Brand piracy has been a long-running source of trade friction. A special supplement in Dime magazine featured a report on the latest developments. The National Police Agency—with government backing—announced the results of its latest “Stamp out pirated brand goods month”, during which time it confiscated 61,992 items, including 8,843 phoney Louis Vuitton goods; 8,589 bearing the Celine brand name; 4,835 labelled as Arnold Palmer products; 4,202 bearing the renoma brand name; and 3,194 that of Dunhill. The number of items confiscated has risen about six fold from the level in 1982.
Famous-brand goods are extremely popular in Japan, but it is not known what percentage of the buyers of such items understand that they could be purchasing counterfeits, particularly when the goods are secondhand. A ¥1,500 Louis Vuitton cigarette lighter should set off alarms, for example, since the firm does not offer any such item.
Out of 99 cases involving confiscations of women’s handbags, the most popular brands, in descending order, were Louis Vuitton, representing 48% of cases; Gucci (23%); Celine (21%); Dunhill (17%); Valentino (16%); renoma (16%); Cartier (15%); Roberta (15%); Hunting World (10%); and Chanel (6%). As several brands were found in the same raid, the total exceeds 100%.
Dime also dispatched reporters to Tokyo’s Shibuya and Ueno districts, where they approached a total of 75 people seen carrying Louis Vuitton bags. Of these, 21 said they were aware theirs was a rip-off.
“Because it’s hard to tell at a glance whether it’s phony or not, I’d prefer to spend less and be content with a copy”, one person remarked.
This attitude, the writer supposed, may have its roots in the remote past. In 1543, Portuguese traders introduced the first firearms to Japan on the island of Tanegashima and, within a year, locally produced copies—known as Tanegashima teppo—were in hot demand by warlord armies. Japan may be “inscrutable” in the way counterfeit items thrive by exploiting the popularity of authentic products.