A subset of Japanese people use minimalism as a justification as lesser purchase power these days.

That said, I think the Japanese commercial ecosystem is still less wasteful than the one in the US except the excessive plastic wrapping. I hope one day they realize that won't count as "Omotenashi".

Wet Japanese climate necessitate sterile packaging. It's not as extreme as the Southeast Asia, but things do get soggy in matters of hours. So "excessive" aluminized plastic wrapping is just a necessity.

I think a lot of what looks like to much wrapping can be explained by high humidity year round. The wrapping protects products from spoiling or being damaged in such an environment.

Fruit would like a word