Rent-a-Bag and the Meaning of "Trend" - 0 views
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look at common misdiagnoses of "trends" — especially in Japan.
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A lot of Japan-oriented trend blogs seem to push "cool" products as "trends" without any evidence that consumers agree
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This essay is not to say that there isn’t noteworthy reporting on innovations, novelties, and borrowable ideas from the Japanese market, but there is always an error of over-reporting these as "mass trends." If we return to the initial problem in analyzing the "rent-a-luxury-bag" phenomenon, the best course may be to err on the side of skeptical neutrality. Reporting on new products and services is great fun for blog posts, but overselling novelty as "trend" can create a false sense of market realities.