A73 Certainly many young Japanese are sensitive to fashion trends and their street fashion attracts the attention of European and U.S. designers. However, since these young people are more inter-ested in international brands than local ones, shops with European and U.S. brands at department stores and shopping malls generally attract the most customers and lead buying trends. The apparel industry focuses on these trends and, since the domestic apparel market is large, the companies can make a profit without promoting exports, so they have not made an effort to raise the profile of their brands.

That said, domestic clothing consumption is falling, imports from China and other countries are increasing rapidly, and prices are falling. According to the Yano Research Institute Ltd., the size of the domestic apparel market was 10.9 trillion yen in 1999, but had shrunk to 10.0 trillion yen by 2004. Furthermore, Japan's

A fashion industry seeking to develop global brandspopulation will decrease, so it is unlikely that the market will get bigger. This situation has encouraged Japanese apparel makers to consider international markets, and the government is backing companies that wish to expand overseas.