- Apparently low/middle class consumers in Japan would put themselves into debt to buy luxury brands like Gucci. I'm not sure if this is meant general debt like we see in the US with credit cards, or if it mean specific financing for those items. (I met a guy in Central America that was making payments on a jean jacket.)
- If I read correctly, the lower income pressure is making things that are marginally cheaper, like fake beer, actually take off. I would assume this is because of the generally high cost of products in Japan? Whereas in other countries, even with lower income, you don't resort to fake beer... maybe I misunderstood though.
- As of the article's time, the Internet doesn't have any really influential outlets in Japan, and print media dominates for legitimacy and doesn't put much content online. I know myself and other folks that don't read any print media, so it seems odd that the Internet didn't penetrate quickly in Japan.
- The squeeze on the markets means fringe groups now "dominate". That is, "normal" folks cut back on their consumption, but fringe groups are defined by such consumption. So the normal purchasing is gone, leaving just the fringe, leading to groups like AKB48 being #1, when in reality they have niche appeal.
It closes pointing out that this fringe popularity taking over means Japan's cultural exports are growing weaker, and like technology, might be disrupted by Korea. Since the article was written, I think SNSD has grown in popularity, and Gangnam Style certainly brought K-pop into the highlight.
It'll be interesting to see if Korea can successfully export other cultural stuff that Japan has done well with, like video games and anime. (From my brief and irrelevant exposure, it seems Korea is very insular and does not do well exporting culture, although the kpop thing might be changing that. For example, all Korean sites seem to require you to login with your Korean national ID.)