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.

  • Crafty startup + more things

    Lisa, a former colleague from Yahoo! has joined a crafty startup. The Yahoo! alumni network has a bit of a reputation with crafty startups. Hack Day pioneer Chad Dickerson was instrumental in the growth of Etsy. My Mum now has a compelling web application:

    In a nutshell, Wool and the Gang is a knitwear brand where you can either buy our designs hand-knit by artisans in Peru or you can buy a kit to make it yourself. We have some pretty exciting plans which I can’t go in to detail here but suffice it to say I’m excited and so are a number of investors here in the UK.

    That’s why I’m looking to fill out the team to completely overall the online experience and build something which is currently super secret. If you know anyone for the following roles, please pass them my email rodwell@woolandthegang.com

    1. User Experience – KICK ASS! We’re starting from scratch and need brilliance. I suspect this is not full time but a contract position as we design the new site and product

    2. Marketing Associate – Great opportunity for a young, smart whipper-snapper who wants to get in to marketing (PR/email/content/social etc.) I’m willing to train but must be smart, love fashion, creative and good with the odd number

    3. Front End Developer – full time.

    Wool and the Gang as a crafty startup taps into the Etsy marketplace. The side hustle, bored pensioners or part time gig to channel one’s creative side into. I’m not surprised. Over the years, as I occasionally went home and joined my Mum on fabric and knitting wool shopping trips, the customer base I have seen in the shops have gotten younger. The market seems to be like a dumbbell, with young and older people engaging. It will be interesting to see if this can be extended online with the rise of the successful crafty startup.

    Johnny Marr and Bernard Sumner’s first album as Electronic is being reissued, you can stream it for free via a nice looking app on the great satan of social networks here.

    BBC Labs great interactive illustration of the UK class system was fascinating and shows in a positive way just where the license fee goes despite UK politics. Class is a complex concept for people who’ve never lived in the United Kingdom.

    https://youtu.be/UDIHrX-Jp2E

    It was so embedded in UK culture that it was referenced in this skit on modernity.

    Root Blog posted the excellent documentary Synth Britannia. None of that guitar and drums crap, real music. Despite the UK’s place as ground zero for punk, heavy metal and glam rock from the 1980s onwards it pioneered a lot of electronic music styles. 

    Japanese company Denso Corp. came up with a killer smart phone application, an key ring finder. I imagine that his works far better than the version from the 1980s gadget catalogue Kaleidoscope (US readers think Sharper Image catalogs of the same vintage). tMore Japan related content here.

  • Siberian meteor burst + more

    Siberian meteor burst

    I know that there have been 500 people with minor injuries, but  the Siberian meteor burst felt like I was living in a Jerry Bruckheimer film. The best observation I saw about it was in Vice magazine’s email newsletter which asked why so many drivers in Russia had managed to film the asteroid rather than keeping both hands on the wheel? The reason for the multiple recordings of the Siberian meteor burst is driver cams used to help with car accident disputes. The Siberian meteor burst brought back memories of the Tunguska event in 1908 which levelled large swathes of Siberian forest.

    Business

    “Physically Together”: Here’s the Internal YHOO No-Work-From-Home Memo | AllThingsD – I could see a post coming on from Becky McMichael about the benefits of remote working and flexible hours etc etc

    PrivCo | LIVINGSOCIAL $110M Debt Infusion From Existing Investors With Oppressive Terms – I wonder what implications this will have for GroupOn

    Consumer behaviour

    HBO: The Weight of the Nation interesting site on obesity in the US

    Culture

    So there has been extensive character redesigns and different actors will be voicing some of the main protagonists, but I am super-excited that Production I.G are returning with another installment in the Ghost In the Shell series of anime. Arise looks amazing judging by the trailer footage now available on YouTube. More Japan related content can be found here.