Luxury pilgrimages bring tourists to Japan to scoop up high-end goods. Brands like LVMH would rather they not

A woman walks down the sidewalk with a Louis Vuitton bag around her wrist. (Credit: James Whitlow Delano—Bloomberg/Getty Images)

For some Chinese shoppers, the 16,700 yuan, or $2,300, price tag of a Louis Vuitton Speedy Bandouliere 20 handbag is too much. It’s one reason why more and more are traveling to Japan—where the price for the same bag can be more than $400 lower.  

Tourists, many of them from China, can thank the weak Japanese yen for the built-in discounts on luxury goods—which are driving surges of visitors to the country for the primary purpose of shopping.