BANGKOK -- What brought Somsri Sukumpantanasan, a 54-year-old office worker from Bangkok, all the way to Kojima, a remote coastal town in southwestern Japan, was simple: It was where her 17-year-old son's favorite pair of jeans came from.
"He wanted to know the story behind his Momotaro jeans," she explained, referring to the premium brand that, together with 34 other shops, is part of "Jeans Street" in the center of the small town.