We are paying not for the "thing" itself, but for the "staged story."

The World is Strange Vol. 10

The price does not just include the cost of materials.
It is not just the cost of technology either.

Within it lies history, longing, and
the "story" that someone spent a long time creating.

Diamonds.
High-end brands.
Vintage denim.

Are we truly paying for the object itself?
Or are we buying the "staged value" that lies beyond it?

When you think about it that way, the price tags in the world start to look a little different.

What supports the price

"An engagement ring is three months' salary."

"A diamond is forever."

The marketing strategy implemented by De Beers has been a success.

However, with the development of lab-grown diamonds,
the true nature of gemstones has become quite clear.

Scarcity, eternity, and a sense of being special.

It is becoming clear that much of that was supported not by the "material" itself,
but by a cleverly wovennarrativethat was carefully crafted.

Diamonds were once mythologized as a "symbol of eternal love."
It was
De Beers' ambitionthat distributed this on a global scale and established it as a value.

They managed supply and imprinted the story through advertising.
They designed the very atmosphere that "diamonds are rare and special."

Before being a natural object, the diamond was a triumph of marketing.

When the myth collapses

But now,
lab-grown diamonds have reached a qualityindistinguishablefrom natural diamonds.

Moreover, the price is a fraction of the cost.

Because of this reality,
the price of natural diamonds is actually starting to fall.

A diamond purchased as an engagement ring for hundreds of thousands of yen
hardly fetches any value when you try to sell it.
That is not because it has a defect or has lost its sparkle.
It is because the premise that it is "rare" is now wavering.

People choose stories over logic

Even so, before the logic of whether it is natural or artificial,people choose thestory they want to believe.

That isbrand power,and that is whathigh-end brandsare all about.

A device for creating an atmosphere

So, what exactly is a high-end brand in the first place?

It is not a collection of expensive materials, nor is it proof of exceptional craftsmanship.
While these may be necessary conditions, they are not sufficient ones.

A high-end brand is a device that spends a long time cultivating
an atmosphere that many people would agree with without hesitation—the idea that 'this is special.'

That is why a vinyl wallet with just a logo on it can cost over 100,000 yen,
while a Japanese-made wallet with perfect leather and stitching sits on the shelf for a fraction of that price.

For a long time, I was on the side that created that 'atmosphere.'

When we designed NIKE events, we weren't trying to explain the performance of the shoes. We were designing the sensation of the moment you put them on, the feeling of being there, the sense of exhilaration that remains after it's over—those were the things we were designing.
Not things, but stories called experiences.

With just a change in how the light hits it, the same product looks different.
Just by changing the music, the meaning of the space changes.
I have witnessed this time and time again.
That is why I know, not just in my head but in my body, that there is a story layered behind the price tag.

The passion for aligning conditions

For example, vintage denim
is not valuable simply because it is old.
Because it is old, the supply is limited,
and as the number of people who want it grows,
the price quietly but surely skyrockets.

As a result,
what were once work clothes worn by laborers in mines and factories
have now become items traded for millions of yen,
often handled with white gloves.

That is where Japanese replica denim comes into the picture.

When you chase after the 'same fading,' the conversation naturally leads to materials.
The cotton, dyes, looms, and sewing techniques of that era.
When you align the conditions one by one, the level of perfection becomes surprisingly close.

And yet, despite going to such lengths,
the price stays within twenty or thirty thousand yen.

Passion is rarely reflected on the price tag.

What is on the price tag, and what is not

On the other hand, high-end brand jeans,
while using the same 'denim' material,
have prices based not on reproducibility or the amount of research,
but on the context and symbolismthat the brand has accumulated.

As a result, they carry price tags of 200,000 or 300,000 yen.

There is no right answer here.
All there is, is which story you choose.

If the buyer finds happiness in that,
then it is a valid value.

However—
where do price and quality, story and reality,
overlap, and where do they diverge?

I want to be someone who can make choices while understanding that structure.

The freedom to choose an illusion

There are people who pay high prices not for the reality, but for the illusion.
No, to be precise, they are
people who enjoy the illusion, fully aware that they are paying a high price for it.

On social media,
people called influencers
neatly display bags and accessories worth hundreds of thousands of yen,
or luxury foreign cars that cost as much as an apartment,
as if they were their own personal value.

And, there are certainly people who admire that.

Whether it is diamonds
or high-end brands,
if you calmly break down their value,
there is always a part that cannot be explained by materials or craftsmanship alone.

What fills that void
is the story of scarcity,
the feeling of being chosen,
and the sense of security that comes from "standing on the side that understands."

Illusions sell for more than reality.
That is not to say that people are being deceived.
Knowing that a price tag is attached to an illusion, they intentionally place their money there.
That, too, is perhaps a mature choice.

The moment an illusion masquerades as reality

However—
the moment one begins to explain the amount paid for that illusion
as the value of the reality itself,
the story becomes a little bit ridiculous.

But, even including that absurdity,
the mechanism known as a brand
continues to function perfectly today.

I would like to at least choose for myself who gets to write that story.

We are buying not just things, but also a manufactured atmosphere.
I have written about that before as well.

Thank you for reading until the end.
If this record, which looks at places where the light does not reach,
has become a catalyst for you to think about something, I would be happy.

Your "likes" and "follows"
become the strength that leads to the next record.

✒Author-related series

This sense is also something I acquired in the actual field.

To those who have read this text this far.
I have left a few articles here that have a similar temperature.

These are things that remain as points of friction rather than answers.