Quality is worth less than 100 yen

One of the reasons Japan has had deflation for the past 8 or so years must be the rise of the 100-yen store. You know, everything costs 100 yen.
This is not a new idea, the first stores of this kind were opened in the US in the 20's. But even though I have seen them before, they have never been richer in goods than now. And it is good stuff. Things which would cost at least 30 or 40 Swedish kronor - in the area of 500 to 700 yen - can be found there. All made in China, of course. Nothing is made anywhere else anymore.
Apart, then, from being a great driver for the Chinese small companies who manufacture sewing needles, plastic baskets, and all other stuff you find there, do the stores have a deeper consequence? Yes.
When almost anything in your home can be bought for less than you make in 10 minutes (there are no 100-yen stores for clothes and food yet), why bother being careful about stuff? It is less bother to buy a new one than to sharpen the old. It is not that good anyway, so when it is dull, it goes in the garbage (carefully wrapped, of course).
But this has another consequence. Quality becomes luxury. A knife for 10000 yen is not 100 times better. A knife from the 100-yen store is as good as a knife from IKEA (actually, they seem to be made by the same company). So that something which costs 100 times more becomes a sign of luxury, not utility.
This is of course how it has always been in Japan, only now the prices of utility have gone down to 100 yen. But it is an unusal feeling for a Swede. And it makes you think: If you can buy 100 cheap knives during the lifetime of the luxury one, how long lifetime does each knife have to have for them all to outlast you, and make you a couple of hundred yens in the bargain? Why, indeed, bother with quality?