Yeah, I for one do not really fully understand the justification of high prices, hence, I decided to stop buying yonex. One could argue that its partly due to the high taxation. We have high import costs, VAT/custom and duties etc. However, when you think about it, the rest of the world get comparitively poorer quality products compared to the stuff that Japan produces and sells within their own borders, yet, the prices in the UK are higher than that of Japan (FOR LESS Quality!)
It's daylight robbery if you ask me. I do have to add that when buying from an authorised Yonex dealer in the UK, that the quality is very good. I've not had a problem with breakage or poor manufacturing to date, so buying from abroad is a risk because you are not 100% sure about other distributional quality of the yonex line. That is probably one reason why it is so much cheaper, maybe slightly less quality, coupled with lenient tax laws etc etc.
I have heard in many instances that Asian countires in particular are putting higher taxation on european goods, which could well be another reason for high prices.
Just don't forget that the UK has always been an expensive place to buy. If you were living in Japan, you would feel the same, or any country for that matter.
Inflation, coupled with a rise in GDP is an indication of high prices. The average GDP of UK compared to greece is higher and the inflation of the UK rises in conjunction. However when you take the GDP of the UK and then look abroad where there inflation is lower, prices then seem much cheaper, though the greeks would think otherwise due to having a lower average wage.
Hmmm, can't really be sorted.