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Japan importing fewer diamonds; Girls to find new best friends?

May 7, 2007
By Ken Worsley


The International Diamond Exchange is reporting that in March, Japan imported 193,765 carats worth $86.61 million, down 15.3 percent and 6.3 percent respectively from a year ago. March data shows that a downtrend in Japan’s diamond market has been continuing for a few months now.

The value of the average carat, however, has increased from $404.17 a year ago to $446.99 in March 2007.

As anyone who watches Japanese TV knows, diamond sellers have been making a big effort to appeal to customers, though their most aired commercial seems a bit misguided (you just have to see it…)

Based on experience, I would say that the number of men who buy diamond engagement rings in Japan is still low.

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Comments

3 Responses to “Japan importing fewer diamonds; Girls to find new best friends?”

  1. Gen Kanai on May 7th, 2007 11:49 pm

    Investigative journalist Edward Jay Epstein’s fascinating book “The Diamond Invention” (which is all online at www.edwardjayepstein.com/diamond/prologue.htm) has a fascinating look at how DeBeers essentially created the Japanese market for diamonds in the 1960s with a long-running ad campaign by J. Walter Thompson.

    Frankly, I’m happy to see this trend and hope for a further decline in the sale of diamonds. I hope that Blood Diamond, (while it has it’s faults) will further the education of the real cost of diamonds to Japanese, who up until now have not taken into consideration the total cost of diamonds.

  2. Baker on May 8th, 2007 4:18 am

    A lot of markets in Japan were created in the 60s and 70s (hamburgers, coffee drinking, hair dying, etc) that required duping Japanese people into believing that western norms of beauty/lifestyle were desirable because…well, because they were western. Congrats to the marketers, they do a great job of making people feel inseure unless they can keep up with whitey and own what he or she does.

  3. Ken on May 8th, 2007 9:50 am

    Gen, thanks for the book tip. Wonder if it’s to be found in Tokyo…

    I agree, fewer diamonds are a good thing.

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