beijing okay

(millions of unaffordable, cream colored things)

MUJI 無印良品

Beijing is now overrun with the Japanese "lifestyle store" MUJI, which is common in Japan but high luxury in Beijing. This is where you can spend 65RMB ($9.50) on a perfectly simple, unfired clay incense holder. It's like IKEA, but much more desirable.

It's a bit worrying that a two floor superstore selling, among other things, hand brooms and lint rollers at literally ten times the price in regular Chinese stores, can do successful business. How wide is this income gap?

Language note: The Japanese name can be read in Chinese perfectly with the exact same meaning. In simplified characters, it's 无印良品, or "unlabeled" (无印) "fine products" (良品).