Japanese manufacturing industry gets prepared for change to electric vehicles as many parts currently used could become obsolete according to a study

"According to a study published in August by the Shizuoka Economic Research Institute, almost 30 percent of sales in Japan’s 34.6 trillion yen ($430 billion) auto parts industry comes from parts that could be rendered obsolete by electricity-powered vehicles. "


Source: Japan’s Auto Parts Makers Try to Anticipate Shift to Electric Cars
By HIROKO TABUCHI
Published: November 2, 2010
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/11/03/business/global/03japancar.html?_r=1&ref=asia&pagewanted=all

Single Japanese women biggest spenders on their pets with average spend of 20,000 yen each

"...data on single-person households showed that women aged 35 to 59 spent the most on their pets, at ¥20,752. Overall, women spent ¥12,508 on average, which was more than four times that of men, the report said. "

Source: At ¥1.2 trillion, pet sector recession-proof

The Japan Times:

Thursday, Oct. 28, 2010

http://search.japantimes.co.jp/cgi-bin/nn20101028f4.html

The strong yen is having a major impact on the stagnant economy says TSE head

"Atsushi Saito, president and CEO of Tokyo Stock Exchange Group Inc... said the main cause of Japan's stagnant economy is the strong yen.."At an exchange rate of 90 yen to the dollar, Japan could have achieved the same kind of economic success that Germany did," he said. "

Source: TSE chief to investors: 'Buy overseas assets'
THE ASAHI SHIMBUN
2010/10/28
http://www.asahi.com/english/TKY201010270370.html

Japanese customers flock to McDonalds Japan to buy Pokemon calendar and set world record with Guiness with 1.5 million, 300 yen calendars sold

McDonald’s Japan earned a Guinness World Records mention this week for the biggest-selling calendar. Their Pokemon Calendar 2010 has sold almost 1.5 million copies since its release....The wall hanging calendars sell for 300 yen at every McDonald’s store in Japan and feature original illustrations from the popular video game and anime series."


Source: McDonald's Japan earned a Guinness World Records mention this week for the biggest-selling calendar.
Friday 19th November,2010
Japan Today
http://www.japantoday.com/category/picture-of-the-day/view/mcdonalds-pokemon-calendar

Japanese customers soon to get Skype on domestic mobile phones according to KDDI

"KDDI Corp. will make Skype Internet communications software available on its new au smartphone models to be released in coming months.....The move is intended to tap into an estimated 19 million Skype users in Japan....the software, which allows free calls between Skype users, could squeeze the carrier's other telephone services"



Source: KDDI, Skype brave 'forbidden' tie-up
BY SHINYA WAKE
THE ASAHI SHIMBUN
2010/10/20
http://www.asahi.com/english/TKY201010190332.html

Marketers are not paying enough close attention to Japan because some of the statistics coming out look bad but Japanese customers still spenders

“People are not paying close enough attention to Japan … because population growth is in decline, foreign investors are beginning to look elsewhere when making investment choices. For the time being, people think Japan is not as sexy as countries such as China and India.”




Source: AUSTRALIA AND JAPAN, BEYOND THE MAINSTREAM
Financial Times quoted Jiro Seguchi
Head of Japan
origination at Merrill Lynch
Manuel Panagiotopoulos and Andrew Cornell, page 9
http://ajf.australia.or.jp/docs/20090625_AJF_Manuel_Panagiotopoulos_Business.pdf

How can foreign companies attract Japanese customers? - unique attributes that customers value & not easily imitated by local Japanese companies according to Rosenberg and Thompson

"Foreign products must possess some unique attributes that Japanese customers value and that aggressive Japanese competitors cannot easily imitate or improve upon" 

Larry. J. Rosenberg & Gregory.J.Thompson

Source: Deciphering the Japanese cultural code

Autumn 1986

Larry. J. Rosenberg & Gregory.J.Thompson

International Marketing Review

Page 56

Japanese Nobel Prize winner urges young Japanese to focus and study abroad to achieve success

"(Eiichi Negishi, who shared this year’s (2010) Nobel Prize in chemistry) ...... advised Japan’s young generation to study, saying that dreams can come true if they pursue them for half a century, while urging young Japanese researchers to go abroad as it is important to see Japan from outside it."

Source: Seniority system blocks scientific research in Japan
Friday 8th October, 2010
Japan Today
http://www.japantoday.com/category/commentary/view/seniority-system-blocks-scientific-research-in-japan

Japanese customers prefer morsel sized food, US food company had to adjust product size to meet needs of Japanese customers

"KFC found that, for its Japanese consumers, it needed to change it's product's shape and size because they prefer morsel-sized food"










Source:
Chapter 9, page 265
International Marketing

By Dana Nicoletta Lascu

2008. Atomic DOg, Cengage Learning

Mason, Ohio, USA

ISBN:978-1-4266-2752-1

"There are no secrets of Japanese management... it is the workers, not the managers" Geert Hofstede

"There are no secrets of Japanese management, however: it is even doubtful whether there is such a thing as management, in the American sense, in Japan at all.

 The secret is in Japanese society; and if any group in society should be singled out as carriers of the secret, it is the workers, not the managers"

Geert Hofstede

University of Limburg,

Maastricht, the Netherlands

Source: Cultural constraints in management theories

Academy of Management Executive, 1993

Volume, 7, Number 1

Page 84

Further reading

For Japanese customers minimalism is a birthright that is culturally ingrained

"Minimalism is a Japanese birthright — what Western culture views as monkish habits, Zen aesthetics or the joys of simplicity, the Japanese have pretty much taken for granted as an ingrained part of the business of living. "



Source: Six-mat chic: Small spaces suit us just fine
By KAORI SHOJI
The Japan Times: Wednesday, Nov. 10, 2010
http://search.japantimes.co.jp/cgi-bin/ek20101110ks.html

Japanese customers find themselves in the most important trade zone in the world according to estimates

"Asia-Pacific, a region that now accounts for almost 55 percent of global GDP and 43 percent of global trade"

Source: Japan pulls pin on trade pact news

World

By Rick Wallace

The Australian

Friday November, 11, 2011, page 12

Japanese customers see the cost of protecting debt higher than other countries according to research

Annual Cost of protecting US$10 million of debt against default for five years

USA $69,000
Britain $114,000
Germany $121,000
Japan $166,000
China $196,000

Source: Credit Suisse, Northern Trust

From article:
Risk free assets in short supply
By David Wessel
Business, Back Page
The Australian newspaper
Friday, December 23, 2011, page 22

Japanese customers are mobile phone centric according to new study showing Japanese behaviour compared to other mobile cultures

"Many Japanese watch television on 1seg, a mobile terrestrial digital-audio and video-data broadcasting service. The report said 22% of Japanese watch TV or video on their phones, as opposed to 5% of Americans and Europeans...Japanese are the most likely to check the weather on their phones, the Europeans are the most likely to listen to music on their handsets, and Americans are the most likely to tap into social networks on the go."


Source: No Text (Messages) Please, We’re Japanese
October 8, 2010.
Japan Real Time
WSJ
http://blogs.wsj.com/japanrealtime/2010/10/08/no-text-messages-please-were-japanese/?mod=rss_WSJBlog&mod=WSJ_Japan_JapanRealTime

Japanese customers quitting full time jobs so as to look after elderly sick parents and family - a growing trend

"For Itsuo Kandatsu, cooking three meals a day is a task he performs for his wheelchair-using mother and disabled brother. But the 49-year-old Tokyo resident isn't a house husband. ..... He used to work for an insurance company. He quit to become a freelance salesman in 2003 so he could take better care of his 81-year-old mother.."

Source: Salarymen feeling pressure of elderly care
By NATSUKO FUKUE
Japan Times: Friday, Oct. 22, 2010
http://search.japantimes.co.jp/cgi-bin/nn20101022f1.html

Japanese workers nervous about job termination and expiry of work contracts as economy sectors decline in new globalization trends

"A Japanese government survey shows nearly 300,000 non-regular workers lost or will lose their jobs between the October-2008 onset of the global financial crisis and December this year. .. as of the 20th of this month, about 295,000 non-regular workers had lost their jobs or were expected to lose them because of the termination or expiration of their contracts. "

Source: 295,000 non-regular workers losing jobs in Japan
2010/10/29
NHK World
http://www.nhk.or.jp/daily/english/29_17.html

Japanese customers more likely to send email than text on mobile phone according to comscore study"

"Europeans displaying the strongest use of text messaging with 81.7 percent sending a text message in June, compared to 66.8 percent in the U.S. and just 40.1 percent in Japan. Japanese users exhibited the highest reach in the email category at 54 percent, while consumers in the U.S. were most likely to use instant messaging services on their mobile (17.2 percent). "

Source: Japan Mobile Audience “Most Connected” with 3 of 4 Users Accessing Mobile Media in June
Comscore
October 7, 2010
http://www.comscore.com/Press_Events/Press_Releases/2010/10/comScore_Release_First_Comparative_Report_on_Mobile_Usage_in_Japan_United_States_and_Europe

Japanese need to "diversify & deepen ties among people"

"We need to master how to handle such conflicts," he said. "In order to do so, we need to diversify and deepen ties among people."

Satsuki Eda, former president of the House of Councilors

Source: Eda urges stronger ties with China to handle disputes
By KANAKO TAKAHARA
The Japan Times
Monday, Oct. 25, 2010
http://search.japantimes.co.jp/cgi-bin/nn20101025a3.html

Japanese customers don't mind the silence during personal communications draw on it to further evaluate the message

"Chronemics refer to the timimg of verbal exchanges. Americans expect prompt responses and are uncomfortable with a slow response or silence......Other nationalities - the Japanese, for instance - prefer to use this "quiet time" as contemplation time in which they evaluate the message"

Source: International Marketing

By Dana Nicoletta Lascu

2008. Atomic DOg, Cengage Learning

Mason, Ohio, USA

ISBN:978-1-4266-2752-1

Japanese customers biggest spenders on advertising in Asia according to media research

Media Advertising Spend by Country ($US Millions)

Japan        2010  $43, 297, 2013 est, $44, 173
China        2010  $23, 208, 2013 est, $33, 999
Australia    2010  $9,705,    2013 est, $11, 167


Source: Kings of the Ad World
Marketing & Media
Australian Financial Review
Monday 18th April, 2011, page 42

Japanese customers with children studying abroad may be eligible for child rearing allowances

"Monthly child-rearing allowances for children of middle school age or younger from fiscal 2011 will be provided only if the children reside in Japan, according to government sources....Children studying abroad will still be eligible for the allowance under the new rule."



Source: Child-rearing allowances eyed for kids studying abroad
The Yomiuri Shimbun
Nov. 16, 2010
http://www.yomiuri.co.jp/dy/national/T101115003325.htm

89% of Japanese women customers not alerting police when attacked on trains

"About nine out of 10 women who fall victim to groping aboard trains do not alert authorities, according to a survey released Thursday by the National Police Agency....The NPA plans to strengthen patrols, create a mechanism to make it easier for victims to report gropings, and also work with railways to install more security cameras...As reasons for not contacting the police, 83 women, or 30.6 percent, said it would be "troublesome" to involve them, while 72, or 26.6 percent, said they thought questioning and other investigative processes would be "time-consuming."

Source: 89% of train groping victims don't notify police: survey
Friday, Oct. 15, 2010
Japan Times
http://search.japantimes.co.jp/cgi-bin/nn20101015a2.html

Japanese customers rank second in the world for social networking and blogging according to comscore study

"Social networking/blogs reached the greatest percentage of mobile users in the U.S. at 21.3 percent, followed by Japan at 17.0 percent and Europe at 14.7 percent."


Source: Japan Mobile Audience “Most Connected” with 3 of 4 Users Accessing Mobile Media in June
Comscore
October 7, 2010
http://www.comscore.com/Press_Events/Press_Releases/2010/10/comScore_Release_First_Comparative_Report_on_Mobile_Usage_in_Japan_United_States_and_Europe

Japanese customer meeting the needs of French restaurants with high quality Japanese vegetables in Paris

"Asafumi Yamashit grows around 50 varieties of vegetable, all of them Japanese ..."What I'm aiming for is not rarity - it's quality," ...Today Yamashita works with just six clients, including two of the world's most innovative chefs - Pierre Gagnaire and Pascal Barbot - the rising star Sylvain Sendra, and the Tour d'Argent, one of Europe's oldest restaurants.
He recently struck two Paris luxury hotels off his customer list after their chefs failed to live up to his exacting standards."


Source: Japanese farmer is French chefs' secret
Chapet, France
December 14, 2011
http://www.theage.com.au/entertainment/restaurants-and-bars/japanese-farmer-is-french-chefs-secret-20111213-1osvj.html#ixzz1gZFj0ZL0

Japanese customers may see Nissan gradually shift output abroad according to CEO Carlos Ghosn as no return on investment

"Nissan chief executive Carlos Ghosn said last week that Japan's second largest car maker would gradually shift output abroad.

"It's difficult to make an investment in a country with no return"

Nissan chief executive Carlos Ghosn

he said"

Source: Japan machinery orders slow
Andy Sharp
Tokyo
Bloomberg
Australian Financial Review newspaper
Friday 9th December, 200, page 9

Japanese customers cutback on tobacco as October 1 tax hike impacts

"Domestic sales of cigarettes plunged 69.9% on the year to 6.1 billion in October, the Tobacco Institute of Japan said Friday...By value, sales fell 58.8% to 126.1 billion yen...On Oct. 1, tobacco companies raised prices as tobacco taxes went

Source: Tobacco Sales Plunge 70% After Price Hike
Friday, November 12, 2010
Nikkei
http://e.nikkei.com/e/fr/tnks/Nni20101112D12SS655.htm

Japanese customers segmented by lifestyle in new push for customized matchmaking parties - otaku segment draws record participants

"A local commerce and industry association organizing a matchmaking party for geeks in Saitama Prefecture is amazed that around 500 people applied for an event originally intended to draw only 20 men and 20 women. ..The association was initially anxious about getting enough women to participate because the event in the town formerly known as Washimiya was aimed only at "otaku," the term for geeks obsessed with manga, animation and video games. "


Source:Saitama geeks freak after 'otaku' matchmaking party deluged by applicants
The Japan Times,
Saturday, Nov. 27, 2010
http://search.japantimes.co.jp/cgi-bin/nn20101127f3.html

Japanese customers see low return on equity for national banks according to research

Return on Equity for national Banks (%)

China     22.5%
Canada  17.4%
Australia 16.5%
Korea     14.5%
Japan      11.3%
USA         7.3%

Source: UBS

From: Local lenders relatively rich, Profitability
Matthew Drummond
Rates Cut
Australian Financial Review newspaper
Friday, 9th December, 200, page 8

Japanese customers pay high tax component on gasoline compared to other countries according to OECD petrol prices

OECD Petrol Prices

(All prices in cents per litre)

Britain      84.6 cents = price less tax, 123.7 cents = tax component
Japan       101.6 cents = price less tax, 72.7 cents = tax component
Australia   93.7 cents = price less tax, 51.3 cents = tax component
USA        85 cents = price less tax, 12.3 cents = tax component

Source: ACCC

From: Among the cheapest, but country pays more by Lanai Vasek
The Australian Newspaper,
Friday December 9, 2011, page 5

Japanese women sign up for womens health apps as personal communication booms according to release

"Luna Luna is a cell phone application focused squarely on women’s health. The application, a female-oriented and more personalized version of a medical website, boasts 1.8 million registered users in Japan ...The most popular feature of the application is the daily message ....who alerts users where they are in their menstruation calendar. "


Source: Luna Luna, Rabbits and You: Japanese Women’s Health Comes to the iPhone
October 26, 2010.
WSJ
http://blogs.wsj.com/japanrealtime/2010/10/26/luna-luna-rabbits-and-you-japanese-womens-health-comes-to-the-iphone/tab/print/

Japanese customers share Japanese food ingredients with French in cooking demonstration in Paris

"Parisians had a chance to sample some French delicacies prepared using traditional Japanese food items ... aimed at promoting Japanese food items, was held at the Japanese ambassador's residence in Paris"

Source: French dishes Japan style
2010/10/15
http://www.nhk.or.jp/daily/english/15_20.html

Japanese customers see work life balance comparisons differ markedly from Americans according to report

"Citing a 2006 Japanese government report that said Japanese fathers spend only 33 minutes a day helping with childcare duties, compared with 3 hours spent by American fathers, Roos stressed the importance of pop culture in changing people’s behavior."

Source: U.S. envoy's wife advocates better career-family balance in Japan
Friday 08th October, 06:55 AM JST
Japan Today
http://www.japantoday.com/category/national/view/us-ambassadors-wife-advocates-better-career-family-balance-in-japan

Qr codes are changing the way Japanese customers shop at their local shops and retailers

Photo: Local free magazine - Local businesses promote their services using Quick Response codes.

QR codes, these allow a person with a mobile phone to take a picture of the code and be taken directly to the stores website without typing a URL address.As you can see every local business has a QR code and a mobile website.Each advertisement is the same size and same layout.Technology is changing the face of local business in Japan.

Ring pull cans are a great convenience and very popular with Japanese customers

Photo: A Japanese ring pull can

Japanese customers have the best conveniences when it comes to packaged food. Japanese packaging is world class. Nearly all cans in Japan have ring pull tops.The only ones that don't seem to have ring pull are those imported from other countries. Ring pull cans are easy to get use to as a consumer and the use of ring pull cans may explain why it is so hard to find a good can opener in Japan.They are slowly disappearing as ring pull cans become the norm.

Japanese hit a world Twitter record during the world cup soccer sending 3283 tweets a second

“ Twitter has been a huge hit in Japan. .... Japanese tweeters set a world record when the whistle blew in the World Cup game in which Japan beat Denmark at 3,283 tweets per second, mostly believed to have been Japanese...San Francisco-based Twitter Inc estimates Japanese send nearly 8 million tweets a day, about 12 percent of the global total.”

Source: Twitter CEO celebrates dramatic growth in Japan
Saturday 24th July, 2010
Japan Today
http://www.japantoday.com/category/technology/view/twitter-ceo-celebrates-dramatic-growth-in-japan

Japanese Customer: Book Review - Almost Transparent Blue - Ryu Murakami - Japanese Literature

Title: Almost Transparent Blue
Author: Ryu Murakami
English translation of a Japanese work, Translated by Nancy Andrews
Published:1977 First Edition
Publisher: Kodansha International, Tokyo, Japan
Pages: 126
ISBN: 4-7700-2904-7



Buy the book






Book Review by JapaneseCustomer.com

November 7th, 2007

Copyright, 2007 , JapaneseCustomer.com, All Rights reserved


19 year olds, Tokyo, 1970's, drugs, Hendrix, velvet, foreigners, sexual exploration, desire, lust, being ignored, escapism, fantasy, obsession, insects, weather, vague, incomplete, amazement, flashbacks, pineapples, relationships, indirect, observations, loneliness, fear, strange experiences, pain, and reflection. The book has this and more. It is easy to see why this is a favourite of Japanese college students. Murakami's descriptions, characters and observations provide insight into a less known side of life. Almost transparent blue, a creative, imaginative description through the eyes of the main character, Ryu.


Rating: 4/5


Buy the book








Learn more about study in Japan
at Study Abroad Japan

Japanese customers represent the ten most populist nation in the world and approximately 2% of the total world population

"Japan remains the 10th most populous nation and accounts for 1.9 percent of the global population, according to U.N. estimates for 2010."

Source: Population stat positive, but via foreigner influx
Japan Times
Friday, Oct. 28, 2011
http://www.japantimes.co.jp/text/nn20111028a2.html

Japanese customers seen to capture photos & watch TV and videos most on their mobile phones according to comscore study

"Japanese users were most likely to capture photos (63.0 percent) and watch TV/video (22.0 percent) on their mobiles, while Europeans were most likely to listen to music (24.2 percent) and play games (24.1 percent)."


Source: Japan Mobile Audience “Most Connected” with 3 of 4 Users Accessing Mobile Media in June
Comscore
October 7, 2010
http://www.comscore.com/Press_Events/Press_Releases/2010/10/comScore_Release_First_Comparative_Report_on_Mobile_Usage_in_Japan_United_States_and_Europe

Japanese Customer: Ten things that impacted on Japanese Customers in 2007 - what made them worry, what made them happy, what gave them hope?

What made Japanese customers worry in 2007

1. Pension scandal - the Social Insurance Agency responsible for pensions said it was unable to match the records of people who had paid premiums meaning many may not be able to get their pension

2. Mislabelling scandals. A range of companies were found to have mislabelled or falsified "use by dates" and the ingredients they said they used in the product.

3. The Japanese yen lost value against all major currencies.

4. Economic growth was revised down and the stock market index Nikkei 225
 gave investors a negative return.

5. Largest English school Nova went bankrupt, students and teachers lost their money.

6. Rising prices on a range of goods and decreasing wages.


What gave Japanese Customers hope

7. New Miyazaki governor Hideo Higashikokubaru after winning an astonishing 90.7 percent of the vote.


What made Japanese Customers happy

8. 96.3 percent of Japan’s 2007 university graduates got jobs, unemployment was at a low of 3.8%

9. The Economist dubbed Japan the most innovative country on the planet

10. Connecting with like minded people on social networking sites like Mixi and viewing videos on YouTube.

Source: Metropolis Magazine