Japan: 15-20 May 2012

Ohaiyo Japan – a team of 34 participants from various malls visited Osaka and Tokyo and with the close assistance of the Japan Council of Shopping Centres (JCSC), 7 shopping malls hosted technical visits at Abeno Market Park Q’s Mall, Osaka Station City and Nishinomiya Gardens in Osaka; and LaLaport Tokyo Bay, Aeon Lake Town, Gotemba Premium Outlets and Shonan Terrace Mall. Other malls and shopping precincts visited were Venus Fort, Omotesando Hills, Lumine Yurakucho, Harajuku, Shinjuku and Ginza.

It was a most exhilarating trip, even exhausting, but full of pleasant surprises in the form of Japanese retail formats, culture and even food. Overall comment – the trip would have been more informative with a better translator and with the overall excellent choice of varied mall formats, there was not sufficient time to fully explore, let alone shop. Well, it’s a study trip, not a shopping trip, right ?

PPK committee members also had a fruitful meeting with JCSC council members including Kazuhiro Shinohara, Executive Director and Kenji Shiozawa during which shopping mall trends in our countries were shared.