Unlike many, the rich in Japan don't show off much 
Oct 11 2015, 06:05 PM, updated 11y ago
Not much supercars or mansions: Japanese rich avoid ostentatious display of wealth
The idea that wealthy people in Japan don't show off their wealth is perhaps grounded in the Japanese stereotype of not wanting to stand out from the crowd. Still, with Japan's stock market on a general roll for the last several years, the Japanese media has started talking about the "superrich" (chō-fuyūsō). According to Atsushi Miura, who last year published a book titled "The New Rich," the financial industry considers a person to be wealthy if their yearly income is over ¥30 million (US$250,000) and they have assets of at least ¥100 million (US$830,000). About 1.3 million Japanese people have assets in that range, or 1 percent of the population.
In his research, Miura found that some of Japan's richest does indeed tend to avoid ostentation. They don't build mansions — we're talking real mansions, not condos — and believe it unseemly to "throw one's money around indiscriminately". However, the Japanese rich will spend money on things they like and tend to favor the intangible. They're more likely to patronize the arts and go to concerts than splurge on sports cars or expensive jewelry. They travel often and take cruises.
What Japanese rich like: Arts, concerts, travel
Miura has also found that the new Japanese rich are looking inward more: They buy Japanese stuff and travel domestically. They prefer expensive nihonshu to foreign wine, and Japanese artworks to Western ones. This is not simply a matter of taste. It is also an expression of civic responsibility. The new rich understand their place in society, and know that Japan needs their money. In a sense they take the "trickle-down" component of the theory of "Abenomics" to heart. Nevertheless, just like any rich people in the world, they still try to avoid having their assets taxed, so if they can keep those assets overseas, they will, and it was only this year that the government finally mandated that people with foreign assets of over ¥50 million must report them.
Another characteristic of the new rich is that they are conscious of being rich, whereas traditionally rich people in Japan didn’t ponder their wealth. They took if for granted. That's mainly because the new rich usually obtained their wealth through their own efforts or through some special skill or idea. Even people who inherit wealth or are in line to inherit wealth tend to get jobs and work their whole lives. There's no concept of the "idle rich" in Japan.
Japanese parents tell their kids they may not necessary inherit any wealth, and they will have to work it out themselves
The first segment is composed of the children of rich parents: The children of the rich are not necessarily inheriting their wealth or expecting to inherit it. Instead, they are learning from their parents' example and embarking on their own investment strategies. This is shown by that only 8 percent of the general population has any "experience in investing," while 24 percent of children of people with assets of over ¥100 million have such experience, and 52 percent have stock portfolios themselves.
In 1987, when Forbes first published its world's richest list, the Japanese economy was at its height. All the 4 wealthiest people on the planet were in Japan, and Japanese made up 6 of the top 10 richest at that time. Yoshiaki Tsutsumi and Taikichiro Mori were the world's no.1 from 1987 to 1992, followed by Brunei's absolute ruler Sultan Hassanal Bolkiah - those people reigned at the top before the rise of Bill Gates. Today Bill Gates remain the richest in the world, while Tsutsumi has fallen off Forbes billionaire list and Mori's 2 sons collectively worth only US$6 billion, far from their father's US$15 billion last time. The Sultan saw his wealth dropped by 50 percent from the 1990s.
Economic stagnation made many Japanese aware that wealth may not last. Yoshiaki Tsutsumi, world's richest man before Bill Gates era, is now no more a billionaire
As Japan falls into an ongoing 2 decades of economic stagnation, the conspicuous consumption of the 1980s such as lavish spending on whiskey and cars has not returned to the same pre-crash levels. Difficult times made people frown on ostentatious displays of wealth, and the rich become acutely aware of their wealth and not flashy with it. There are also the economic factors to it. During the boom, citizens drove flashy European cars, bought expensive apartments and vacationed in Hawaii. As the economy crashed, people don't travel that much anymore, start buying small domestic cars and spend the holidays at home.
For a country who was once predicted to overtake the United States as the no.1 economy, the change has also greatly affected Japan's population. People are not as energetic and lively as they were two decades ago. Many of them are pessimistic and have lost the vitality of the 70s and 80s. Prolonged deflation has caused people to hold on to their money, not willing to spend anything for fear of becoming bankrupt. As a result, prices have gone down, the value of the yen in the country has risen. Everything is on sale, but still people don't buy. Over the times, even the rich adopts frugality.
Japanese emperor palace hall: pale in comparison to Arab or European palaces
Thomas Piketty, author of the book "Capital in the Twenty-First Century", said Japan, unlike many other developed country especially America, has less superrich problems. Indeed, though it has long been an industrial powerhouse, Japan is frequently called the world's most successful communist country. Japan has a high income-tax rate for the rich (45 percent), and the inheritance tax rate recently was raised to 55 percent. This makes it difficult to accumulate capital over generations - a trend that Piketty cites as a significant driver of inequality.
As a result, Japan's richest families typically lose their wealth within three generations. The downside though, is that a growing number of wealthy Japanese are moving to Singapore or Australia, where inheritance taxes are lower. The culture also play a role to it. Japanese remain sensitive to inequality, therefore even the richest tend to avoid ostentatious displays of wealth. One simply does not see the profusion of mansions, yachts, and private jets typical of, say, Beverly Hills and Palm Beach.
Haruka Nishimatsu, even as CEO of Japan Airlines, travel on public bus everyday
For example, Haruka Nishimatsu, former president and CEO of Japan Airlines, attracted international attention a few years ago for his modest lifestyle. He relied on public transportation and ate lunch with employees in the company's cafeteria. By contrast, in China, the heads of national companies are well known for maintaining grandiose lifestyles. Haruka said, "We Japanese have a deeply ingrained stoicism, reflecting the Confucian notion that people do not lament poverty when others lament it equally. This willingness to accept a situation, however bad, as long as it affects everyone equally is what enabled Japan to endure two decades of deflation, without a public outcry over the authorities' repeated failure to redress it."
http://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2015/10/1...y/#.Vhoiavmqqko
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/yuriko-koike..._b_6793736.html
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