July 2026 — the floortok Journal
Journal
July 2026
14 stories
Thu 30 Jul · 2
Japan is splitting the luxury world in two
As the world's big luxury houses reported, their Japan numbers split cleanly in two: hard-luxury and jewellery boomed while more tourist-dependent names softened — the same China-inbound divide reshaping Japan's department stores.
Japan's department stores split on the inbound swing
Japan's big department-store groups reported within weeks of each other — and split in two. The divide comes down to inbound demand: its timing, and the shifting mix of who is doing the spending.
Wed 29 Jul · 2
Taiwan overtakes China as Japan's top-spending visitor nationality
Shopping now accounts for a quarter of everything foreign visitors spend in Japan, the Japan Tourism Agency's latest quarterly survey shows, but the ranking of who is doing the spending has been reshuffled, with Taiwan overtaking a China whose total outlay in Japan halved year on year.
The weak yen has turned Japan into the world's discount luxury store
A currency that has slid from ¥146 to the dollar in 2024 to past ¥163 today has turned department-store tills into the clearest evidence of Japan's price advantage, even as the number of tourists walking through the door has, for now, stopped climbing.
Mon 27 Jul · 4
Mitsubishi Estate's second Bangkok bet with Central Pattana is its biggest yet in Thailand
A 42-storey retail, office and hotel tower in Bangkok's Siam Square will bring Accor's 25hours Hotels to Thailand for the first time — and mark Mitsubishi Estate's largest investment in the country to date.
Shinsaibashi Parco's next renewal wave leads with outdoor labels and a Disney anchor
Parco's Osaka flagship is opening eight stores in stages through August, pairing an outdoor-and-street floor — Osaka's first Goldwin, what it calls the largest Stone Island in western Japan — with a Disney Store it says is the region's biggest.
Birkenstock opens a Shibuya concept store, its 13th directly run shop in Japan
Birkenstock's new Shibuya concept store is its 13th directly run shop in Japan and, following Ikebukuro, Shinsaibashi and Kyoto earlier this year, its fourth concept-format opening in the country in 2026 alone.
Japan's shopping centres post their first sales decline in 51 months, but the national number hides a split
Japan's shopping centres broke a 51-month streak of year-on-year growth in June, but the national number hides a split: city-centre malls still grew while suburban ones fell hard.