THE ASAHI SHIMBUN

A number of department stores passed off Chinese-made furniture as “made in Italy” during special fairs promoting goods from the European country, sources said Monday.

Isetan department store sold Chinese-made dining chairs for 28,350 yen each during fairs held at its Urawa store in Saitama Prefecture and its Sagamihara outlet in Kanagawa Prefecture. The chairs were also mislabeled in Isetan’s Fuchu store in Tokyo.


Isetan has returned the money to the two buyers and reported the mislabels to the Japan Fair Trade Commission.

Department stores Matsuya, Keio, Yamakataya, Miyazaki Yamakataya and Iwataya were also found to have mislabeled Chinese-made furniture as coming from Italy.(IHT/Asahi: November 6,2014)