Shopping sprees of Chinese in Japan offer much food for thought

Among the cornucopia of goods, rice cookers, toilet seats, thermos mugs and ceramic knives are the "four treasures" Chinese tourists usually buy in Japan. And they buy in bulk.

Chinese travelers' craze for made-in-Japan goods has been so pronounced that the phenomenon has become one of Japan's buzzwords of the year. Bakugai is the new term Japanese use to describe Chinese shoppers' buying spree.

Some Japanese companies have designed special products with an eye on Chinese visitors to Japan. For example, Panasonic has designed a triangular robot vacuum cleaner, in golden color, with Chinese tourists in mind. It weighs only 3 kilograms and can reach into even corners.