Critique of Fashion, Self, Postmodern Consumer Culture, Sex and the City

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City. While there are women that fit this description, they do not accurately represent the normal Japanese woman in many ways. This is very important for those who want to accurately understand Japanese females as consumers. If businesses believe that Japanese women share many characteristics of SATC, they could have a very wrong idea of Japanese female consumers.

However, there are trends that could suggest in the future that the characters have in SATC may become more representative of women in the future and the male and female spheres may eventually become ambiguous. Women are participating more in the workforce and seeing themselves rise as leaders of companies when compared to the past. Furthermore, Japanese women are having less kids than historically seen and there are many more women who are single than in previous years. These trends might suggest that in the future that the author’s argument that the male and female spheres may become ambiguous in the future.

Price Sensitivity

Although the author uses SATC to understand Japanese female consumers, she correctly says that most of the shows fans cannot afford the designer brands used in the show and instead they like to shop at stores like H&M. Fast fashion retail stores have become a huge industry in Japan and their core customers are women in their 20s and 30s. These stores allow Japanese women to dress in fashionable clothing like those in SATC at an affordable price. SATC and other similar shows show high end fashion which women see in the media and then fast fashion retailers can create similar clothing to sell to Japanese women. The author pointing this out can help people identify the styles, and price sensitivity women have in Japan.

Blending of Public and Private Spaces

In addition to the author saying that the female and male spheres have become ambiguous, the author also says that the dichotomy between public and private spaces and production and consumption is dissolving. There are trends that show that this is true in some ways in Japan. Although the author brings up this point she does not discuss its consequences. However, a consequence of this can be seen today in Japan. In recent years, there is growing trends in share houses and other shared living spaces. This may become even more true in the future as the number of single and childless women grow. The author could have discussed these points more as they can be important to understand how women consumption is changing and could change in the future.

Conclusion

In conclusion, the author of this chapter gave several arguments throughout her paper to discuss Japanese female consumers, but some of her basic assumptions are incorrect. However, she did touch on some topics shortly that could be helpful to identify Japanese female consumers. As a whole, the author focused on women’s need to use fashion as a tool to help their self-esteem and help build their identity. I believe that this is true and that women can and should use fashion as a tool in this way, but the author could have given more specific insights into other areas of the female Japanese consumer.

Work Cited

Kameda, Masaaki. "Only 7.4 Percent of Japanese Companies Have Female Leader." The Japan Times. The Japan Times, 12 Aug. 2014. Web. 02 Feb. 2017.

Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communication. "Statistical Handbook of Japan 2016." Statistics Bureau Home Page/Statistical Handbook of Japan 2016. Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communication, 4 Apr. 2016. Web. 02 Feb. 2017.