BTW, I still get new glasses when I visit Japan. About $100 to $300+ depending on the frames you choose, and the eye exam is included for free. This is without insurance (I got 2 new pairs last year, for about $400 total), and I’ve not lived or worked in Japan in over a decade.) Thinner lenses than in the USA, but perhaps not as safe. The store is called “Megane Ichiba”, and I believe it is a chain.
Point is though, that the glasses market in Japan is not as monopolized (or at least not as greedy) as the market in the USA.
BTW, I still get new glasses when I visit Japan. About $100 to $300+ depending on the frames you choose, and the eye exam is included for free. This is without insurance (I got 2 new pairs last year, for about $400 total), and I’ve not lived or worked in Japan in over a decade.) Thinner lenses than in the USA, but perhaps not as safe. The store is called “Megane Ichiba”, and I believe it is a chain.
Point is though, that the glasses market in Japan is not as monopolized (or at least not as greedy) as the market in the USA.