An excerpt from Kinoshita Terunobu’s (木下 晃伸) latest e-newsletter discussing the length of women’s hair and its relationship to the Japanese economy :

「。。。 景気が良いほど髪の毛が長くなり、不景気になると髪の毛が短くなっている 。。。」

Essentially, the better the economy, the longer the hair; a weaker economy brings shorter hair styles…

• 1997 花王 survey shows trend of shorter-hair among 20-year old women; 山一証券 goes bankrupt the same year

• 1998 Japanese economy falls into minus growth

• 2002 (August) survey shows longer-hair trend; longest post-war economic growth period begins

• 2008 ???

「まとめ髪」がこれから増えるという。まとめ髪は景気拡大局面において登場したヘアスタイル。髪の毛の長さからまとめ髪が増えるのであれば、景気拡大も期待が持てる。

In spite of an overwhelmingly bearish market sentiment and deteriorating economic data in Japan, the outlook based on hair length/style tends to be much more optimistic. A Kao brand manager says set-hair is set to take off in ‘08, which bodes well for the economy, signifying a point of economic expansion.

This may remind some of the women’s skirt-length correlation to market returns in the U.S.