Yen for Living

We all know Japanese people prefer new stuff — new homes, new rice, new prime ministers every 12 months — which may explain why the used clothing business isn’t as big here as it is in other countries. According to the Asahi Shimbun, 50 percent of discarded used clothing in America is recycled, either commercially or as contributions, and the portion in South Korea is 80 percent. In Japan, it’s only 20 percent, meaning that the rest is simply trashed. But that may change with the advent of a new model for used clothing stores.

Don Don’s website

Don Don Up Co. Ltd., headquarted in Morioka, Iwate Prefecture, opened its first used clothing store, called Don Don Down on Wednesday, in Hachinohe, Aomori Prefecture, eight years ago. The company now commands a chain of 60 outlets nationwide, with more to come. Don Don, an onomatopoeic word expressing a process of steady progression, came up with an ingenious pricing system that not only saves the company overhead and personnel costs, but draws customers on a weekly basis by turning shopping into a “game,” as its promotional literature puts it.

All the merchandise is affixed with price tags, but the tags don’t display yen amounts. Instead they have pictures of fruits and vegetables, 10 in all. The pictures represent prices, which range from a high of ¥5,250 (i.e., ¥5,000 for the item plus 5 percent consumption tax) to a low of ¥105. These prices are listed on charts alongside their corresponding symbols and posted throughout the store. The price tag on a particular item never changes as long as it remains in the store.

The charts are changed weekly. For instance, this week, perhaps, all the strawberry items cost ¥5,250, but next week, all the remaining strawberry items will be priced at ¥4,200. Each week, the line of a particular fruit or vegetable goes down one pricing rank until it reaches ¥105. The following week all the items previously priced at ¥105 are removed from stock and exported to Southeast Asia in bulk, which means no item stays in the store for more than ten weeks. The weekly price changes take effect on Wednesdays, thus explaining the name of the store. Not surprisingly, that’s the day they do their biggest business.

This system adds a touch of drama to the shopping experience. If a customer likes a particular item she can buy it right away or take a chance and wait til the following week when it’s cheaper, but then she risks the possibility that someone else will buy it. The president of the company told Asahi, “I want our customers to enjoy shopping as if playing a game. I wanted to change the image of the used clothing store, which tends to be dark.”

At first, the scheme was to try to replace the inventory as often as possible to keep people coming, but that meant changing price tags on a continuing basis to weed out unpopular items. It wasn’t until management hit on the fixed price tag system that they figured a way to not only streamline operations but make the process interesting for consumers.

As for procuring merchandise, Don Don’s method is similar to Book Off’s, Japan’s pioneer in used merchandise, which boasts 900 outlets. It bases the price it pays for a book on its condition and then places a seal on each volume that indicates how long is has been in the store. Every book that remains on the shelf for three months automatically gets reduced to ¥105.

When those don’t sell, they’re pulped. With the exception of some brand items, Don Don buys clothing from anyone by the kilogram: ¥500 for “very popular” items, ¥50 for “popular” items, and ¥10 for “useful” items. And they pay 50 percent more on Mondays and Thursdays. More significantly, they refuse very little that is wearable, since they can always sell it, again by the kilogram, to wholesalers in Southeast Asia. Just like produce.

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With the danshari fad peaking, the custom of New Years housecleaning (osoji) becomes more urgent, which could mean bigger piles of garbage at the curb and more calls to local government offices for “oversized refuse” (sodaigomi) pickups. It should also mean a higher than usual spike in business for independent haikibutsu shori (waste disposal) companies, and it seems the authorities are keeping an eye on the situation. According to the Mainichi Shimbun, over the past several months police in four prefectures have arrested representatives of 13 waste disposal companies for collecting refuse without the proper licenses.

Bring out your dead!

These companies are rackets. They slowly patrol residential areas in small pickup trucks equipped with loudspeaker systems, offering to cart away broken or unused household appliances. What often happens is that someone flags down the truck and says he has some things he wishes to dispose of. The driver picks up the items and places them in the back of the truck and then demands a fee that is much higher than the owner of the items expected; if, in fact, he expected to pay a fee at all. Sometimes, the recorded announcements vaguely imply that there is no charge, though they are careful not to actually use the word “muryo” (free). This practice is known as “sakizumi,” or “pre-loading,” meaning the removal fee is quoted after the item is put on the truck. According to police, the fee is sometimes as much as ¥30,000 or even ¥50,000 per item. Of course, the person could simply refuse to pay and remove the item from the back of the truck, but that might be very difficult if the item is a washing machine or some other heavy appliance. In any case, most of these victims are embarrassed and intimidated (the drivers are often described as being rough in appearance and manner) and just pay. The companies seem to purposely target older residents. (It should be pointed out that not all recycling companies that patrol neighborhoods in small trucks are rackets, but it should also be pointed out that few of them, despite what they say in their flyers, will take your stuff for free.)

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Some years ago certain enterprising margin-dwellers, for the most part homeless men, started rummaging through refuse bins at train stations for discarded magazines and comic books, and then sold them to equally enterprising persons who in turn resold them to commuters for less then the cover prices. Publishers eventually got hip to this practice and pressured the authorities to crack down on these pirates.

No, you can't (photo Mark Thompson)

The crackdown obviously closed one small window of income opportunity for homeless men, and recently the government of Tokyo’s Sumida Ward passed a law that may shut another one. On Oct. 1 a new regulation went into effect in the ward that makes it illegal for anyone except agents authorized to do so by the ward government to remove recyclables left at designated refuse locations. The ostensible reason for this law is to prevent removal companies that do not have contracts with Sumida Ward from taking recyclables such as cans, bottles and newspapers. However, groups that support the homeless have complained that the law effectively criminalizes an activity that many indigent inviduals rely on for their only income. It’s not uncommon, especially in areas near the Sumida River, to see homeless men pushing shopping carts loaded down with enormous collections of discarded aluminum cans, which they deliver to recycling centers for cash.

Most of the local governments that have passed such laws — 13 of Tokyo’s 23 wards have these regulations, as well as the cities of Saitama, Sapporo and Chiba, to mention only three — say they are not specifically targeting the homeless, but homeless support groups, some of whom have held rallies recently at prominent locations in Sumida Ward, including the area surrounding the Tokyo Sky Tree, have said that these regulations’ lack of specifics as to what consitutes an “unauthorized agent” opens the door for a crackdown on homeless can collecting, and, in turn, may further demonize the homeless in the eyes of the general population. The city of Kyoto, for instance, enforces a similar refuse law but plans to amend it with a clause that respects homeless people’s “independence.” The Sumida Ward rule sets a fine of up to ¥200,000 for violations.

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Awn recently rented the building across the street to cover expansion

Recycling unwanted household effects is a big business and will likely become even bigger in the future. In most cases you have to pay to have your stuff hauled away, even by those little trucks that drive slowly around residential neighborhoods calling for people to give them their used computers, stereos, what-have-you. These businesses say they’ll take your things for free, but once you bring the item all the way to their truck they usually have some kind of handling fee they forgot about.

There are places that will take your still usable refuse for free; though, of course, they’ll be more selective about it. One is Awn (pronounced “ah-oon”; it stands for Asian Workers Network), which is located in Higashi Nippori in eastern Tokyo. Awn started eight years ago as a “recycle shop” whose purpose had less to do with recycling or making money than with jobs.

The business is staffed by people, mostly older men, who are or used to be homeless. When Awn started it had five workers and now it has about 20. These men earn all their money through their work for the shop, which accepts donations of a wide range of items. Over the years Awn has expanded and moved several times. Many of the men who work there have earned enough money to get off the street, which is, in the end, the real aim of the enterprise.

In terms of donations, Awn is mainly interested in men’s clothing because it can also give clothing away to homeless men. Since their space is limited there are some items of clothing they don’t accept, like skirts and kimono. They do accept women’s apparel but only that which is considered “practical,” meaning sellable. They accept accessories like bags, hats, and even shoes, but no men’s suits. Also, no skiwear or white dress shirts.

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