Despite bankruptcies, lay-offs and tighter spending by consumers in Japan, a few original businesses, led by female entrepreneurs who previously worked in offices or as housewives, are thriving.
Shizue Hamada, 52, set up a business in 1991 with eight other housewives in her neighbourhood to care for the elderly and the physically handicapped.
The Tasukeai Yui (mutual-aid group) quickly won an excellent reputation by word of mouth for its meticulous service. It now has 200 staff with ?300 million (US$2.4 million) in annual sales.
The female entrepreneurs said their business has been successful because they operate it from a consumers perspective, and know what clients really want.
Some Japanese entrepreneurs are uncovering a healthy, revitalized demand for consumers goods, and not just for Louis Vuitton bags or Hermes scarves.
Bread, for instance, is one such item, said businesswoman Meiko Tanaka, 26.
Tanaka started selling high-quality bread over the Internet in 2000. "Bread is cheap," she said. "We might as well eat the ultimate bread baked using the highest-quality ingredients and plenty of time."
Her cinamon-flavoured bread priced at ?2,600 (US$21) per full-size loaf, is so popular that all bread to be baked until next May has already sold out through advanced sales.
While working at a personal computer sales firm for two years, Tanaka baked bread day after day in search of a loaf that she could say was truly satisfying. She set up Tennenkobokobo Ltd, capitalized at ?4 million, believing that something she found so delicious would surely sell well.
To win the confidence of consumers, she opened a shop named Recette, opened only on the weekend, in Tokyo. All the rest is sold via the Internet.
Five former female office workers in their late 20s of a major telecommunications company, who like dining out, started the "OL Food Bureau of Investigation" to introduce restaurants they found worthwhile visiting, via Net-based publications.
OL literally means office lady. It is common in Japan to call young Japanese female office workers "OL".
Last autumn, the five women published a book on the restaurants they introduced on the Internet. A TV programme in which they will appear on will start this month on the Sky Perfect TV digital satellite broadcast service in Japan.
Membership in their online magazine has hit 26,000, and their non-professional comments seem to carry a lot of weight with consumers.
"We're doing it because we like what we do," said one of the five women, Minako Shimoi, 28.
Shimoi attributes the popularity of their service to their commentary, which they write with ordinary consumers in mind.
What all these female entrepreneurs have in common are strict adherence to their own likes and dislikes, and confidence in their own sensibilities.
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