Ged Carroll

Category: japan |日本 | 일본

Yōkoso – welcome to the Japan category of this blog. This blog was inspired by my love of Japanese culture and their consumer trends. I was introduced to chambara films thanks to being a fan of Sergio Leone’s dollars trilogy. A Fistful of Dollars was heavily influenced by Akira Kurosawa’s Yojimbo.

Getting to watch Akira and Ghost In The Shell for the first time were seminal moments in my life. I was fortunate to have lived in Liverpool when the 051 was an arthouse cinema and later on going to the BFI in London on a regular basis.

Today this is where I share anything that relates to Japan, business issues, the Japanese people or culture. Often posts that appear in this category will appear in other categories as well. So if Lawson launched a new brand collaboration with Nissan to sell a special edition Nissan Skyline GT-R. And that I thought was particularly interesting or noteworthy, that might appear in branding as well as Japan.

There is a lot of Japan-related content here. Japanese culture was one of odd the original inspirations for this blog hence my reference to chambara films in the blog name.

I don’t tend to comment on local politics because I don’t understand it that well, but I am interested when it intersects with business. An example of this would be legal issues affecting the media sector for instance.

If there are any Japanese related subjects that you think would fit with this blog, feel free to let me know by leaving a comment in the ‘Get in touch’ section of this blog here.

  • Web response times & things this week

    Web response times

    I have been working with colleagues on a point of view that is impacted by web response times. During the research aspect of this work I came across this video by Jakob Nielsen which explained web response times really well.

    Web response time resources

    Ralph Bakshi

    I might have mentioned once or twice how I like Ralph Bakshi’s fantasy films: The Lord of The Rings, Wizards and Fire and Ice. Bakshi used rotoscoping in ways that other directors have never managed to provide a unique animation experience that modern technology can’t beat.

    Forging Through the Darkness talks about Bakshi’s career

    Bakshi was making his DIY career back before computers or social platforms. Watching this film and seeing Bakshi’s punk-like attitude makes your Tik-Tok efforts seem lame by comparison. Secondly, a lot of the early opportunities that Bakshi got in animation are no longer available as the work would have been outsourced to India, China, Taiwan or Vietnam.

    The second film places Bakshi’s role in the animation in terms of the parallel track it takes to the New Hollywood movement that came to the fore in the early 1970s and finished with Heaven’s Gate.

    I was watching Nausicaä Of The Valley Of The Wind with a friend over the weekend and saw some visual similarities to Bakshi’s Wizards. According to IMDB Nausicaä Of The Valley Of The Wind was produced in 1984, some seven years after Bakshi’s Wizards.

    Japan population decline and relationship with the city

    Open culture have an article on the ghost towns of Japan. While Tokyo feels as busy as ever. There are small towns and rural areas that have become depopulated.

    I love the video made of a man who has turned a school building that no longer has children into a hostel, café and jam space for bands.

    While we’re on Japan. The 2002 documentary Tokyo Noise looks at how different Japanese artists experience, understand, interact and are inspired by Tokyo. It also covers a diverse range of issues including robotics and Shintoism.

    More Japan related content here.

    Are you scared yet, human?

    Panorama ran a documentary that feels like Adam Curtis doing a programme for the BBC’s Horizon series that explores the area of machine learning. You can argue about the content of the film, but it has provided a base level of understanding on the area to the general public. Politicians watching this show will feel as if they are industry experts as the closing credits roll; instead of viewing it as a starting point for wider reading. I think that this might set the tone in terms of regulation for many years to come.

    It misses AI winters and the fact that the technology is only ‘smart’ in very narrow areas. For instance, understanding content and autonomous driving both have their stubborn problems. It misses the fact that what we see now is based on thinking coming out of Canadian academia in the 1980s, that hasn’t been moved on much further.

    https://youtu.be/P1VKB0u86Qs

    As cryptocurrency has shown there are physical limits to how much computing power that can be thrown at a machine learning problem.

    Technology is a threat in the hands of authoritarian regimes. A classic example of this is the relationship that the Nazis had with IBM.

    Finally, I will leave you with a nicely done public safety video coming out of Denmark about the need for wearing helmets when riding a vehicle (or a horse).

  • 6G development + more things

    6G development

    Japan teams up with Finland on 6G development – Nikkei Asia the consortium on 6G development features a number of familiar names. On the Japanese side the following organisations are involved:  includes NTT, NTT DOCOMO, KDDI, SoftBank, Rakuten Mobile and the University of Tokyo. I was a bit surprised not to see NEC here as they are Japan’s domestic telecoms equipment manufacturer. From Finland you have the following 6G development partners: University of Oulu and Nokia. (Paywall)

    Culture

    Part one of what is due to be a three part podcast: oral history of The Avalanches – Since I left you 

    Ethics

    The Secret IRS Files: Trove of Never-Before-Seen Records Reveal How the Wealthiest Avoid Income Tax — ProPublica – validation of what everyone suspected. I wouldn’t be surprised if this was a strategic leak by the Biden administration

    Finance

    China’s bid for digital-yuan sphere raises red flags at G-7 – Nikkei Asia – total information awareness of global markets, surveillance and money that can be invalidated at the push of a key….

    Indian tycoons surpass Chinese tech moguls in global rich list | Financial Times – which says more about the Chinese government clipping the laissez faire approach to its tech entrepreneurs

    Luxury

    Why Shenzhen – not Hong Kong – is luxury’s new golden ticket – only Hong Kong’s property oligarchs will be sad to see this happen

    Marketing

    ‘How the hell have we allowed this to happen?’ Rory Sutherland on creative devaluation | Campaign Live – I think that its down to a wider marketing focus on performance marketing rather than brand building

    Olympics: India drops Chinese kit sponsor ahead of Tokyo Games | Olympics News | Al Jazeera – not great for Li-Ning

    Media

    The underground zines that kept self-expression alive in Mao’s China – The Boston Globe – Despite Beijing’s tight control of the printed word and its dissemination, a new and diffuse network of underground printers — low-tech, affordable, remarkably flexible, and incredibly hard to police — springs up. Equipped with nothing more than Chinese typewriters, mimeograph machines, and stencil duplicators, underground publishers mass-produce an untold quantity of materials for a vast and diverse readership.

    Security

    How to Turn Off Amazon Sidewalk | WIRED – For the Echo family of speakers, open the Alexa mobile app and go to More, Settings, Account Settings, Amazon Sidewalk and choose Disable. In the Ring app, go to the Control Center, Amazon Sidewalk, Disable, Confirm.

    Technology

    iPhone? AirPods? MacBook? You Live in Apple’s World. Here’s What You Are Missing. – WSJ – (paywall) more Apple related content here.

    Web of no web

    Finnish Group Readies Non-cellular Technology for IoT – EE Times Europe

  • Hydrogen & more stuff

    Max Fujita, head of European hydrogen fuel cells at Panasonic, discusses the importance of hydrogen technology. Hydrogen is the most widespread chemical element in the universe and could play a significant role in achieving zero net emission and other goals such as wind and geothermal power. Hydrogen is important for more environmentally friendly steel mills and foundries. It even offers a solution for the range anxiety caused by lithium ion battery cars.

    The Asia Society have a video on the story behind the Japan traditional craft revitalisation competition. If you read Monocle you will be well aware of Japan’s strength in traditional crafts, often within centuries old businesses. More Japan related content here.

    Interesting observations on culture and remote working. Interesting where they are talking about a culture crisis. For the past five years before the pandemic I saw company cultures changed as noise cancelling headphones went on and desks turned into long benches. This ironically damaged company culture. The pandemic shook up office space again, with the home office. I was quite fortunate as I had pretty much everything I needed after freelancing. But I did a lot of Zoom calls with people punched on the end of their bed. The range of views in this series of interviews shows that there will be wide mix of responses.

    Finally as a curry cup noodle fan, this next story appealed to me. Nissin (who make the iconic Cup Noodle) has a new strategy in the sustainability game by eliminating the “lid closing seal,” a thin strip of sellotape type material that holds your noodle cup closed while the ramen is cooking in boiling water. This very small change will save an estimated 33 tons of plastic waste per year produced by Nissin. Instead the lid will be held shut by two ‘ears’ on the lid film.

  • Harmony Korine & things that made last week

    Film director Harmony Korine has shot a number of spots for convenience store 7-Eleven. If Korine’s name sounds familiar he is most famous for writing Kids and directing the dystopian 1997 movie Gummo – that paints an unflattering picture of midwest America. Much of the rest of his work has been making music videos and brand movies for luxury fashion houses Gucci & Dior.

    In his posts for 7-Eleven Harmony Korine riffs off the American Graffiti vibes of the convenience stores with parking around them and combined that with sub cultures on YouTube. Most notably the Japanese dancing rockabilly gangs of Yoyogi Park, Tokyo. (More Japan related content here.)

    https://youtu.be/hBCf83SA9j4

    Another video riffs on the recently raised profile of African American culture in skating rinks following the documentary United Skates.

    https://youtu.be/kEOzBqOjWGU

    If you had caught the The Lord of The Rings bug before the Peter Jackson movie adaption, you would be familiar to with two things. The first was the Ralph Bakshi animated adaptation, which unfortunately didn’t see its second part made due to faults mostly on the side of United Artists. The second would be Brian Sibley’s radio adaptation for the BBC, that still remains in publication as a CD audio book. Sibley did this fantastic interview on the the making of the radio drama and the reaction to it. Back in 1981, The Lord of The Rings adaptation had been destination radio, with listeners being sure to tune in to each episode.

    Really interesting interview with plus size influencer Saucye West. It highlights a new economy in plain sight. It is also interesting how the the body positive movement has bifurcated along racial lines, partly due to body shape. The business aspect of it is really interesting. She is an influencer and also advises brands on size 26+ products. There is the discussion about the lack of brand purpose in plus size clothings.

  • Porsche 911 GT3 & things that made last week

    Porsche 911 GT3

    Yes the Porsche 911 GT3 is a car faster than most people can drive. Yes they all look very similar unless you are a truly devoted petrol head. But I was struck by this review of the Porsche 911 GT3 by Chris Harris.  In the early part of his review, he ran the car in to put 1,000 miles on the engine. During that time he focused on the simple joy of driving, which gave me a real hankering to get behind the wheel of a car again. What really struck me was the comments Harris makes about that primally magic time for driving as the light goes down in the evening or the sun comes up in a morning.

    Some of my most visceral early memories are of being in the back seat of the family car (unencumbered by a back seat seat belt) during this time. The magic of the early dawn light on winter clouds and wisps of smoke from rural houses as we drove back to the family farmstead in Ireland. Harris’ Porsche 911 GT3 review brought it all rushing back to me.

    Media ideas

    Thought provoking interview on the future of media, ‘lazy-endism’, balancing hyper-personalisation with wider insight and empathy, and the power of context in media. You won’t necessarily agree with all of it, but it took my thoughts on marketing to interesting places for exploration. Jerry Daykin heads up media for GSK’s consumer business across EMEA.

    C-suite’s diminishing appreciation of brand

    The Financial Times and the Institute of Practitioners in Advertising put together research on the c-suite’s lack of appreciation of marketing. The decline has been taking place over decades.

    China’s telecommunications ambitions

    Interesting roundtable on information technology and communications which provides great power advantage. Interesting perspective around standards and technology advantages looking at past case studies. China explicitly talks about its desire to project power through the ICT industry basic inputs, supply chain, standards and applications. It looks to build leverage internationally and independence domestically. They want to lock-in their power. It isn’t just about spying but international coercive control.

    Hands free airline toilet door

    ANA the Japanese airline have rolled out a kit that turns airplane toilet doors into hands free operation. It’s a brilliant piece of design. The work was done by JAMCO – a Japanese company that specialises in the design and manufacture of aircraft interiors.