Japan is in need of a stimulus to bring visitors back and stimulate economies in devastated regions. Source: Japan Probe Blog

The Japanese government seems to give lip service (at least) to the proposition that they want to increase tourism.  Many individual cities and prefectures have taken over their local promotions from large travel agencies, hoping that the local touch will make the travel experience to their region more pleasurable and perhaps more reasonably priced.

Here’s what the Japanese National Tourist Organization says about traveling in Japan (and I agree):

The Japanese islands stretch over 3,000 km with a rich variety of scenery in climates ranging from sub-artic in the north to sub-tropical in the south. Volcanic mountain ranges teem with hot spring resorts, while a history going back thousands of years gives each region a distinct cultural character. In short, Japan is a tourist paradise. On these pages we suggest some examples of incentive tours or excursions centered on major cities.

There is a company called Live Quality Check in Austria that arranges tours based on a pay-what-it’s worth price tag.  This system can lure locals and visitors from overseas to the more remote, out-of-the-way villages and regions.  The idea is to get a bunch of local  merchants to collaborate in offering a wide array of choices of hotels, golf courses, restaurants, outdoor activities, etc.

Before the patron decides on the price they are willing to pay, they fill out a survey reviewing their tourist experience.  This helps local  tourist bureaus streamline their list of quality merchants and thus increase the chance that visitors will be satisfied, recommend the area to friends  and associates, and return themselves in the future.

With more and more local tourist bureaus taking over marketing campaigns from tour agencies, no doubt many of them would be receptive to this idea.

The pay-what-you-want idea has caught on worldwide, and if you can cut a deal with regional businesses then the profit potential could be exponential.  You could even start a pay-what-it’s-worth network of merchants regionally or nationally in Japan.

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.

Gluttony is one of the 7 deadly sins and, unfortunately, Japan and the Japanese are not immune from it.

Human beings are often gluttons in one way or another. Americans have a tradition of gorging on high-fat, low-nutrition foods on a regular basis and have the guts to prove it. Japanese, on the other hand, have their oral fixation satisfied by cigarettes and obsessive use or abuse of the modern pacifier called a cellphone. We human beings are flawed.  One point in the Japanese lifestyle that is definitely superior is that the natives (as a group) eat slower and subsequently less than Americans do.  An American can easily vacuum up a large French Fries at McDonald’s in a New-York-minute.  The Japanese will be eating fry by fry at 15- or 30-second intervals. Some may think that the DNA of Japanese makes them much thinner than their American counterparts.  Yes, they are smaller by and large than Americans and they do have eating habits which foster optimum health passed on from older generations.   But that inbred advantage is quickly fading as American fast-food culture invades.

Although bigger is becoming better in miniature Japan, I implore marketers to be responsible and market quality products in Japan in proportion to the size of this nation and its people. Gluttony sells well because it unmasks the base desire of all human beings to grab more than is needed, just in case the good times stop rolling. I believe it is time to revive the feeling that small is beautiful… and what better nation to export this self-sustaining virtue than Japan?

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.

While there are several web sites on Japanese trends and innovation, few of them are well-known among Japanese or foreign consumer-surfers.  And although the market for TV home shopping is on the increase, viewer rates in Japan measure only a few percent.  Such big-hit products as Billy’s Boot Camp have seen mainstream success, but such TV networks are generally dependent upon a small, loyal, hungry consumer group which buys gadget after gadget on a whim.

The top four media–-catalog, direct mail, Internet and TV–-make up 75% of sales, of which TV shopping and Internet sales have shown particularly outstanding growth.

Japan is a land of gadgets and gimmicks.  Many of them have a shelf life of less than a year or two.  Come, such as Hello Kitty or Apanman, have become cultural assets with high marketing value worldwide.

The trouble is that gimmicks and hype dig into our disposable income and we should know the unbiased and un-bought testimonials of those who use these products and services.

Until now, we have been pretty much forced to rely on staged testimonials and PR blurbs distributed by the manufacturer around the concept of Product of the Week, similar to TV shopping channels in exhibiting their stuff.

Why not build a site a product in a streamed video, but dissimilar in the respect that the film producer is totally objective.  Each product will be judged according to a set of criteria such as price of competitive products, durability, practicality, etc.  Each page of the site will have paying sponsors (which would be clearly recognizable) to make the post worthwhile.

Alternatively, you could set up a site which features unique products from Japan and offers a Pay Per Click (PPC) or affiliate commission structure such as ClickBank.  This may be a lot to chew off, but the rewards in this consumer paradise (Japan) could make it well worth the struggle.

Tourists associations in many parts of Japan used to leave the planning and implementation of tours to travel agencies.  But the truth is that local associations know the nooks and crannies much better than a city-slicker agency scanning the Internet.

The Nanatsugama Caves of Saga, designated as a national natural monument, are cliffs sharpened by the rough waves of the Genkai Sea. The frontage is 3 m and its depth is 110 m, and you can enter there by a boat at the time of a high tide.

The relaxation of the travel law opened the way for tourist associations to promote tour programs.  Saga Prefecture’s Karatsu Tourist Association has exploited the association friendly law by devising a six-tour program.

The reduction of the security deposit each travel agency is required to place with the government was reduced from 10 million yen to 3 million yen in July, making it east for KTA and other associations to opt out from using travel agency for local promotion.

This lower barrier is also great news for foreign nationals wanting to own and operate agencies in unique, scenic areas of Japan.