Japan's nondescript 'Millionaires'

[Taro Toporific]

BY THE NUMBERS - Millionaires don't live up to glamorous imageThe Japan Times: Aug. 17, 2004
.... this year's World Wealth Report released by Merrill Lynch Japan Securities Co. in June, the "high net-worth individuals," defined as those with financial assets of $1 million or more, came to an estimated 1.312 million in Japan at the end of 2003, up 6 percent from the previous year....
So how do millionaires think and act? What separates them from the less-flush?
Ken Honda embarked on a project to investigate just that -- mailing questionnaires to 12,000 of the nation's highest taxpayers in 2002 and receiving responses from nearly 1,000....
...., contrary to one popular image of rich people being big spenders, many real-life millionaires lead frugal, nondescript lives.
"They might be someone who owns a chain of five or six dry-cleaning shops," he said, "or a man driving a van in a worn-out uniform. You would never think he was rich."

[Taro Toporific]

BY THE NUMBERS - Millionaires don't live up to glamorous imageThe Japan Times: Aug. 17, 2004
.... "or a man driving a van in a worn-out uniform. You would never think he was rich."

Aside from having a car-&-driver and hostess(es) on retainer, the average Japanese directors that I have met live a miserly life.

Specifically the former CEO of my first employer in Japan, Seiko-Epson, lived well below my developmentally-disabled cousin who was a lead janitor at his Long Beach office of Epson America Inc. He followed my PR suggestion to "visit" one of Epson America's average employees for a BBQ to show he could be a good Bubba. My cousin was a PR "two-for" since he was both an average long-term Epson employee and disabled. When the shacho got back to Japan, he used to bemoan when he was drinking that his "America retard janitor" lived in a better house than him.

Why Japanese don't improve their housing is one the great myteries of Japan:
Non-luxuries unknown to Japan:
insulation/vapor barriers,
double/triple-pane window for noise insulation
more than 15 amp fuses, wall outlets
sturdy lino
drains that actuall drain
cabinets in kitchen with built-in white goods...