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.

  • 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.

    https://youtu.be/TvJkXsGKirU

    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.

  • Japanese insights & things that made my day this week

    Japanese insights

    Creative Culture ran a roundtable that provided with Japanese insights across brands and consumers. Well worth a watch.

    Key outtakes

    Kawaii or cute occurs in areas that you wouldn’t expect it. From Hello Kitty airlines and maternity wards to Miffy being used to sell mortgage services.

    Copy of First Day of Kindergarten 014
    Miffy selling mortgage service on a Japanese print newspaper advertisement

    Imagine 2060, more than 40% of Japan’s population will be 65 and older. This changes what market segments look like; no point chasing the latest generation. It will change what marketing will look like and what products will be sold. It would be an exciting time for product designers, creatives and strategists working with local clients who are willing to embrace the opportunity.

    Cindy - Texture2
    Couple by Norimutsu Nogami

    Newsprint and television are still popular media in Japan (and more popular than marketers are willing to admit outside Japan). These media still have a strong influence on consumers and are represented more strongly in the media mix by Japanese companies. In terms of Japanese insights for brand marketers this means that brand building should be less of a challenge from a media investment point of view than it would be in in some western markets or China.

    https://flic.kr/p/bXjrJ
    Japanese television by buck82

    Consumers shop daily or every other day. This is because they don’t have enough space to keep their groceries. So there are convenience stories in every neighbourhood. Retailers want to keep minimum inventory, so they receive frequent, small deliveries almost daily. Since there is a rapid turnover this in turn allows innovation around product innovation. Special edition Kit-Kats are the example most familiar to consumers. But you can see different products in the convenience store at different times of the day.

    Family Mart Convenience Store, Harajuku Tokyo, Japan
    Family Mart Convenience Store, Harajuku, Tokyo by MD111

    More Japanese insights here.

    China

    Moving from Japanese insights to Chinese strategy, the Center for Strategic & International Studies discusses what is needed for the west to have a better China strategy.

    Technology

    The Computer History Museum in Silicon Valley, took the opportunity to interview Mark Markkula. Markkula was an engineer and product marketer involved at Fairchild and Intel during the early days. He put in seed capital into Apple and sat on the board until 1997.

    If you watch nothing else on this post, watch this discussion between Stephen King and Jeremy Bullmore at J Walter Thompson. Bullmore ended up as chairman of J Walter Thompson, eventually retiring in 1987. King established the first account planning department in the advertising industry at J Walter Thompson in 1968.

    May of the problems outlined are similar to problems today.

  • Metabolist architecture + more things

    Metabolist architecture

    kisho kurokawa’s metabolist ‘capsule house K’ from the 1970s to be preserved in japan – the metabolist group, formed by architects, designers and critics, imagined a world of flexible cities where buildings, like people, were transient and ever changing. designed and built between 1971 and 1973, ‘capsule house K’ exemplifies the ideas of metabolism, recyclability and exchangeability – What separates the Japanese metabolist architecture and design movement from the western prefab manufacturing is that it was genuinely modular. A single capsule like this house could exist on its own, or could be part of a tower structure. The focus on flexible cities at the centre of metabolist design and the idea of recyclability. The western prefab approach is all about bringing product line techniques to create quick builds.

    Consumer behaviour

    Taking Stock With Teens – Spring 2021 Infographic 

    Marketing

    Did pharma overshoot digital sales rep calls? Study charts decline in effectiveness | FiercePharma – I think that there are interesting implications for a lot of digital marketing activities, like LinkedIn and email marketing

    Media

    The Wall Street Journal’s Internal Audit – The New York Times – none of the editors understand digital and that the paper is unlikely to have any success reaching the younger readers they desperately need without managing to write something about either race or gender. More media related content here.

    Security

    A secretive Home Office unit has hoarded data on millions of people | WIRED UK – more than 30 data providers are listed in the documents. Only two of these, fraud prevention company GB Group and data analytics firm, Dun & Bradstreet, were not redacted. GB Group acknowledged it provided data to the unit but declined to provide any further details citing “confidentiality obligations”. Dun & Bradstreet says it is against its policy to comment on its work with clients. I’d be surprised if they weren’t

    Technology

    Microsoft accelerates industry cloud strategy for healthcare with the acquisition of Nuance – Stories – I wonder what this means for Apple and Google voice recognition

    Wireless

    A booming industry based entirely on missed calls helped bring India online — and vanished overnight – Rest of World – Kumar’s friends and family members began ringing each other but hanging up before being charged for a call; the resulting missed-call alerts functioned as a kind of code between them. “It was decided in advance,” Kumar says. “We would say, if I’m coming to pick you up, I’ll give you a missed call, and you come out of your house.” 

    Leaving missed calls in this way — effectively using a mobile phone as a kind of latter-day pager — was a consumer hack that, in the 2000s, before India’s cheap smartphone and data revolution, grew more popular than texting. The missed call emerged in India as a critical means of communication for those who counted every rupee spent on recharge credit. But the practice soon spread, became trendy, and, even as call rates plunged in the 2000s to among the lowest in the world, evolved into a general tool of convenience: a missed call could mean “I miss you,” “Call me back,” or “I’m here.” The fact that the missed call demanded only basic numeric literacy made them accessible to the third of India’s population that was illiterate. In 2008, one study estimated that more than half of Indian phone users were in the habit of calling people with the expectation that they wouldn’t pick up – you had similar consumer patterns around the world, but Indians seem to have taken it to a new level