Video: Flashback - Tokyo Motor Show 2007, 🌸 Japan
#japanesecustomer #japan #technology #innovation #video #motorcycles #cars #demos #flashback
Showing posts with label innovation. Show all posts
Showing posts with label innovation. Show all posts
May 23, 2022
May 22, 2022
Coffee Innovation: 🌸 Japanese drip coffee in a bottle
Photo: Japanese drip coffee in a bottle
Coffee: 🌸 Japanese drip coffee,
900ml bottled by AGF Blendy
retails for 205 Yen ($2.48 AUD, $1.77US, Euro 1.56)
It comes in four varieties:
1. Unsweetened
2. Medium sweetened
3. Low sweetened
4. Original which is sweetened
🌸 Check out the amazing coffee choices offered by Blendy in Japan
#coffee #Japan #convenience #innovation #japanesecustomer #image #japanesecustomer #image #choice #blendy
May 20, 2022
Origami: 🌸 Japanese Origami Bookmark
Origami: Japanese Origami Bookmark
🌸 Learn how to make an origami bookmark here
#Origami #bookmark #japaneseculture #style #design #beauty #japanesecustomer #creativity
May 18, 2022
New at Starbucks Japan in 2022: 🌸Sakura Strawberry Shiratama Frappuccino from 15/2 to 12/4 🌸
Photo: Japanese hanami
"It will be sold in a tall size only, priced at 680 yen for eat-in and 668 yen for takeout"
Source: Sora News 24
May 17, 2022
Cleanliness: 🌸 Highway rest areas in Japan
Learn more about Japanese Highway rest areas here
Source: Highway Service Areas in Japan: Hasuda SA
#japanesecustomer #convenience #design #innovation #creativity #japan #japaneseculture #japantravel #holiday #vacation #bucketlist #service #area
May 16, 2022
Japanese Customer Service: 🌸 The components explained
Japanese Customer Service: 🌸 The components explained
''Omotenashi is a unique way of providing Japanese hospitality through thoughtful acts.
Mekubari = Paying thoughtful attention to our guests, always looking for unspoken signs or signals that you may need something. (They do this by looking and awareness of the envornment)
Kikubari = Striving to selflessly anticipate your needs and address them without being asked or for any thanks in return. (They do this by thinking)
Kokorokubari = Welcoming all guests empathetically, aspiring to make every one feel they are thoughfully considered. ( They do this by feeling with their heart).''
Source:
Omotenashi - The ''kikubari '' concept
Japan Airlines
#japaneseculture #japanesecustomer #japan
May 14, 2022
Destinations: 🌸 Things to do in Akihabara, Tokyo, Japan #1 Maid Cafe
Photo: Maid cafe map Akihabara, Japan #japanesecustomer
What is a Maid Cafe?
Find out more here
Source: Wikipedia
May 04, 2022
What I learnt working for a Japanese company
Japan was the second-largest economy in Asia with an annual gross domestic
product of US $4.15 trillion dollars, a population of 126 million people, and a GDP
per head of US $32,700 in 2004.
Why Japan
As a kid growing up in Australia, watching Japanese anime cartoons on television after school was a daily ritual along with eating a slice of bread spread with Vegemite and jumping on the couch. Drawn by the mystique of Japanese cartoons, we acted out the stories after school. These experiences created an interest in Japan that lead to an opportunity to live and work in Japan for a Japanese company.
The job
My key responsibilities were customer satisfaction and business development, for a privately owned company in Kyoto. The company which began in 1972 had its own publishing division, travel agency, and an annual turnover estimated at 75 billion yen.
The hiring process
The interview process consisted of three interviews with three interviewers. It was customary for two interviewers at a time to ask questions while a third would observe and take notes. This was real psychological interviewing, where every word was recorded, questions were repeated and your answers were checked for accuracy. It felt like you were being totally dissected.
Your ability, mood, qualifications, experience, personality, and character were all thoroughly analyzed over and over again. Interviews lasted an average of 40 minutes at a time. In between interviews you were asked to perform a range of practical tasks. Tasks were written on a piece of paper and once issued had to be performed with no preparation. You had a few seconds to read the scenario, collect the materials you required to perform it and then start the task. For example: "What would you do in this situation?"
At the end of each day, attendees were paid for their attendance in cash and given a phone number that had to be called at a certain time that evening. It felt like a 007 movie. This was to ascertain if you had passed the day's training. If you were invited the next day your interview continued, if you were not it ended abruptly on the phone, a phone call that you paid for. After three eight-hour days of interviews, impromptu activities, and secret phone calls, five out of three hundred and fifty were selected to enter Japan Inc.
Arrival in Japan.
On arrival in Japan at 10 pm on a Sunday night, we were met at the airport by the head of the region and individually escorted to our hotel. After checking in we went to dinner at a local restaurant where we met the staff and managers of our section. The next day, the manager met me at the hotel and escorted me to the office where I was allocated a workspace, work schedule, and seventy-five clients. I started work immediately.
Organization
Japanese companies are known for their long-term plans, scheduling months in advance, and planning minute details. My impression was that Japanese companies aim to improve their operations by continuously fine-tuning their approach as they better understand the market and their customers. For example, the sales process at my company was as smooth as a well-oiled machine.
How did it work? Simple advertising with a clear message and a genuine money-saving offer, exceptional customer service (phone or drop-in inquiries), and benefits presented in a casual but convincing way. Sales interviews took up to six hours, at which time the manager would call out for lunch and the presentation would continue. The result of the system was that 95% of new business was signed.
Time
Punctuality is everything in Japan and is a skill you learn very quickly if you want to get ahead. Being early isn’t rude but lateness is inexcusable. In my company, if you were late more than three times you were not eligible for a promotion that year.
Punch-in-time cards were the norm and head office analyzed each imprint on your card. In Japan, you can't say the train was late as it is a rare occurrence and if they are, your manager will call the station and check. If a train is late, an employee must get a statement from the station staff that explains the situation officially. A chiensho meisho. This note must be given to your manager and will account for your lateness on your work record.
My office was in a small ten-story building over two floors; our seven staff had to share one toilet which was a traditional hole in the floor, squat toilet... Using a squat-style toilet while wearing a business suit is an acquired skill. In Japan, it is customary for people to bang on the door to let you know they are waiting. If you happened to stay in the toilet too long the manager would come in and ask what was wrong and when you would be returning to work. Time was accounted for like money, very carefully.
Loyalty
As an employee of a Japanese company, you put in extra hours each day as a sign of respect and loyalty to your employer. My job started at 12noon but I was expected to be in by 11 am and use the hour before to prepare, making sure I was 100% ready for the start of business. The same applied at the end of the workday. We officially finished at nine but stayed on until 10 pm doing our individual paperwork and after that helping other staff. We all took turns cleaning the office, reporting information to head office, and undertaking management requests.
On top of this, we all had our only daily routines for setting up and packing away business materials. In return, the company paid for our transport to and from work, subsidized our rent, and paid for our health insurance and annual health check-up (Where you visited a local hospital and had twenty separate tests done in one hour. Normally a blood test, ECG, X-ray, urine test, height, weight, BMI, etc. Results were sent out the following week and you had a summary on a one-page sheet that could be easily compared to the following year's check and pick up any changes very quickly)
Importance of money
Money in Japan is sacred. As there is no welfare system as we know it, you work to survive. No middle ground. Money is your key to life in Japan and is taken very seriously. Contracts you write are checked by three or four people for errors before being approved, refunds are tripled checked before being issued and your change is repeatedly counted in front of you in stores. When you eat at a restaurant, it is custom for everyone to pay for what they ate, this is known as betsu betsu.
In terms of sales performance, every yen must be accounted for. During a normal workday, head office would telephone constantly asking for our sales figures. Long faxes would stream throughout the day motivating us to sell more and meet our targets. They would be pinned up around the office, so all employees could see them.
Management style
The management style of the company could be best described as close. All staff worked together to ensure customers' needs were met. Every day I would report seven or eight times to my manager and at least once a day with the branch office regarding sales, customer preferences, and progress in relation to targets. A typical day would start with a meeting in Japanese, to ascertain the goals and schedule for each person for that day. Every member of staff would report what they planned to do that day, for example, which customers they would speak to regarding re-signing their business, targets set and the number of sales they hoped to make. This was recorded and questioned by management and by the other employees.
A large part of my job was to manage seventy-five clients and to ensure that they re-signed their business with the company. This included using a range of techniques including phone calls, postcards, entertaining them, visits to their office or home, and anything innovative that kept them satisfied and happy to renew their business. My manager knew all the four hundred plus customers and had all their details memorized including their likes, dislikes, children’s names, etc, and knew when their contract would expire and the value of their business. As a team, we worked at maximizing satisfaction and ensuring high retention.
Customer service
Customer service started with how the phone was answered, how walk-in customers were greeted and made to feel comfortable with a fresh cup of green tea and it continued when you called clients at their homes if they were running late or missed an appointment. We lent customers an umbrella if it started to rain outside or walked them to the station. Customer service in Japan means 120% focus on anticipating and meeting customer requirements, even if they are unrelated to the business at hand. Any chance to make a favourable, lasting impression is sought.
Mental discipline
The Japanese have a skill that allows them to focus on something so well that they can block everything else out. For example, the pressure you are put under in Japan is enormous, for example, you must always be on time, be polite, be well presented, remember the company rules, think of others first, work with others in harmony, work long hours without complaint and get things right, (what you say, what you do and your paperwork with no mistakes). To do this every day, six days a week is a powerful skill and they do it very well.
Work-life versus private life
Japanese people are often described as being unemotional. My experience is that they have the same emotions like you and me; the difference is how and when they show their emotions. Work takes up a lot of your time in Japan and because you’re expected to perform at your best at all times, to show your emotions at work would detract from the skills required to do your job, so it is understood that you don’t show your emotions at work. After work, it is common to go out with work colleagues for dinner, karaoke or drinking. At these times you get a chance to talk more openly and build relationships.
Simple life
In Japan, my daily life consisted of working, eating, bathing, and sleeping. Visiting a bathhouse on the way home from work is a customary way to relax and relieve stress before going home. I had no computer in my office, no lunchtime rush to pay bills, no lines at the bank, and no problems with poorly trained staff. Using my mobile phone I could order a pizza in English, change my mobile phone plan, surf the Internet and send emails in 1999.
Vacation
Vacation time in Japan is precious. The amount you get per year is based on your rank and years of service with the company. My annual leave first year was 10 paid days plus national holidays. To take a paid vacation day you have to put in a formal written request. To start the whole process I had to check the dates and times of my vacation with the other staff in the office.
As a new employee, I had to respect the plans of older more senior staff whose vacation requests superseded mine. This took over a week as we had a mix of full and part-time staff. After checking and confirming the dates I could then submit my request to the manager for consideration. Once approved it would be sent to head office. All requests had to be submitted 30 days prior to the date requested. Rules required that no more than four days at a time could be taken at once for my level. As part of the process, I had to be aware that the next time I applied for leave I couldn't take the same day of the week off. For example: If I took Wednesday to Saturday off this time, I had to take off Sunday, Monday, or Tuesday in my next request.
It is easy to see why Japanese honeymoon couple only stays for four days when they travel abroad as it is very difficult to organize time off.
Copyright JapaneseCUstomer.com. 1999. All rights reserved.
#japan #japaneseculture #business #innovation #japanesecustomer #work #job #lefstyle #pressure
April 23, 2022
Japanese customers 🌸must take trash with them when on Tokyo trains
"Tokyo Metropolitan Bureau of Transportation has announced that it will be removing all trashcans from its stations, and very soon. Trash cans were removed from stations on Tokyo Metro stations....In 2021 the bureau says it spent 100 million yen (approximately US$806,000) on trash collection/removal. Choosing to eliminate that expense, especially in a country where the majority of the population will take their trash home with them rather than litter, probably wasn’t such a hard decision to make."
Source: Sora News 24
By Casey Baseel
April 22, 2022
Article: Business Lessons from a Japanese 🌸 bath house
Photo: A typical Japanese bath
Copyright Japanese Customer.com 2015. All rights Reserved.
'light bulb' moments can arrive anytime: lining up at the
supermarket check-out, driving and listening to the radio or
– rewardingly - when you are experiencing something new for the first time.
Insight hits with a flash. You walk away feeling enlightened, empowered, with a different mindset. I had such a moment on a recent trip to Japan when I visited a local bathhouse.
"The business side of a bathhouse is fascinating"
In fact, I had many such moments. History is full of stories of inspiration hitting in the bath but at this bathhouse, it was not just the bathing – it was the whole elaborate ritual (and commercial) experience that provided insight into what makes a successful business model.
Japan has many public bathhouses and they can be classified into two main types, onsens, which derive their water from a natural source, and sentos, which use regular heated water. In Japan, it is common for people of all ages to visit a bathhouse, as a way to relax or unwind after a busy day or as a leisurely day out.
At the start of the 19th century, many homes in Japan didn't have baths and a whole industry of providing bathing services began and it has grown into a lucrative business. Although many modern houses now have baths, people still like to visit a bathhouse with a natural spring. It is an experience and many say the water has a different quality on their skin.
Venturing to use a bathhouse for the first time is a unique experience and one that takes patience, curiosity, and perseverance. There are very precise rules and etiquette. When taking a Japanese bath you wash before you enter the bath.
The business side of a bathhouse is fascinating. When you pay at many bathhouses, the transaction is processed by a vending machine. Inserting notes and pushing a few buttons, your admission tickets are delivered along with your change (And the machines always work).
This automation is replicated throughout the bathhouse with vending machines for drinks, snacks, and restaurant meals.
Insight 1:
Automated processes can provide seamless convenience for customers.
With a vending machine, you can create a receipt, buy multiple tickets at a discounted rate and reduce the need to wait and carry money.
As my Japanese father-in-law often says when using vending machines, “totemo benri desu" - they are very convenient!
That's another obvious but often forgotten insight:
How can you enhance and add value to your customer's experience?
Something which strikes you immediately when you visit a bathhouse is how happy the customers are. No glum faces here. The same feeling is often found when visiting a bustling sushi shop.
As a customer, you can't ignore this positive atmosphere which slowly becomes contagious.
Insight 2:
What are the touchpoints in your business that can make your customers happy and really satisfied?
With all this automation I bet you're wondering why do they need staff at all? Well, believe it or not, there is still plenty of staff on hand within a bathhouse. Staff is busy at the front reception desk watching customers using the vending machines, roaming the rooms, and in a variety of other positions throughout.
Insight 3:
Having visible staff provides reassurance to customers that 'help and service' are just a few steps away.
Cleanliness is an important value in Japanese culture and at a typical bathhouse the floors, walls, facilities, and baths are immaculately maintained. Staff constantly roam and mop up any spills, silently and quickly with no fuss.
Insight 4:
A clean environment conveys to customers and attention to detail that words can't.
My impression is running a bathhouse seems like a very complex business, as they must create an intimate place that allows people to relax. No easy feat! How can you do this when people have such busy lives, limited time, and pay a modest price for the service?
My sense is the key to a successful bathhouse is the ambiance, and how you set the mood.
Insight 5:
How can you set the mood and ambiance for your customers?
On a typical afternoon, a bathhouse can attract many customers. Yet as the number of new customers increases, the flow and movement are still calm, orderly, and for the most part, silent. How do they do this?
Insight 6:
Good systems can control the flow and interaction of customers. What systems do you have in place for really busy periods and how do your customers feel?
When you visit a bathhouse you quickly learn there are no written rules on the walls of what 'to do' and what 'not to do' but everyone seems to know what to do. If you're a new customer, you just watch what others do and copy. How do you use a vending machine to pay, how do you operate a massage chair, and how do you put away your shoes? In Japan, this system, like so much else, just works.
Insight 7:
Is your way of operating easy to follow? How do new customers learn your procedures? Do you have a way to let your existing customers educate your new customers?
After leaving the changing room during my recent visit, I grabbed a cushion and sat down on the reed flooring in the cool-down room. My father-in-law gave me a small bottle of chilled milk. It is customary to have a cold drink after a bath to replenish lost nutrients and fresh milk is a popular way to do this. Bathhouses provide a range of unrelated services that all contribute to the overall customer experience including massage chairs, complimentary toiletries, restaurants, cooling down rooms, massage therapists, steam rooms, and even shoehorns.
Insight 8:
What additional products or services could enhance your product or service?
Bathing is an ancient custom in Japan that provides a chance to take a few hours out of your day to really relax. The natural heat from the bath relieves the built-up stress stored in muscles and allows your body to recharge. The real way to discover the impact a bath has had is the new feeling you leave with. For many Japanese customers, a bath is a time to reflect and in my case, a chance to gain some new business insights.
ANZ Blue Notes
#bath #japan #japaneseculture #culturalintelligence #business #cx #japanesecustomer
April 19, 2022
Statistics: Internet speeds and users in 🌸 Japan 2021/2022
Internet Speeds 2022
Japan
Broadband 178.76 (Mbps)
Mobile 69.02 (Mbps)
Source:
World population Review
https://worldpopulationreview.com/country-rankings/internet-speeds-by-country
According to DataReportal, there were
* 117.4 million internet users in Japan in January 2021.
https://worldpopulationreview.com/country-rankings/internet-speeds-by-country
According to DataReportal, there were
* 117.4 million internet users in Japan in January 2021.
* An increase of 890 thousand (+0.8%) between 2020 and 2021.
* Internet penetration in Japan stood at 93.0% in January 2021.
Source:
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
Posts
#japanesecustomer #sakura #new #drinks #starbuckscoffee #japan #menu #creativity #innovation #choice #frappuccino #strawberry