On 7 September, The Wall Street Journal ran a photograph of a queue outside an Onitsuka Tiger store in Ginza under the headline "The World Can't Get Enough of These Japanese Sneakers." That same day Asics shares closed at ¥4,164, down 23 percent from the all-time high of ¥5,440 they hit on 17 August, the day the company posted the best half-year in its history. Both things are true at once. That gap is the story.
For Indian buyers the story has a twist the Journal did not cover. The Mexico 66 that tourists fly to Tokyo for is sitting on the official Onitsuka Tiger India site at ₹11,000 to ₹12,500. By November the Tokyo price advantage that built the queue will have mostly disappeared.
The Numbers Behind the Queue
Asics reported first-half 2026 results on 17 August. Group sales came in at ¥534.4 billion, up 32.7 percent. Operating profit rose 48.5 percent to ¥120.4 billion, a 22.5 percent margin. Full-year guidance moved from ¥950 billion to ¥1.05 trillion. Chairman Yasuhito Hirota told analysts that roughly one in five runners in New York's Central Park now wears Asics, per BigGo Finance's earnings call summary.
Onitsuka Tiger did ¥89.5 billion of that, about $574 million, up 35.9 percent. Its category profit margin was 39.7 percent, the highest of the six lines Asics reports, and well above Performance Running at 26.3 percent even though running carries two and a half times the revenue. Sporting Goods Intelligence puts 2025 full-year Onitsuka sales at ¥136.5 billion, up 43 percent. A retro shoe with a 1966 silhouette is the most profitable thing a Japanese running company makes.
Look closer and the growth is slowing. Business Model Analyst's breakdown of the same filing shows first-half Onitsuka growth of 55.1 percent in 2024, 50.1 percent in 2025, and 35.9 percent now. Japan, the region with the queues, grew just 6.9 percent for the group, and second-quarter Japan sales fell 3.9 percent. Europe grew 66.5 percent for Onitsuka. The queue is in Ginza. The business is in Paris.
Why Tourists, Why Now
The yen. On 29 July it traded at 163.87 to the dollar. A pair of Mexico 66 bought tax-free in Tokyo worked out near $100 for an American visitor, roughly half the home price, which is what the Michigan family the Journal interviewed said they expected to pay back in the States. Cheap yen plus a shoe that photographs well plus every "what I bought in Japan" haul video equals a line down the block.
Two things are eating that advantage. Japan's finance ministry spent about $99 billion between 30 July and 26 August buying yen, and by 7 September the currency had strengthened 5.8 percent to 154.33. Then on 1 November Japan scraps the at-register tax exemption for tourists, so visitors pay consumption tax upfront and claim it back at the airport. Business Model Analyst estimates the counter price of a Mexico 66 jumps from about $100 to about $117 that day. Chinese arrivals, historically close to a third of inbound spending, fell 56.4 percent in the first half after the diplomatic rupture. Total tourist count fell 2 percent.
Asics knows this. The spin-off of Onitsuka Tiger into OT Group on 1 January 2027, the Shinjuku flagship that opened in July as the brand's largest store, Nagoya in August, Milan this month, Seoul in October and Los Angeles in 2027 are all a bet that the brand can hold demand once the currency stops doing the marketing. Goldman Sachs analyst Sho Kawano, quoted by the Journal, framed the whole thing as a brand-management problem rather than a retail one. He is right.
What This Means If You Are Buying in India
Here is the part nobody in Ginza is thinking about. Onitsuka Tiger India, the brand's only official site here, lists the standard Mexico 66 at ₹11,000 to ₹12,500, the Slip-On at ₹9,000 to ₹11,000, the SD at ₹14,500 to ₹16,500 and the SD Vintage at ₹18,500. Free delivery, free returns. Myntra, Flipkart and AJIO Luxe carry it too.
Now convert. At Trading Economics' 10 September rate of ₹95.55 to the dollar, the tourist Tokyo price of $100 is about ₹9,550. The post-November counter price of $117 is about ₹11,180. That is inside the Indian retail band. Add a flight to Tokyo and the maths is embarrassing. And if a friend brings a pair back and declares it at customs, the 35 percent basic duty, the 10 percent surcharge on that duty and 18 percent IGST compound to roughly 1.634 times the declared value, which pushes a $100 pair to about ₹15,600. You would be paying a premium for the privilege of buying the shoe in the country that designed it.
The one exception is the Nippon Made line. The Paris flagship stocks an exclusive Mexico 66 NM from that collection, and the Japan stores carry Nippon Made pairs you will not find on the India site. If you are travelling anyway, that is the pair to hunt. The standard Mexico 66 is not.
Sizing note from experience: the Mexico 66 runs narrow and long. Most Indian buyers with a broader forefoot should go half a size down from their Nike size and expect the toe box to feel snug for the first two weeks. The leather softens. The SD version has a thicker sole and a roomier fit, which is the one to pick if you want a daily beater rather than a photo shoe.
Verdict: Great Shoe, Wrong Reason to Queue
The Mexico 66 is one of the best-designed low-profile sneakers ever made. The tiger stripes, the thin sole, the way it disappears under a cuffed trouser. It deserves the moment. What it does not deserve is a queue in Ginza when the same shoe, at roughly the same price, ships free to Bengaluru.
Honestly, the smarter move for Indian buyers is to watch what happens to Onitsuka pricing after the spin-off. A brand chasing luxury positioning and opening on the Champs-Élysées does not cut prices. If ₹12,500 feels steep now, it is unlikely to get cheaper in 2027. Buy the colourway you actually want at Indian retail, skip the grey-market "Japan import" listings, and wear it with straight wide-leg denim or a cotton kurta. The shoe was built for a low silhouette. Let it sit low.
For a low-profile alternative already in Indian stores, our Adidas range has the Samba and Gazelle, which occupy the same slot in a wardrobe at a similar price.
We covered the corporate side of this story in June when Asics announced the split. Read Onitsuka Tiger Breaks Free from ASICS for why the spin-off matters more than it sounds.
