- \13,000 paper stretchers are selling well in Japan. Their popularity is due not only to their light weight (half that of conventional stretchers), but also because they can be folded up and so require less storage space.
- Although the bowling boom has long subsided, there are still 32,000 bowling alleys in Japan. At present, there are 13,000 in Taiwan, 1,210 in Thailand, and 600 in China.
- The trend in TVs is moving to 16" - 21" models, while more compact cars with small capacity engines are growing in popularity.
- Winter sales of swimsuits for keep-fit activities are up 20-40% on a year earlier due to growth in sales among consumers in their fifties and sixties. Health awareness is high, and demand among especially middle-aged and older women for swimwear for not only swimming but also new exercise activities at sports clubs, such as aqua-walking and aquarobics, is driving up sales.
- A barber chain offering 10-minute haircuts only (no shave or shampoo) for \1,000 now has 38 stores across Japan and an annual turnover of \660 million. The company is expected to float on the over-the-counter stock market in 2004.
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