Muji's design philosophy is minimalist, and it places an emphasis on recycling, reducing production and packaging waste, and a no-logo or "no-brand" policy.

[6] Mujirushi (no-brand) Ryōhin (quality goods) began as a product brand of the supermarket chain The Seiyu, Ltd. in December 1980.

Products were wrapped in clear cellophane, plain brown paper labels and red writing.

[7][8] In 1981, Seiji Tsutsumi, the president of the Seiyu Ryutsu group proposed opening a dedicated shop for Mujirushi Ryōhin products.

[11][12] In April 2001 they issued the Muji Car 1000 (ムジ・カー 1000), a limited release of 1,000 badgeless and decontented Nissan Marches, only available online.

The spartanly equipped little car (with the rear seat upholstered in vinyl, for instance) was only offered in "marble white".

[15][16] Muji subsequently stopped labelling goods as "Xinjiang cotton" in certain markets, such as Hong Kong.

[17] In Japan, Ryohin Keikaku had 328 directly operated stores, and supplied 124 outlets, as of August  2017[update].

[19] There were 579[3] International retail outlets as of August 2022[update], located in Denmark (1) UK (7), Finland (1), France (7), Italy (6), Germany (7), Ireland (1), Spain (4), Poland (1), Portugal (1), United States (10), Canada (9), Hong Kong (19), Macau (1), Singapore (15), Malaysia (9), South Korea (40), Mainland China (325), Taiwan (58), Thailand (27), Australia (5), Philippines (5), Bahrain (2), Kuwait (3), Qatar (2), Saudi Arabia (5), UAE (7), Oman (1), India (3), Vietnam (3).

[25] On November 30, 2012, it opened its first store on the West Coast in South of Market, San Francisco.

[19] As of July 2023[update], there were 7 stores in Manhattan, one in Boston, one in Portland, and another location in Williamsburg, Brooklyn.

[9] Muji has released a T-shirt with a rubber square on the chest for customers to design their own logo or message.

[32] Muji now sells paper products (such as notebooks) which can be personalized by customers using rubber stamps in-store at no charge.

They also sell soft goods (such as T-shirts and hats) which can be computer embroidered to customer specifications, and picked up a few hours or days later.

[35] Muji product design, and brand identity, is based around the selection of materials, streamlined manufacturing processes, and minimal packaging.

On its corporate website, Ryohin Keikaku Ltd rationalises its principles in terms of producing high quality products at "lower than usual" retail prices, true to the original Muji marketing slogan "lower priced for a reason".

This fuel efficient, low-emission, and low-cost limited edition vehicle aimed to incorporate recycled materials wherever possible.

Tanaka is credited with developing the Muji concept together with Kazuko Koike (marketing consultant), and Takashi Sugimoto (interior designer).

Tanaka articulated the Muji vision and appearance, and he provided ideas and prototypes that visualized the design strategy.

They also had more than 250 outlets and sold more than 5,000 items, including products that deviated from the initial Muji concept or were low cost, but of substandard quality.

[52] Sam Hecht, Creative Director of Muji Europe, is quoted as saying "The human is not the centre of everything, but on the same level of everything".