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.

  • Record Store Day 2019

    Record Store Day 2019

    Record Store Day 2019 redux. Record Store Day has moved away from its origins, to drive music fans into independent record stores and support independent record labels in a time of iTunes and Spotify. For various reasons I didn’t do any any vinyl shopping but used The Vinyl Store to compile a list of what I would have considered buying if I had been in a position to.

    My picks from Record Store Day UK 2019

    A few things:

    • Madonna’s True Blue single was one of her classic 12 inch singles. I am less convinced by the fake ‘obi’
    • Cloud One were a studio-based disco production team
    • Jazzanova’s Heatwave was given a 1980s makeover which sounds amazing
    • Lonnie Liston Smith – Space Princess is a great disco cut from the man that brought you Expansions

    Online consumer behaviour

    danah boyd on the current state of play of participatory media. I first met danah back in 2005 at the Yahoo! Campus in Sunnyvale with Bradley Horowitz. She was working on a project for Yahoo! Research back then and has kept close to youth and ‘social’ media since then.

    Design

    Even if you don’t know eBoy, you’ll recognise their work and its distinctive style. They’re doing a collaboration in customised Swatch watches. The video talks about how they work together, which is an interesting process in and of itself.

    Korea

    Asian Boss have done a collaboration with a documentary maker to bring Crossroads to YouTube. Crossroads is a documentary that shows how the Sewol Ferry disaster shaped modern Korean culture and politics. It was as big as the Poll Tax riots or the Brexit vote in the UK. It pressed the reset button on the Korean public’s relationship with the government captured by chaebol which was business as usual.

    Japan

    And Tomy’s range of mini retro consumer electronics are amazing. I presume that these are all aimed at adults. The level of detail is impressive. More related posts here.

  • Chinese typing + more things

    The complexity of Chinese typing. Chinese typing relies extensively on predictive text technology. It is even more problematic that Chinese people are forgetting what some characters look like. The idea of memory trade-off is interesting. It is also worthwhile considering when one thinks about Chinese internet behaviour and the popularity of gaming (because chat can be a pain)

    Meet Liam. He has 5000 Instagram followers, but no pulse. | Campaign Asia – Nikuro is Japan’s first male virtual influencer. A 3D computer-sculpted head mapped onto to a live-action body, he seeks work “in the fields of music, fashion, and entertainment, where he will be involved in the production of a wide range of content as a multimedia producer”, according to the company, which also mentions using AI to create innovative content – digital influencers won’t misbehave, have a me too moment or be arrested for a criminal offence.

    An amazing looking Mac-based desktop phone. This was an Apple prototype from 1993. Eventually things went the other way and phones were integrated into computers. This was from back when people were starting to think about VoIP services and Novell Networks integrated telephony solutions. And that’s before we even get to smartphones.

    The quaint industrial case design is classic early 1990s Silicon Valley chic. You can also see aspects of the thinking of General Magic’s connected devices in this computer. More design related posts here.

    Kantar Media has done some qualitative research on consumer attitudes to marketing, media and advertising. You’ve got three reports that are free to download: Dimension 2019 | Kantar 

    Finally: TODAYonline | LVMH shares hit record high as China demand boosts luxury group – luxury is still on a bit of a screamer in China. And this is despite economic growth halving year on year since Premier Xi took power, a clampdown on corruption and gift-giving.

  • Robot launch + more things

    Automata Eve robot launch

    I went along to the Automata Eve robot launch. More about the robot launch in more detail once I get around to write the post. Eve is a robotic arm aimed for light industrial usage.

    Untitled

    Everything else

    Moleskine Now Offers Retreats for People Who Work Remotely – Condé Nast Traveler – I get why they may be focusing on freelancers as the creative industries sees agencies using an increasing amount of freelancers. But there is also an opportunity for a luxury experience offering.

    Japanese porn company Soft on Demand wants to use virgin power to create electricity for romantic Tokyo event – Japanese marketers never fail to surprise me with these odd campaigns. The power comes from stationary exercise bikes. I couldn’t do any better than Sora News 24 at explaining how this campaign all comes together, so go and read it all there. Soft on Demand is the Japan’s largest adult entertainment media company and are putting a lot of money into marketing VR content

    Why Canon is helping users rent their kit to each other | Marketing | Campaign Asia – interesting idea but I could foresee a lot of problems with an AirBnB for camera bodies and lens, or maybe I am just a low trust individual. More marketing related content here.

    I hadn’t realised that population ageing and decline is a bigger issue in Bulgaria than it is in western European countries like Germany or the Nordics. In terms of population decline it even outstrips Korea and Japan.

    This seems to have been driven by the economic hardship caused in the immediate aftermath of the economic collapse of the Comintern (Communist International) group members and break up of the Soviet Union into Russia and members of the CIS.

    Very interesting documentary on the day-to-day impact by showing the lives of villagers that have been hit hard through this decline.

  • Shut down digital marketing + more

    Mark Ritson: It’s time to shut down digital marketing teams for good | Marketing Week – return to media neutral and evidence based marketing? It also reminded me of a debate that I had back in 2008 with James Warren about when were we likely to see the end of the digital strategist. It hasn’t happened yet, because there are plenty of businesses selling ‘digital transformation’. Basically the old enterprise IT sales process in a new design thinking bottle. I suspect that the time to shut down digital marketing teams might be a while away yet, though I agree with Ritson’s sentiment.

    Carmakers quitting Britain won’t blame Brexit – it’s not in their interest | The Guardian – classic reputation management; I don’t blame the Japanese for taking this approach. I imagine that Mini, Bentley and Rolls Royce might take this approach too, if the brands survive electrification. Aston Martin and Jaguar Land Rover may go further showcasing India or China as a premium vehicle powerhouse.

    Europe lagging on 5G? Don’t be so sure, says Ericsson | total telecom – Ericsson believe that the move to speed up 5G rollout in Europe will come from Industrial, rather than consumer focused use cases. European government’s and operators are looking to fast track their 5G rollout programmes, dispelling the myth that Europe will be ‘late to the 5G party’, according to an industry expert

    WSJ City | Key investors unhappy with SoftBank Tech-Investment Fund – not terribly surprised

    Gender and box office performance: Applied Economics Letters: Vol 26, No 9 – having a male star in a film generated a premium in the neighbourhood of 12%, while female star had no statistical impact on a movie’s performance – is this down to the way that they are marketed or the way that male stars are perceived versus female stars? I also tend to follow directors because of the sense of style that they bring to a story. Their name is a mark of quality

  • Roland file trademarks + more things

    Roland Files Trademarks For 303 & 808 Designs In Germany – Magnetic Magazine – interesting reading, in particular patenting designs so long after they were manufactured. Roland files trademarks and patents aimed at trying to stop Behringer who are due to be releasing a near perfect copy of the 808 drum machine

    Why Jeff Bezos Went to Medium With His Message | NYTimes – evidence that blogging isn’t dead and social media isn’t everything

    Huawei Threatens Lawsuit Against Czech Republic After Security Warning | NYTimes.com – interesting that Huawei is trying to cow the government with legal force. Huawei’s interpretation of Chinese law seems to be different to legal experts

    An Honest Take on the Hits and Misses of SIHH 2019 | SJX Watches – Baume et Mercier’s abandoning of the silicon hairsprings that made their debut in the Baumatic of 2018. The elimination of the silicon hairspring has lowered the retail price of the watch by about €250, but that’s notable for the reason behind the retreat. According to several insiders, Baume & Mercier, and by extension its parent Richemont, was kindly asked to stop using silicon hairsprings because the intellectual property for them belongs to a consortium led by Swiss micro-engineering institute CSEM, which is in turn backed by Rolex, the Swatch Group and Patek Philippe

    Are Influencers Over? | The Daily | Gartner L2 – interesting read and contrasting approaches between Unilever and Diesel.

    5 Asian Trends for 2019 – TrendWatching – After decades of economic growth, rising numbers of Asians are no longer primarily focused on pursuing material wealth. On the contrary, the pressures of progress are catching up: overwork, mental health issues, apathy, and more. In 2019, many Asians comfortable with their economic status

    Meet the ‘godfather’ of China’s smartphone industry | SCMP – the founder of BBK which backs Oppo, Vivo, OnePlus, RealMe etc. More related content here.

    Cheatsheet: Snapchat is no longer adding more users (but it isn’t losing them, either) – Digiday – bots are loyal?

    WSJ City | As US and Germany draw up trade barriers, Germany fights back – makes sense

    WSJ City | Apple retail chief Angela Ahrendts leaving company – makes sense. Apple’s move into true luxury pricing has shown to be a fallacy if one looks at consumer reaction to iPhone sales and laptop pricing. A number of people I know downgraded in the range rather than follow through on MacBook Pro purchases. Also the retail presence has felt like straightening deck chairs rather than moving forwards