A.D.D. and the Japanese consumer
Japan has a reputation for being a country of savers. In fact, one knock on Japan's economy is that the consumer doesn't exert the kind of muscle that, say, its American counterpart does. In a country that is perceived as being thrifty, conservative and mono-cultural - you'd expect consumer tastes to be fairly stagnant. The reality is that the Japanese consumer has ADD and is incredibly finicky.There is no better case study than with the Kit Kat. I am a big fan of the Kit Kat. When I was single living in Japan, I would treat myself to a 100 yen ($1) Kit Kat just about every day. That's where the habit began. In the US the Kit Kat comes in one, maybe two or three flavors. In Japan I can't count how many flavors of Kit Kat there are. That's because every month there is a new flavor of Kit Kat that comes out. Over the last year alone I've had chocolate, strawberry, orange, kiwi, caramel pudding, mango, dark chocolate, apple, red bean, and soybean cake. As you can see from the picture, I recently consumed a ginger ale Kit Kat. These flavors don't last long. They in stores for about a month and then a new flavor hits the shelves.
No doubt this is pull marketing at its best. The Japanese consumer is conditioned to act now to try a new flavor or lose out forever. This conditioning has developed a natural belief that new is better...and if it's not new, then it's not worth buying. You see new consumer products all the time in candy, drinks, automobiles...anything. In the soft drink market, over 1,000 new drinks are launched each year into a 7,000 product market. Like the various flavors of Kit Kat, many of these drinks don't last longer than a year. To garner further buzz, many candies and drinks will incorporate local flavors and be sold only in that locale. So, on our family vacation to Kyushu last month, we saw a flavor of our favorite candy - Haichu (a soft, Starburst-like candy) - which was only sold in Kyushu. The flavor was a locally grown mandarin orange. Not only did we see this at convenience stores, but also at tourist trinket shops wrapped like it was in a cardboard suitcase. Of course, we bought some.
As a consumer, it has its pluses and minuses. You certainly don't get bored as a consumer here in Japan. But you better not get too attached to something you like, because it might be gone in a few weeks/months. As a marketing guy myself, I respect the genius behind the product development strategy. You try to protect your turf by constantly innovating to keep the consumer's interest.
Nevertheless, I'll be honest, this consumer mindset wrecks havoc in my field of employment. The Japanese are notoriously short-term oriented investors. This has frustrated us to no end since we are fairly conservative when it comes to new product launches. It makes for difficult going when investors are looking for something new to invest in every three months.
Labels: consumer, culture, economics, japan, kit kat, marketing


















There have been two instances in the last month where the subway I've traveled on is so crowded and so many people feel it necessary to pack themselves into this train that I've literally felt like I've spooned or been spooned by two other passengers. With one, at least I could swing my work bag to give me some space. You know, for those of you who have attended an LDS dance and had to be "Book of Mormon" distance from your dance partner. The other time, however, no such luck. And when you're packed in there like that, there's no concentrating on your book - there's hardly room to lift your hands to read it!
Groping has become such a problem that most trains now set aside one train car solely for women during the morning commute. I've not seen these train cars, but I imagine there's tea, soft music and pedicures between each stop. And how are us guys treated? Well, we're in the rest of the train cars forced to spoon one another on busy days. But I guess in the grand scheme of things, I would rather be spooned than groped.
They joke in Los Angeles that the one benefit of a recession is that it reduces traffic. I wish that were the case here in Tokyo as well...but it's not.


What is it about government issued photo ID's that make you look like anyone and anything but yourself? This looks like a mug shot. In my defense, they purposefully tell you not to smile, but I didn't know I look this unbelievably dorky.
While visiting the historical mountain village of Nikko, we got up close and personal with wild monkeys that were hanging out by the lake. There were three of them, two parents and a baby, and they were getting harassed by onlookers who were jokingly trying to pick fights with the monkeys. Naturally, when the monkeys tried to fight back, the onlookers ran away like sissies.






Allow me to paint with broad cultural strokes - the Japanese, especially those in Tokyo, are world class sleepers. This isn't to say they get a lot of sleep, quite the contrary. I believe many in Tokyo suffer from a chronic lack of sleep. But when opportunities for sleep arise, the speed at which people fall asleep is impressive. It's as if there is a latent genetic narcolepsy that takes hold across society at the opportune times. There is no better example of this than on Tokyo's trains. Long work hours and insufferable commute times make trains a fertile ground for sleeping.
of Japaneseness. This guy uses his man purse as a pillow. He stretches out across four seats and even keeps his shoes on! I've never seen such a brazen display. I have seen, and come to expect, this from mass transit in the U.S. **cough** LA's Metro Gold Line **cough**, not Japan.
Japan is a nation of runners. If you're up early and head to Yoyogi Park, one of the major parks in Tokyo, the pathways will be filled with runners getting in their morning exercise before work.
I’ve been traveling more for work, which is actually VERY nice. I love getting out and meeting the people who sell our mutual funds and to hear what they're going through. I’ve been heading into more rural areas lately as well. Last week, I went to a town called Matsumoto, home to a 400 year old feudal castle - one of the most famous in Japan because it is the original structure. Matsumoto is a 3 hour train ride from Tokyo. We had a few minutes before our meeting so my colleague and I played tourist.
I first heard of Weezer in 1993 when I was a freshman at the University of Utah. My friend at the time told us a story of the girl he was dating at the time and how while they were making out one night she had a bad asthma attack and she had to be rushed home and hooked up to a big breathing machine. On the way home because of the constricted airways into her lungs she was wheezing quite a bit. She was henceforth called, you guessed it, Weezer. It wasn't until a few years later that I actually knew Weezer for their music.

























There are studies that show the Japanese population could be cut in half by the end of the century. While I could get into a serious discussion behind the reasons for the lower birth rate and its socio-economic end game, I won't. I want to talk about something infinitely more trivial - a frivolous outgrowth of a latent need to parent something, anything - pet parenting.

We spent last Saturday at Shinjuku Gyoen Park and spent the late morning underneath a small grove of cherry blossom trees. We brought a lunch, and a bat & ball to keep Anthon entertained. We didn't on, however, Anthon being the subject of no less than 6 photographers.

Despite the heavy symbolism, sakura season is a great excuse for the Japanese to party. As Shelley put it so eloquently, it's as if it's one big tailgate! And it's true. Walking through Ueno Park one night we saw thousands, literally, of people sitting on tarps on the ground, with their shoes off, underneath (mostly) the sakura trees, drinking heavily and eating. I would guess that these spots had been staked out for hours. Everyone seemed to be happy, even the homeless people in the park were happy collecting all the recyclable cans and bottles...it was payday for them. The daytimes were even more croweded families, friends and coworkers gathered to have "hanami parties" (flower viewing parties). Shelley remarked that it was one of the first times to see the Japanese cut loose like this and it was good for her to see that, I think. Seeing people get so excited about sakura showed a very human side to our adopted country.
And finally, we went to a park called Shinjuku Gyoen Park to get one last view of the sakura before the rains came and wiped all of the beautiful blossoms away. We happened upon a grove of trees that had shed half of its blossoms - which effectively covered the ground with what seemed like millions of white and pink petals. It was like snow, so peaceful and serene. The wind was blowing gently so you could pick up the blossoms and toss them in the air and they would float away. Anthon particularly liked that, though he would do more throwing at or mashing into people. Or he liked to try to eat the blossoms.



A great thing about living in Japan is that believe it or not, you can get pretty much any kind of ethnic food you want. Of course we love the Japanese food that we can get here, but we've been surprised with the level of quality of the hamburgers, the Italian food and we've even had very good Mexican food. As I've written about before, the Japanese are just foodies.
During the winter and early spring months in Japan it is common to see people walking around wearing what appear to be white surgical masks. These are worn for a variety of reasons, most notably by those who are either sick and don't want to infect others or those who aren't sick and don't want to be infected by those who are. No matter how stupid they make people look you find people all around town wearing these - from old guys to rather fashionable young women...at work, on the trains, walking around...everywhere.


I think it can be accurately said that the Japanese are foodies. More than the average American, I think the average Japanese enjoys the experience of eating food more. I was reminded of this recently when I went out to eat Korean BBQ with co-workers who would literally ooo and aww at each tantilizing bite of food that they would eat.





We've been buried in Tokyo without internet access and so we haven't had a chance to update our blog with pictures and stories about our first few days here in Tokyo.
The apartment itself is quite spacious. It's double the size of our Pasadena condo and normally wouldn't have been within our housing budget. But it sat for 6 months open and I think the landlords were looking to get any cash flow possible. We lucked out because they recently upgraded the whole place. While our place is sterile and drafty because our stuff is still on the slow boat, it has a lot of potential. The kitchen, living and dining rooms and master bedroom face the western sunset. While all this light is a blessing in this cold winter, I can only imagine how hot it could get in the summer. The view to the west is of a mosque. Not what we thought we'd be looking at, but as you can see from the picture to the right, it does provide quite the view at sunset.




