provided us with an interesting report on what is believed to be the location of a new Apple retail store in Tokyo.

"The first picture shows the building under construction and the second shows its position. This is about a minute's walk from Ginza 4-Chome, one of the top shopping destinations in Asia. In the late 1980s this was the most
expensive real estate in the world. Whilst the collapse in asset prices has
reduced the value of land, nevertheless Ginza 4-Chome remains a highly
sought after area, still the prime retail location in the country."







"Opposite the Apple store is Ginza Matsuya, a highly regarded department
store that boasts a large Louis Vuitton and also a Fendi store on the street
level. Close by is a busy Mitsukoshi (a prestigious department store) and
Wako, a luxury store (seen in the second picture on the corner). Chanel is
building a new flagship and head office a few blocks down from there. Around
the corner is the largest Hermes in the region and also Coach's most
successful store. Ferragamo, Zara, Adidas and Gucci all have stores close
by. In Tokyo there are basically two exclusive shopping districts: Ginza in
the East and Aoyama in the West of Tokyo. As a statement of Apple's intent
to convert the minds of Japan's higher spending consumers to Apple, this
could not be a better location."

"Oh, and by the way, in case anyone in the US is wondering if the Japanese
still have money to spend, we would like to point out that the average
savings (excluding property) per household in Japan are currently 18 million
yen, that is about 150,000 US dollars. As we like to say in our
publications,"it's not a question of having the money to spend, it's just a
question of finding ways to get the Japanese to spend it." We have little
doubt that compelling Apple store design will hope them do just that."