A super copy is a counterfeit article so carefully crafted that it is impossible for an amateur to determine the difference from an original.
According to freelance writer Taizo Ebina, such duplicates started emerging around four years ago and replicate items by such popular brands as Chanel, Louis Vuitton and Hermes.
“The bags use the same leather as the original and have product numbers imprinted,” says Ebina. “The color of the bag’s skin changes the way an authentic version changes. It takes a well-trained person to detect the authenticity of these fake products. Packages, both boxes and labels, are also dutifully printed at factories. Once, I saw the parts of a fake Rolex and they had been sourced from quality makers in Japan.”
With tightened regulation by law enforcement entities, not many Japanese engage in selling these knockoffs. Therefore, buyers use online shopping sites to place orders with suppliers in China. The groups taking the orders will kindly state that “shipping may be delayed” in anticipation of a possible interception during delivery by customs authorities.
Ebina adds that super copies are priced double that of typical counterfeits. If an original items goes for 125,000 yen, its superlative substitute will run 25,000 yen.
Likewise items fetching 300,000 yen will be priced at a reasonable 40,000 to 50,000 yen. “Players will tell a kyabajo that she is getting a bag worth 300,000 yen when asking for sexual services,” the writer explains. “She’ll get a bit stirred believing its a 300,000-yen item and yield to the request. There are also men who score ladies they meet at konkatsu (marriage-seeking) parties with these goods.”
It is a confused market, warns Nikkan Gendai, one in which the customer must be careful where he places his hands. (A.T.)
Source: “Suupaa copii de bijin kyabajo ga korori,” Nikkan Gendai (Jan. 25, page 5)
