Japan is an energy-dependent nation which, for better or worse, was crippled in its last and hopefully final war more than a half-century ago.
Since that time, its technological progress has enabled it to deal with energy concerns more dynamically than any other nation. Those advances were seriously challenged a year ago when the devastating earthquake and tsunami seriously damaged the Tohoku Region and had a ripple effect into the Kanto Region. Twenty-three of 27 nuclear power plants were shutdown as a precaution after the event, and remain offline.
In Japan, the small-scaled mini- and micro-hydroelectric power plants have been regarded for a considerable time as being suitable for creating electricity in mountainous regions, but they have through refinement come to be regarded as excellent for Japanese cities as well. Kawasaki City Waterworks, Japan Natural Energy Company, and Tokyo Electric Power Company have all been involved in the development of small-scale hydroelectric power plants within Japanese cities.
How can this technology benefit your community or even corporation. Pay attention to these developments.
I was astounded the first time I saw a perfectly square persimmon in Japan. But farmers are getting more and more innovative. Above, witness the pyramid and the heart-shaped watermelon. Shaping fruit could well become an outstanding niche opportunity inside or outside of Japan.
It could also branch off into fruit and vegetable art, something I think the Japanese would literally eat up…
Here’s a video of many more great food art ideas to chew on for Japan…
Sometime ago I read an article about McDonald’s titled: “Going Down-Market in Nutrition.” McDonald’s reclaimed its position as the top selling fast food “restaurant” chain in Japan. The company has sales well exceeding 500 billion yen, becoming the first in Japan to exceed 500 billion yen.
In recent years the Japanese consumer has started to accept cheap, not-so-wholesome food, clothing and services without a blink. There was a time when nobody who was anybody would buy damaged fruit and vegetables at the supermarket. It was one of those “We are all middle class” thingies which stigmatized the purchase of used or expiring goods and services. Those days have passed.
Nowadays, thrift is in and I believe it is here to stay. The trend means that wholesalers and retailers want to unload perishables and other stuff costly to stock or warehouse before it expires, spoils or perishes.
The need to track and make available perishables, damaged package goods and unsold inventory at heavily discounted prices is a challenge which will be addressed more efficiently in the coming years.
If you go to many supermarkets in Japan in the early evening, for example, the stock clerks are often discounting foods 10~50% at that time. Other goods are kept in a refrigeration unit at all times of the day with things such a tofu, milk, luncheon meats, etc. whose expiration date is nearing expiration.
The challenge is to coordinate a database – for example, at 500 yen a month for consumers and 2000 yen a month for shops – that tells you which stores offer what discounts at that moment.
It can even get more efficient than that. A particular challenge: How do you keep perishables in stock and on the shelves without having them spoil? Researchers at Agrotechnology & Food Innovations (A&F), an applied research institute at Wageningen University in the Netherlands, are using radio frequency identification technology to find the answer.
However the identification of damaged or perishable goods which will be trashed can be made, a community database feeding into a nationwide database system can drastically cut waste, save consumers boatloads’ of money, and increase the bottom line of most wholesalers and retailers
Can you create or have you created such an ingenious system? Japan – known in the past for its convoluted distribution system – is ready to embrace it.
Undeniably, many Japanese companies have weathered the economic doldrums for the last two decades without ever resorting to social media tactics. Many stores and businesses have basically clung onto the leaden tactics of newspaper blurbs, paid advertisements in local papers and shopper weeklies, or just simple word-of-mouth tactics.
But in a world of choice with many online shopping portals and auction sites blooming, the days of social media indifference are numbered. Just this past month, LinkedIn became localized in Japan and, with ongoing education in the virtual grapevine, it will in the next few tears crush the long-held custom of annual recruiting.
The same is true of Facebook, with its varied ways of building rapport with your customer or client base. Companies in the modern world must be prepared to go the extra mile using social media networks to spread the word about their products and services, address customer complaints or concerns, and educate their potential buyers about the reasons to choose their company over others.
Being social and sociable are not optional anymore, but many companies are becoming interested or concerned about how to reach customers where they hang out online.
Significantly, there is anew start-up called the Japan Social Media Manager Association which is trying to catch the social media wave. They plan to launch a social media manager course early next year in Japan. The trainees passing the course will be issued a certification certificate.
Social media in Japan is not a fad. It’s a fact of life. Main Street businesses -with proper education and training – can draw many more customers ready and willing to spend money NOW by using stealthy social media strategies, including cellphone apps with daily promotions.
The golden era social media is dawning. If you are a great talent in social media, I may be able to help you establish your credentials in Japan. Contact me at administrator@successinjapan.com.
The number of single households in Japan has surpassed for the first time the number of married couple households. More and more women are opting to remain single longer or forever.
What once was a man’s domain, the “wise” investing of family earnings has now seen a larger number of women – presumably single – looking to financial markets where they can get a higher rate of return than the low-interest accounts of banks. My wife is the married equivalent.
There is a growing demand for websites and seminars for individuals with little or no experience in investing. I personally know of one woman who has made more than 2 million yen in the last six months on gold and silver markets.
It is my firm belief that education about money shouldn’t begin after you start working. It should start from the age when a child understands that the ice cream mommy bought cost money. Parents are the first line of defense against fiscal irresponsibility as adults. Jim Rohn, a renowned business coach and public speaker, says that the goal of every parent and educator should be to give a child the fiscal and moral training to allow the child by the tender age of eighteen to be independently wealthy.
Thus, the opportunity lies in teaching young Japanese children through manga step-by-step training booklets for elementary-age school children and online training for middle and senior high school students in the art of becoming financially independent. This could also build up a strong mailing list which will then buy your proprietary software for researching and investing worldwide once they graduate from high school.
Often frequented by celebrities, this smart and luxurious bar nestles inside the Lanesborough Hotel, UK. Its majestic surroundings of plush upholstery, book-lined shelves and coffee tables with polished brass service bells conjures up an era of genteel service and distinguished drinking.
Make no bones about it – Japanese young people are marrying later, if at all, and having fewer children, if any at all. Some might call that a crisis or a shame, while the entrepreneur would see it with eyes wide open.
Nagai Kafu and the artsy image. It's the stuff of new fashions in Japan.
The single life has gone mainstream, much to the chagrin of older generations. The Setagaya Literary Museum recently held an exhibition focusing around the life of a charismatic writer, Kafu Nagai (1879-1959), whose work is still popular. Married twice but single from his mid-30s until his death, Nagai was a typical chauvinist of his era. Despite his machismo, women have also been known to be moved by his writing and life.
The museum has compiled 10 rules, based on Kafu’s writings, for leading an enjoyable solitary life. Among them are that if a restaurant takes your fancy, you should go there no matter where it is. He also recommended eating as many sweets as you want, keeping a journal, and hanging out with as many members of the opposite sex as possible. Hmm…Sounds a bit like modern life!
How about a Kafu Package: luscious chocolates, a gift certificate to a five-star restaurant, a gilt-edged journal with the person’s name engraved on the front jacket in diamonds or gold, and a voucher for three uses of a top-of-the-line companion service
OR
We live in a world which dismisses the classic novels and henceforth the writers who wrote them. Many of them led solitary lives full of debauchery and decadence…by my standards. Yet I believe the Japanese would embrace the concept of novelist or entertainment cults with the same reckless abandon that gangsta rap and hip-hop have caught on fire here. Atmosphere bars or cafes with replica paraphernalia – pipes, eyeglasses, vests, makeup, clothing and accessories – of the bygone eras could become a new drug for the young. Some writers or entertainers of note who have he allure and stickiness in Japan include: Greta Garbo, F. Scott Fitzgerald, Clark Gable, Mae West, Howard Hughes, Kinuyo Tanaka, Albert Camus, and Ayn Rand.
In this plastic-bottle vending machine society, Sigg bottles are an example of a potentially appealing line for Japan.
This past week I was taken back by the variety of pet bottle designs in Japan. Being a long-term resident, you take such ingenuity in stride. But it is quickly branching out into everything from hangers to gardening watering cans to prescription drug containers. Attractiveness is truly the bait to try a new product on the shelf.
In Japan, 40-65% of pet bottles are recycled, according to the source you cite. Recently, a lot of recyclable PET bottles are being shipped to China, and several recycling plants are operating at less than 40% percent capacity. Many of the 60 or so plants are edging toward bankruptcy.
Like it or not, we are living in a finite world of natural resources. With epic documentaries such as former Vice President Al Gore’s “An Inconvenient Truth,” it has become increasingly difficult to live in a sound-proof cave with blinders on about the depletion of our earth’s resources and the resultant warming of our planet.
It is my firm conviction that the somewhat apathetic Japanese will be at the forefront of making long-lasting, upscale, attractive recyclable bottles, containers, hangers, utensils and whatnots.
While our thirst for plastic bottles may continue unabated, nature will pull us back to reality. Japan is a great place to set up shop as a bottle designer, much in the mold of a Swiss company called Sigg. This is a real business opportunity and design rather than language barriers will dictate the market.
There are more than 130 million people in Japan, but only a fraction of them have or will ever have an entrepreneurial mindset. This is good news for foreigners who are burning with passion. Lots of local merchants and associations with good ideas, products and even web presence tend to keep their talent local. They don’t think nationally or globally.
The Kusatsu Onsen Tourist Association has launched a two-year pilot program which is partially subsidized by the central government to revive run-down, tourist-deficient hot spring areas. These areas were once booming in the ’60s and ’70s.
There are about 3,000 hot springs in Japan such as the one in Kusatsu, near Tokyo. The government and local tourist associations are looking toward revitalization and revival of these ancient wonderlands. Though Kusatsu seems to have their act together, many other areas are dragging their collective heals and wallowing in the throes of depressed economies. Take a look at the Kusatsu website. If you think you could clone or even improve upon such a website, you may be in business.
Since the government may pick up part of the tab, the time for action is NOW! Several years ago I lived in such an onsen area, Beppu, and although it has become somewhat rundown it still has great charm and appeal, if framed right. Become the framer and have the government foot the majority of the tab.
There is a digital divide in Japan between urban and rural regions of Japan and the government is addressing it. A draft plan, outlining measures to make Broadband Internet and cell phones usable throughout the nation, has been outlined by the Internal Affairs and Communications Ministry. It will cost both the public and private sectors up to 1.2 trillion yen. A communications satellite will be used to make broadband Internet accessible to isolated regions and remote islands.
The good news is that although the ministry plans to set up antennas for receiving and then rebroadcast signals through fiber-optic cables, this will not be totally effective. To make for maximum effectiveness of this plan, the Ministry will revise laws and ordinances to allow citizens to set up, without a license, very small base stations capable of transmitting signals to basements and rooms without windows.
Two possibilities exist: to tap into the home-based stations’ business and secondly to hook up with communications firms who will get two-thirds of the cost of setting up the stations subsidized by the government.
Away from the hectic life of Tokyo and Osaka sits a tropical resort area called Okinawa. The island had some of the most severe and tragic battles in the Second World War and, until recently, were dependent on the U.S. military and tourism to provide the bulk of jobs and opportunity. All of that has changed.
Okinawa is emerging as the IT capital of Japan, with more than 100 financial and information-related businesses having set up offices in the prefecture. Leading the way are Japan superpowers, NTT and Nomura Securities. Many overseas call centers which chose China or India for their default operations are packing their bags and finding their way to Okinawa Prefecture.
Okinawa has been coaxing companies to come to the island by offering them several incentives. For example, 30 percent of their young employees’ salaries are subsidized by the Japanese government. The Okinawa government also covers 80 percent of companies’ telecommunications expenses. These measures have helped increase the number of call centers on the island from three in March 1999 to 21 today, producing more than 3,500 jobs.
Downtown Nago is seeing rapid development, condominiums rising and businesses and shopping areas to accommodate the boom.
The allure of Okinawa began when the city of Nago in the prefecture was designated a special financial business zone. Moreover, the government has given Nago hundreds of millions of dollars in exchange for accepting the relocation of American military bases.
This means everything from ethnic restaurants to translation schools will be blossoming in the coming years. Okinawa Prefecture has the highest unemployment rate among youth in Japan at over 13 percent, so one of the incentives given by the Japanese government is a huge tax break to firms hiring twenty or more locals. A detailed article can be found by CLICKING HERE
The average roof sheds 160 gallons of rainwater per hour during a moderate rain fall. Rainwater is better for your garden than tap water: it is at ambient temperature rather than being cold and it is not chlorinated or treated with chemicals
An increasing number of local governments are improving water management by encouraging people to store rainwater runoff in tanks in what is known as rainwater harvesting. This harvesting is the collection and storage of rain from roofs and the ground for future use. This system can also help in flood control.
Ichikawa City now requires new buildings to install such systems, with a 200,000 yen subsidy as an incentive. Many other cities around the country are following suit. In total, 33 municipalities offer subsidies for infiltration systems and 50 for rainwater tanks.
The main manufacturer and distributor of harvesting devices is Okamura Kenko. Their systems sell for 140,000 yen and up. There seems to be a lot of room for overseas competitors in Japan.
Subsidies are expected to be offered in close to 100 cities nationwide in the next five years. There is a surging movement in Japan to make the recycling of water a second-nature habit.
Twitter
Facebook