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The emergence of purely “street‐born” fashion styles in the 1990s in the young women’s casual wear market in Tokyo has revealed the limitations of the conventional framework of quick response (QR) approaches that have long been implemented by Japanese fashion houses. They were found to be incapable of responding to the need for fresh fashion designs in the extremely volatile and fast‐moving streets of Tokyo’s casual fashion scene. This, on the other hand, has initiated a Korean‐Japanese fashion connection, in which a large number of small fashion firms in the Dongdaemun fashion industry district in Seoul play an important role in the taking‐shape of the pronto moda (fast fashion) in Tokyo style, with their organic networking of small suppliers within the agglomeration. The linkage of fashion industries between Seoul and Tokyo has also been fostering an interactive partnership in that both parties learn the uniqueness of each other’s practices. On the basis of a review of industrial agglomeration theories, highlights the relationships between the casual fashion trends in Tokyo in the 1990s and the pronto moda formula in the fashion agglomeration in the Dongdaemun district. In addition to this, an analysis of the future implication of the Korean‐Japanese fashion connection in the context of the global fashion industry is projected.

The aim of this paper is to develop an understanding of the retail marketing, merchandising, and logistical practices in the Japanese grocery supermarket sector. Most of the literature in English has focused on the structure of the sector with little detailed research on the Japanese consumer and the corporate response to retail change. This paper highlights the case of Summit Inc., which has established a niche position in the Japanese grocery market through its operational excellence.

The emergence of global fashion has transformed the way fashion is perceived in the contemporary world. While it has brought the consumer the in‐vogue style at the right price, a strong focus on standardization and low‐cost advantage has disbanded the traditional ethos of fashion design which is inspired by a variety of physical and psychological needs in a given precinct. Migration of fashion production offshore and resultant dependence on economies of scale not only threatens the existence of domestic small fashion manufacturers, but also prohibits up‐coming designers from creating intrinsic fashion on a small but sustainable scale. This paper, through a case study of a Japanese non‐profit organization, explores the way in which such an intrinsic fashion creation restores its salience as a counter style of global fashion capitalism. Emphases are placed on corroborating the necessity of intrinsic fashion in today’s society vis‐à‐vis the drawbacks of global fashion in cultural, ethical, ergonomic, and environmental terms.