[GoNative]

There certainly are Gucci stores in Japan. Are they all company owned or are they franchises? I've no idea can't be bothered checking.
In my experience in the outdoors industry in Australia (many years back) if there is an overseas manufacturer of a product you want to sell in your country then your can approach them for a distributor lisence. Depending on how big the market is you can sometimes negotiate to be the sole distributor or there may be a number of lisences available. You are then basically the main wholesaler for that product in your country supplying retail stores that wish to stock the product.
Not sure if it's any different in Japan but for many products I suspect not.