Weak yuan deflates Chinese tourist spending in Japan

Cheaper watches and Pokemon enlisted to cast wider net for travelers

Tourists walk a street in Ginza near Japan's most expensive piece of land. Big-city stores have grown reliant on spending by foreign visitors. (Photo by Wataru Ito)

YUKI HANAI, NATSUKO KATSUKI and KYOMI KATSUNO, Nikkei staff writers

October 3, 2019 05:29 JST

TOKYO/OSAKA -- Big-spending Chinese tourists' loss of buying power in Japan is forcing stores best known for premium shopping to expand down-market to retain a key source of sales.

At the revamped watch section of Isetan Mitsukoshi Holdings' flagship Isetan Shinjuku department store in Tokyo, timepieces priced at 500,000 yen ($4,600) or more are now joined by ones costing a tenth of that.