How Trader Joe's tote bags became an unexpected style symbol in Japan

While US shoppers consider Trader Joe's totes a functional albeit plain grocery bag, Japanese fashionistas carry the totes for their status – and "American casual" style.

During her latest trip to Japan, travel influencer Flor Alfaro made a new friend at a local bar in Tokyo. The two were chatting over cocktails, and when Alfaro revealed that she was from California, her new friend exclaimed, "Trader Joe's! "

The American grocer has a strange level of star power in Japan, where anyone who's anyone has a Trader Joe’s tote bag slung over their shoulder. Shopping in Shimokitazawa, Tokyo's bohemian district, home to funky bookstores and vintage shops, Alfaro also spotted a Trader Joe's sweatshirt while perusing the clothing racks.

"Amerikajin" fashion, or America-core, in Japan, includes anything from Harley Davidson merch to Harvard University sweatshirts, but the ultimate status symbol is the heavy duck (thick canvas) Trader Joe’s tote.

Trader Joe's started selling canvas reusable shopping bags in 1977, but in February the grocer released a mini-tote that caused an absolute frenzy, some of which was captured and shared across the internet. The grocer's Vice President of Marketing Matt Sloan and Marketing Director Tara Miller discussed the brouhaha on a recent episode of the "Inside Trader Joe's" podcast and revealed that the company had printed hundreds of thousands of mini tote bags, anticipating they’d last for weeks or even months, but all of which flew off the shelves within a week.

The miniature version of the classic tote retailed at $2.99, but it's been popping up on online resellers including eBay, where the current highest listing is selling the tote for $2,999.95 (£2,356.58). Crafty resellers are selling custom mini-totes on Etsy for around £50-£60, embroidered with little strawberries, cherries, flowers and bees. Trader Joe's plans to restock the mini-totes later this year around August or September.

Americans will pay a pretty penny for Sanrio products – Hello Kitty is practically ubiquitous in stores catering to shoppers under the age of 25. In the US, anime has solidified its standing in "cool nerd" American mainstream culture, and knowing where to get the best ramen or sushi will definitely score you street cred as a proper American foodie. But in Japan, it's all about the prized Trader Joe's tote bag, a symbol of effortless style among the upper echelons of Japanese fashionistas.

Kumi Soto, a Los Angeles-based tour guide from Osaka, Japan says she always takes Japanese tourists to Trader Joe's. "They buy so many bags," she tells BBC Culture. "In Japan, they have a custom to get souvenirs for their family members, friends, co-workers and neighbors. When they travel overseas, they need to get something for them. It's a big deal."

But why Trader Joe's? The offbeat grocer is beloved in the states, but it's the least expensive of a subset of healthier-focused grocers including Whole Foods and Sprouts, and certainly not where an American shopper would go for clout or status. According to Soto, the appeal comes from paparazzi photos featuring celebrities with the tote. Popular influencers have also featured the brand's merch in social media posts.

Mami Hashimoto, a laboratory technician who moved from Shizuoka, Japan, to America in 2012, echoes Soto's statement – the bags are big because of the Hollywood actors photographed shopping with them. Her last trip to Japan was in 2018, and Hashimoto said that her friend dropped some hints that she'd like one of those trendy Trader Joe's totes. She bought a couple and passed them out to friends, but she never expected the trend to become the cultural phenomenon it is today.

Anthony Yamada, a teacher who grew up in America but spent summers in Japan with his father, has lived in Fukuoka in Southern Japan for two years. Yamada says the Trader Joe's trend has been growing over the last five years and that "people go feral over Trader Joe's bags."

"There's this whole fashion culture here called 'American casual'," he said during a Zoom interview, adding that Ivy League fashion has made its way into American-core fashion in Japan as well.

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"Uniqlo and their sister store sell Harvard or Michigan sweaters and letterman jackets. With the US influence on Japan, both hard and soft powered with the US bases here, but also now with streaming services like Netflix. You have Japanese people who have more access to American TV shows than they ever have. Shows like Friends and you know, the older shows, they've influenced the fashion."

Yamada says that while American entertainment majorly factors into the trend, sporting the tote also shows people that you may have studied abroad in America or lived in America, and that because Trader Joe's is popular among US college students likely due to the grocer's reasonable pricing and easy-to-make or ready meals, it became popular among fashionistas wanting to give off American academic vibes.

While Yamada said he's seen the totes sell for 2,000 Japanese yen, which is about £10, he imagines they sell for much more in Tokyo where fashion is at the forefront, and pockets are deeper. Hashimoto said she'd seen the totes selling online in Japan for the "ridiculously expensive" price nearing the equivalent of a thousand U.S. dollars, which is a nearly 20,000% increase from its retail price of $4.99 (£3.93) for the standard size tote.

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