Big in Japan Forget Honda, Fujitsu and Sony--take your next big cue from Tokyo's teenage girls.

They gather in Tokyo's Shibuya district-teenage girlswith unnaturally dark tans, hair streaked with gray, cell phonesdangling like charms from chains, schoolgirl uniforms shortened upto there. Or they're wearing Hawaiian prints and cork wedgies,hair bleached blonde. Or next week-well, that's too faraway to guess what the world's trendiest teens will bedonning.

But why should you care? Because not only do these harbingers ofhip affect trends in their native Tokyo, but their last-minutedecisions on the next "kawaii" thing (think obnoxiouslycute) often show up here. Take a look at many of the trends fromthe past 10 years, and you'll see "Made in Japan"stamped underneath-Tamagotchi, Pokémon, Hello Kitty,photo sticker machines, sushi and sake, Zen-inspireddécor.

"[Japanese consumers] seem to be more fickle [thanAmericans] and have an incredibly short attention span when itcomes to consumer products, thus creating constant pressure oncompanies to come up with a 'new' product-anyproduct," says Ken Matsuno, a marketing professor and theregional director of the Asia Institute at Babson College inWellesley, Massachusetts.