| Page 2 of 2 < |
Fashion Guidance for Aging Japanese Lads
Masami Kanno is the editor of OilyBoy, a slick new Japanese magazine designed to induce elder players to save less and spend more, especially on clothing.
(By Blaine Harden -- The Washington Post)
TOOLBOX
   Resize
COMMENT
 Discussion Policy
 CLOSE
Comments that include profanity or personal attacks or other inappropriate comments or material will be removed from the site. Additionally, entries that are unsigned or contain "signatures" by someone other than the actual author will be removed. Finally, we will take steps to block users who violate any of our posting standards, terms of use or privacy policies or any other policies governing this site. Please review the full rules governing commentaries and discussions. You are fully responsible for the content that you post.
Who's Blogging  |
OilyBoy is hardly the first magazine in Japan to go boldly in search of the old and their money.
With 22 percent of the population already older than 65 (compared with about 12 percent in the United States), and with the old predicted to outnumber the young 4 to 1 by 2040, Japanese retailers, marketers and publishers are all trying to tease more purchases out of the elderly.
The government desperately wants them to succeed. It is trying to wean the economy from an unhealthy dependence on exports. Growth here depends almost entirely on exports, which have collapsed as part of the global economic downturn and are considered unlikely to come back for at least a year or two.
A government spokesman said last week that for Japan to bounce back, "we have to transform the shape of the economy from saving to spending," adding: "There are elderly Japanese who are financially secure but refuse to spend."
In recent years, several lifestyle publications have tried to help. For women older than 40, magazines such as Éclat and Grace focus on fashion, travel and merchandise. A glossy magazine called Leon teaches wealthy middle-aged men how to be "slightly bad" while buying lots of wildly expensive stuff.
OilyBoy, however, is run by Kanno and a cadre of editors who 30 years ago invented a hugely successful men's fashion magazine called Popeye. Its readers, like its editors, were then young.
"They were cool, and they knew they were cool," Kanno said.
Popeye succeeded in the 1970s because it found 600,000 young guys who were willing to buy the magazine every month to keep up on how to be fashionable. But with the number of children in Japan having declined for 27 consecutive years, there are now far fewer of the fashionably young of either sex. (Popeye's circulation has shrunk to 100,000).
While many Japanese women pay attention to fashion as they age, many men do not.
"At OilyBoy, we think we can probably make fashion happen again," Kanno said. "Our intent is to bring them back."
OilyBoy tries to do so without triggering sticker shock. Instead of $6,000 suits, it features $500 sports jackets. Its male models are on the far side of 50 or 60. They look fit and healthy, but not insanely so. They are out at the beach or in big kitchens or with their beautiful daughters. They wear loose-fitting sports shirts, relaxed-fit shorts and sensible-looking shoes.
"Unleash yourself. Be free. Do what you want to do." That, Kanno says, is the OilyBoy way.
And, while you're on your feet, buy more clothes.
