High Class

While newspapers are full of articles pointing out a rising income disparity and the emergence of a karyu shakai ("downward mobile society") with large numbers of people living on low incomes, consumers who do not fall in this category (i.e. at least have a fulltime job) are no longer satisfied with being average and middle-class, but want to feel they belong to the upper class. Above three subway adverts from recent weeks, which illustrate this trend nicely.