One shop window appeals, ‘Open your conscious, live the hippie life’ while another T-shirt proclaims ‘No Ego, Yes Eco,’—there’s even one commanding you to ‘Change your shoes!’ Clearly, the flower power trend is in vogue this season.

While the Lifestyles of Health and Sustainability (LOHAS) movement has won over a fair number of consumers in Japan, they tend to be from an older, alternative crowd. Eco-consciousness has so far failed to impress the mainstream legions of shop–happy teens and young adults who tend to make emotional purchases often based on cuteness. LOHAS just wasn’t speaking their language.

Then came the eco-bag. One of the most successful products in 2007, according to the Nikkei Marketing Journal, the eco-bag makes an earth-friendly fashion statement. With the frenzy created by the release of Anya Hindemarch’s “I am not a plastic bag,” the most sought-after eco-bag ever, and Susan Bijl receiving a coveted design award from the Japan Industrial Design Promotion Organization for her twotone nylon shopping bags, the media is pushing consumers to buy into the ecofashion boom.

So, is it possible that Tokyo’s notorious young materialists are buying into this Earth-girl image? Yes, so long as it’s cute, of course!