Expert on Japan Retail and Consumer Markets, JapanConsuming

Michael Causton

Michael is co-founder and partner at JapanConsuming.

JapanConsuming is a specialist research firm producing intelligence on Japanese retail and consumer markets. Founded in 2000, JapanConsuming has become the leading provider of insights on Japanese retailers and consumer trends to retailers, brands, government agencies and investors. As well as a highly regarded monthly report on the market, JapanConsuming produces in-depth reports and seminars on retail sectors and consumer trends, as well as telephone consulting/meetings with investors. 

All of JapanConsuming's team are bilingual and bi-cultural, and the company's research sources are:

Direct meetings with retailers, wholesalers, distributors, trade body staff, govt., marketing firms, academics etc.
Govt. data
Trade association data
Trade Press across all consumer sectors
Unique Network of buyers/managers/marketing staff at retail, as well as wholesalers and trading firms.
Editors/Journalists at publishing houses and PR/Ad firms.


JapanConsuming was founded by Michael Causton and Roy Larke. 

Michael Causton set up and ran a consumer distribution business in Tokyo for 10 years and developed this into a business responsible for annual imports to Japan of several billion Yen, at the same time building up an inside knowledge of how Japanese distribution works and developing a network of contacts across the industry. Seeing the lack of quality market intelligence on Japanese markets, he co-founded JapanConsuming in 2000. He divides his time between Japan and Europe/US consulting for companies, governments and investors, including providing talks, seminars, and webinars as well as writing reports and books.

Expert on Japan Retail and Consumer Markets

Loyalty Points In Japan: More Loyalty, More Points and the Conduit to Cashless Payments

Cashless Payments to Reach 60% of Japanese by 2027, Already Popular Among Young

Japan Payment Wars: NTT Docomo and Merpay/Origami to Attempt Catch up with PayPay and Rakuten

Mercari – Merpay Acquisition of Origami Pay Continues Cashless Consolidation

Real Insight on Japanese Consumer Markets

JapanConsuming

JapanConsuming is a specialist research firm producing intelligence on Japanese retail and consumer markets. Founded in 2000, JapanConsuming has become the leading provider of insights on Japanese retailers and consumer trends to retailers, brands, government agencies and investors. As well as a highly regarded monthly report on the market, JapanConsuming produces in-depth reports on retail sectors, seminars on key trends and telephone consulting to investors on trends and retailers.

JapanConsuming was founded by Michael Causton and Roy Larke. 

Thematic (Sector/Industry)

Japan Retailing / Thematic (Sector/Industry)

In June, the government’s rebate scheme that simultaneously aimed to reduce the burden of its October 2019 tax increase while also promoting cashless payments, came to an end. But there’s more to come.The initial scheme will be replaced in September by an entirely new one, this time to promote the My Number citizen registration system alongside, again, cashless payments.The new scheme requires consumers to choose one provider only. This will push payment providers to compete with ever more ferocity and, by this time next year, we are likely to see just one or two winners and a whole bunch of losers.

In June, the government’s rebate scheme that simultaneously aimed to reduce the burden of its October 2019 tax increase while also promoting cashless payments, came to an end. But there’s more to come.The initial scheme will be replaced in September by an entirely new one, this time to promote the My Number citizen registration system alongside, again, cashless payments.The new scheme requires consumers to choose one provider only. This will push payment providers to compete with ever more ferocity and, by this time next year, we are likely to see just one or two winners and a whole bunch of losers.

Government Fuels Japan Cashless Payments War