods that end up in a cupboard. Even expensive items like cameras. But finding the right shop to buy them without being ripped off is difficult. Last month we had a small clear-out and received the money needed for one month of living. We still have more to sort out.

6 ( +6 / -0 )

There is also junk like broken fans. Once a month we have a local collection for them. No point in keeping end-of-life items.

7 ( +7 / -0 )

There is also junk like broken fans. Once a month we have a local collection for them. No point keeping end-of-life items.

3 ( +3 / -0 )

ジョージToday  08:41 am JST

Del Boy would probably give me a pony for the lot.

Just think Rodders...this time next year we could all be millionaires. Only fools and horses.

-2 ( +1 / -3 )

Wallace, I have a couple of ancient Mitsubishi all-metal fines. They are much quieter than new ones made of plastic. A bit if oil now and then and they have a lot of life left in them.

Old stereo equipment from the 70s may not have an HDMI input or a remote control and may work only in stereo mode, but they sound great and are easy to use as you don't have to search through menus to adjust treble, bass and volume and they sound much better with two large speakers than a modern sound system does with half a dozen small speakers.

5 ( +5 / -0 )

gaijintraveller

Wallace, I have a couple of ancient Mitsubishi all-metal fines. They are much quieter than new ones made of plastic. A bit if oil now and then and they have a lot of life left in them.

Cool, like this one?

https://www.mitsubishicars.com/content/dam/mitsubishi-motors-us/images/siteimages/what-drives-us/history/1917-Model-A-d.jpg?width=720&auto=webp

3 ( +3 / -0 )

gaijintraveller

Old stereo equipment from the 70s may not have an HDMI input or a remote control and may work only in stereo mode, but they sound great and are easy to use as you don't have to search through menus to adjust treble, bass and volume and they sound much better with two large speakers than a modern sound system does with half a dozen small speakers.

But you don't need HDMI for audio which can be connected to many devices including PCs. Previously I had surround sound but when it died I went the way of sound bars, which I like.

Old valve amps are always very good for sound.

2 ( +2 / -0 )

Depending on what you are selling, you may get more on ebay, which has a more global audience. Plenty of Japanophiles cheerfully trawl for the stuff they collect and will pay serious cash. Problems with Japan Post? Use a courier. The buyer is paying for it. It's rare that a week goes by without me getting a parcel from Japan.

Japanese tech sells well internationally, as well as CDs, genre DVDs, magazines and photo books. Street/rail signs are also in demand. There is a good market for Japanese and Korean fashion, 'as new' and second hand.

In print mooks that you can buy today, new for £10 are commonly advertised at £30 on ebay. The Japanese Amazon is not as foreigner-friendly as other Amazons around the world and Japanese companies do not commonly support paypal or advertise in English. Chinese material is harder to get due to trade/payment blocks. Korean stuff is also more expensive. Korean CDs go off sale more quickly and Kdrama with English subtitles might not circulate until the OST has gone off sale - they then sell well. Retro goods sell well too - Showa era for Japan, 80s for Korea, following the success of 'Reply 1988'. Early Sony gear will always be collectible, but obscure brands will also do well.

The magazine is correct. When you sell stuff, you get cash and space, the latter having considerable value. Thinning down or disposing of a collection will allow you to bank some cash, although I would encourage folk to keep items of sentimental value.

Once you get a feel for the market and a customer base, you can develop your online sales as a 'side hustle', buying at real world flea markets or online.

3 ( +3 / -0 )

Oh my. Marie Kondo is going to have a fit if she sees this article O_O

2 ( +2 / -0 )

One man's junk is another man's treasure.

2 ( +2 / -0 )

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